Flash

The Heat is On in Philadelphia

Nineteen players entered the Open Section via the 3-Day schedule including 2784 rated Ilya Smirin, plus top players like Leonid Yudasin (2692), Julian Hodgson (2663), Alexander Chernin (2652), Boris Kreiman (2537), Anthony Saidy (2426), and Emory Tate (2420). Tate's wild attacking style may do well in this fast time control. This group merges with the rest on Saturday. See Results.

Aaron Pixton (2357) is proving to be a giant killer with wins over GM Wojtkiewicz in round 2 and GM Ivanov in round 3! Also at a perfect 3-0 score are Alexander Goldin (2684), Yuri Shulman (2662), Joel Benjamin (2652), and Eugene Perelshteyn (2500) with Maurice Ashley (2583) and a host of others close behind with 2.5 points. See Results.

7-Day Schedule: Fabian Doettling (2587) and Valerian Gaprindishvili (2473) are the only two players left with a perfect 3-0 score in the 7-day schedule. Both Gulko and Ehlvest drew their third round games and are just a 1/2 point behind (along with 7 other players). See Results.

2-Weekend Schedule: Grandmaster Sergey Kudrin (2620) jumped off to an early lead at the World Open scoring 3.5 out of 4 in the "2-Weekend" schedule.  Kudrin won his first three games, including a win over GM Pavel Blatny, then he drew GM Michael Rohde (2529) in round 4. Rohde, who took a bye in round 3 to play in the World Open Action Tournament, is tied for second with Blatny and GM Alexander Stripunsky with 3 points each.  See Results.