Time for a quick check-in on some of the other important events taking place around the world.
In the Ukranian Championship, top seed and former FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov has led from round 1, but hasn't managed to put much separation between himself and the field. After 9 rounds (of 11) he is in clear first with 6.5 points, but Pavel Eljanov and Alexander Moiseenko are just half a point back. Zahar Efimenko is a further half a point back with 5.5 points, and as he and Ponomariov are yet to play the final standings are very much up for grabs.
The Russian Championship "Higher League" (an unhelpful way of referring to a qualifier for the actual Russian Championship later this year) is almost halfway through. After 5 of 11 rounds, Evgeny Najer is in clear first with 4 points, half a point ahead of 12 others including 2700s Nikita Vitiugov and Evgeny Tomashevsky. Twelve more players have three points, including former FIDE Champion Alexander Khalifman and erstwhile (and surely future) 2700 Alexander Morozevich.
An event without 2700s, but of possible interest to at least my countrymen, is the US Junior Championship. After four rounds (of nine) the leader is a surprise: Gregory Young. He's in the bottom half of the draw, but has gone 4-0 so far, and that includes wins over the second and third seeds. Daniel Naroditsky, John Bryant and Warren Harper are a point behind.