European Individual Chess Championship - Round 7

Socko leading among women, Jobava and Efimenko tied first in men section

The 11th European individual men and women's chess championship is taking place from 5th to 19th of March 2010 in Rijeka, Croatia. The tournaments are qualifiers for the next World Cup, part of the World Championship cycle. According to FIDE regulations and the decision of the ECU Board, 22 players will qualify. Prize fund is 150.000,00 EUR for the men section and 75,000.00 EUR for the women.

After seven rounds, GM Monika Socko (POL 2465) with six points is a sole leader in the women championship. She drew with WGM Lilit Galojan of Armenia and is set to meet the legendary GM Pia Cramling in round eight.

GM Stefanova Antoaneta (BUL 2555), GM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant (SCO 2447), IM Viktorija Cmilyte (LTU 2485), WGM Lilit Galojan (ARM 2380), GM Pia Cramling (SWE 2523) and IM Yelena Dembo (GRE 2457) are half a point behind Socko.

Baadur Jobava

In the men section, Baadur Jobava (GEO 2695) and Zahar Efimenko (UKR 2640) both drew, against Alexander Riazantsev (RUS 2660) and Bojan Vuckovic (SRB 2630) respectively, and maintained joint lead with six points each.

Top eight boards were drawn in round seven, maintaining the order on front end of the crosstable. Ivan Sokolov (BIH 2638), Vladimir Akopian (ARM 2688), Ernesto Inarkiev (RUS 2667) and Denis Khismatullin (RUS 2657) leaped forward to the shared third place.

Full results can be found on the official website. The games are starting at 15:30 with live relay of the top 60 boards.