It wasn't the best way to finish the tournament, but Fabiano Caruana's lucky last round draw with Hou Yifan proved sufficient to take clear first at the Reykjavik Open with 7.5/9. Several players had a chance to catch him, but none of those who could, did. Seven players finished half a point behind: (in tiebreak order) Ivan Sokolov, David Navara, Gawain Jones, Boris Avrukh, Hou Yifan, Sebastien Maze and Henrik Danielsen.
To say that Caruana was lucky wasn't sour grapes (I'm happy for him to succeed) or to deny that strong players make their own luck. Rather, he was lucky because Hou missed several wins, and not under pressure from Caruana. Worse still, the third winning chance came right after the time control, when she had two winning continuations. Still, it was another fine result for the women's world champion, who is showing herself to be a real force to be reckoned with and seems destined for 2700dom.
Click here for a look at the aforementioned Hou Yifan-Caruana game - there are some beautiful variations!