Sasi holds Nielsen to stay in lead

Half a point adrift of the two leaders is top seed and tournament favourite Alexey Dreev of Russia who outclassed title contender Curt Hansen to take his tally to 5 points. In the last two rounds Dreev is slated to play Sasikiran and McShane.

Hansen holds the fourth place on 4 points despite the loss while GMs Michal Krasenkow of Poland, Lenier Dominiguez of Cuba and Nielsen are clubbed in a three-way tie for the fifth spot having 3 points apiece.

Jointly on 8th place are Cuban Bruzon Lazaro and Schandorff with 2.5 points each while Koneru Humpy, the other Indian in the fray, remained at the bottom of the table with just one point. In the seventh round game, Humpy suffered yet another defeat when she lost to Dominiguez. The Sasikiran-Nielsen game was with pieces changing hands regularly. Sasikiran did show his willingness to make a match of it by manoeuvring his knight to the opposition territory but Neilsen opted for a draw after 39 moves. McShane knew this was his best chance to catch up with Sasikiran and he made the most by squeezing the defencive resources of Schandorff in the Rossolimo attack game.

Schandorff got in to opening troubles after McShane suspended his castling option and went for a direct attack against the centralised king.