After 6 played rounds, Rodshtein Maxim (ISR, 2673) and Piorun Kacper (POL, 2631) emerged on the top as leaders of the European Individual Chess Championship, each with 5.5 points.
Rodshtein strategically overplayed Alekseenko Kirill (RUS, 2644) with white pieces in a Gruenfeld Fianchetto variation after making a passed d pawn. Afterwards, Israeli Grandmaster attacked the King’s side to win the game convincingly.
On the second board, Piorun defeated Berkes Ferenc (HUN, 2666). After achieving the advantage in the middle game with whites, Piorun didn’t play precisely to maintain it, but Berkes made a fatal mistake by exchanging Queens and lost after a few moves.
Leading duo is followed by 8 players, each with 5 points: Artemiev Vladislav (RUS, 2736), Hracek Zbynek (CZE, 2578), Gelfand Boris (ISR, 2570), Grandelius Nils (SWE, 2694), Zvjaginsev Vadim (RUS, 2642), Predke Alexandr (RUS, 2611), Gledura Benjamin (HUN, 2630) and Esipenko Andrey (RUS, 2603).
Hracek Zbynek (CZE, 2578) made the surprise of the round 6 by taking a victory against the three times Azerbaijan Champion, Mamedov Rauf (AZE, 2701) who blundered (!) a Queen in a slightly weaker position.
Results of the round 6 and pairings of round 7 are available here.
In round 7, which starts today at 15:00 (local time), Rodshtein Maxim (ISR, 2673) and Piorun Kacper (POL, 2631) meet on the board one for a decisive duel.
LIVE broadcast of the top games, together with the live stream from the venue, and live commentary and analysis by GM Ivan Sokolov and GM Adrian Mikhalchishin, is available here.
