Last round of the preliminary round robins. There are a few games that don't mean much, but quite a few will determine who gets into the semi-finals, or a playoff for the semifinals.
Tomorrow is a rest day(or playoffs) and I have a tournament on Saturday, so no post after this until Easter Sunday.
Hess and Krush are in their respective semis, but want to play well to keep up their form.
Kamsky is in with a draw, but his opponent with black, Shulman, needs a win for a clear spot.
Ivanov needs a win against Robson to ensure a playoff, but chose the Berlin defense to Robson's Ruy Lopez, but Robson needs a win and a Shulman loss to get a playoff.
The second spot in group B is fairly clear. It will be either Shankland or Onischuk. The winner of their game today is in or they go into a playoff with a draw. (though if they draw, Seirawan could sneak into the playoff on tie breaks with a win as black against Hess.)
Baginskaite and Abrahamyan are in with at least a draw. Baginskaite has white against Krush, and Abrahamyan is black against Zenyuk.
Zatonskih is playing a King's Indian Attack against Foisor's Sicilian. Zatonskih needs a win to get a playoff to get into the semi-final. Foisor wins or draws and she should be in the semis. Foisor did not fianchetto the king's bishop, so transposed into a KIA vs French.
Onischuk played a very solid line against Shankland's Slav, and settled into a very symetrical even game.
It looks like Melekhina and Goletiani are having fun, both being very aggressive in a closed Sicilian
Christiansen has an active position as black against Kaidanov in another fun game.
Finegold sacs a Bishop in a c3-Sicilian to pin Shabalov's king on an exposed e8.
Looks like there will be lots of interesting games this round, even ones that cannot affect who wins the tournament
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