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When Grandmaster Joel Benjamin lost his first round game, some spectators wondered if the former U.S. Champion would withdraw from the event, or at least re-enter in the 5-day or 3-day
schedules. Instead, Benjamin went on an tear, winning 6 straight games that included a remarkable checkmate victory over IM Emory Tate yesterday (Tate, it should be noted, has been playing
brilliantly). See Cool Games. Benjamin joins GM Goldin, the 1998 World Open winner, and GM Ivanov, who has been leading the event throughout, as the leaders with 6
points. Goldin and Ivanov drew last night.Right behind the leaders with 5.5 points are: Fedorowicz, Ehlvest, Miton, Kaidanov, Garcia, Shabalov, Serper, and Blatny. Also of note from yesterday's
games were: Garcia's comeback win over Yermolinsky to put him back in contention; Shabalov's long endgame win over Ashley (Ashley's 2nd difficult endgame in a row, he had drawn GM Hodgson the round before);
Serper's win putting him in position to try to recapture his World Open title from last year; and Blatny's win to put him back in the race, after his difficult loss to Ivanov two rounds earlier. Today's
rounds are at 10am and 6pm. |
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