GM Gabor Nagy and GM Sergey Fedorchuk decided that they needed to take the afternoon off and agreed to a draw after only fourteen moves of a Double (Quadruple?) Fianchetto Hedgehog.
IM Mika Karttunen and GM Lucas van Foreest also didn’t rock the boat in a Berlin endgame, although the game lasted 53 moves.
GM Robby Kevlishvili managed to get an edge in a 2.c3 Sicilian against IM Mikael Agopov. White’s position certainly was easier to play and a couple of inaccuracies by Agopov allowed Kevlishvili to develop a dangerous initiative that was too much to handle for Black. He is now the only player who has managed to win all his games.
Just behind the leaders, FM Jari Järvenpää showed up insufficiently prepared against GM Victor Mikhalevski and was ruthlessly punished for his negligence.
