The 10th round of the European Individual Chess Championship 2016 was quite peaceful on the top boards, with only one decisive result. The tournament leader Ernesto Inarkiev (RUS 2686) drew with his fellow countryman Alexey Goganov (RUS 2600) and remained the leader with full point ahead.
Radoslaw Wojtaszek (POL 2722) drew with Francisco Vallejo (ESP 2700), while Daniil Dubov (RUS 2644) drew with the top seed David Navara (CZE 2735).
The only player to score a victory in the top 10 boards was Latvian Grandmaster Igor Kovalenko (2644) who managed to stay peaceful and focused after yesterday’s loss and won a very important game against Laurent Fressinet (FRA 2692), which brought him a chance to fight for the medal.
Standings after 10 rounds:
1 Inarkiev 8.5
2-4 Wojtaszek, Kovalenko and Goganov 7.5
5-20 Navara, Jobava, Vallejo, Hovhannisyan, Nisipeanu, Dreev, Palac, Anton, Donchenko, Ter-Shakyan, Dubov, Piorun, Tari, Bortnyk, Stupak and Pashikian 7, etc.
Top pairings of the last round are:
Piorun vs Inarkiev, Goganov vs Kovalenko, Jobava vs Wojtaszek, Navara vs Pashikian, Vallejo vs Donchenko, etc.
Let us remind that the European Individual Championship 2016 is a qualification event for the next World Cup, and according to FIDE regulations and the decision of the ECU Board, 23 players will qualify.
The final decisive round starts tomorrow, Monday 23rd May at 11.00 am (local time), after which we will have the new European Champion!
Follow the games live through the ECU website, now available in the LIVE section.