Various Events: MVL-Svidler Finishes; British Championship and Poikovsky Well Underway
As already reported, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave had already clinched match victory over Peter Svidler with one classical game yet to play; that game has been played and was drawn.
Meanwhile, the British Championship is underway. Nigel Short and Luke McShane aren't playing, but Michael Adams, David Howell, and Gawain Jones are and make for a strong set of headliners. Round 6 of 11 is underway, and entering the round Howell led with 4.5 points. Six players, including Adams and Jones - who has White against Howell - are half a point behind.
The Karpov Poikovsky tournament is even stronger, a 10-player round robin whose field includes three players rated over 2700 and most of the rest (maybe even all of the rest) have been over 2700 as well. Round 7 (of 9) is almost finished, and Anton Korobov leads with 4.5 points. Dmitry Andreikin, Maxim Matlakov, and Dmitry Jakovenko have 4 points apiece, while Radoslaw Wojtaszek has 3.5 points but is still playing. He has been pressing against Igor Kovalenko, but the game looks overwhelmingly likely to finish in a draw.
Reader Comments (1)
Nice and tricky "trivia question" about the Poikovsky field. The way you phrased it ("over 2700" rather than "2700 or more") , the answer seems "6 of the 7 other players": Matlakov once (November 2013) had exactly 2700 (and precisely 2700.0 on the live rating list). Smirin and Kovalenko had 2702, Sutovsky had 2703, others went further beyond 2700 (Bologan to my surprise briefly up to 2734).
I had already done this research for my own tournament preview, and written "all participants were members of the club 2700 - in some cases it's longer ago and was barely the case".