Reggio Emilia Round Five

Alexey Dreev tripped Zoltan Almasi

Russian Grandmaster Alexey Dreev has put an end to Zoltan Almasi's raging start of four straight wins at the 51st Reggio Emilia Chess Tournament. It was Capablanca variation of the Nimzo-Indian defence, where Dreev picked up the advantage by breaking Black's pawn structure on the king's flank. After some long maneuvering, White finally sacrificed a piece for Black's advanced passed pawn and transposed into an B + 4 pawns vs B + N endgame. After almost 40 moves of careful advance, White finally clinched a win. Zoltan Almasi still remains on the top, together with Chinese GM Ni Hua, while Alexey Dreev has moved up to 3rd place.

Mexican star Manuel Leon Hoyos was another winner of the day, after his opponent Luca Shytaj lost patience and rushed with 34...b5. The clash between GM Cebalo and GM Landa was a very interesting fianchetto Nimzo-Indian, but Russian managed to save a draw after being pawn down through most of the game.

GM Alexey Dreev

Round 5 results:

GM Alexey Dreev (RUS 2670) - GM Zoltan Almasi (HUN 2663) 1-0
GM Jan Gustafsson (GER 2634) - GM Ni Hua (CHN 2710) draw
GM Manuel Leon Hoyos (MEX 2535) - IM Luca Shytaj (IM 2472) 1-0
IM Niccolo Ronchetti (ITA 2414) - GM Mihail Marin (ROM 2556) draw
GM Miso Cebalo (CRO 2493) - GM Konstantin Landa (RUS 2613) draw

Round 5 standings:

1-2. GM Ni Hua (CHN 2710) and GM Zoltan Almasi (HUN 2663) - 4.0
3. GM Alexey Dreev (RUS 2670) - 3.5
4. GM Jan Gustafsson (GER 2634) - 3.0
5-6. GM Mihail Marin (ROM 2556) and GM Manuel Leon Hoyos (MEX 2535) - 2.5
7. GM Konstantin Landa (RUS 2613) - 2.0
8. IM Luca Shytaj (IM 2472) - 1.5
9-10. GM Miso Cebalo (CRO 2493) and IM Niccolo Ronchetti (ITA 2414) - 1.0

Tournament website