Round eight of 51st Reggio Emilia tournament

Zoltan Almasi, winner of the last year's 50th Reggio Emilia Chess Tournament, symbolically passed the trophy to Chinese GM Ni Hua today, after losing in the direct duel with White pieces. Having collected 6.5 points after eight rounds, Ni Hua has claimed the first place with one round to go.

GM Mihail Marin took another big scalp after beating Alexey Dreev in round six. Today, in another English opening, his victim was Jan Gustafsson. Marin is now sharing the second place with Almasi.

Ni Hua

Round 8 results:

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

Round 9 pairings:

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

Round 8 standings:

1. GM Ni Hua (CHN 2710) - 6.5
2-3. GM Mihail Marin (ROM 2556) and GM Zoltan Almasi (HUN 2663) - 5.0
4. GM Alexey Dreev (RUS 2670) - 4.5
5-7. GM Jan Gustafsson (GER 2634), GM Konstantin Landa (RUS 2613) and GM Manuel Leon Hoyos (MEX 2535) - 4.0
8-9. IM Luca Shytaj (IM 2472) and IM Niccolo Ronchetti (ITA 2414) - 2.5
10. GM Miso Cebalo (CRO 2493) - 2.0

Round 5 report

Tournament website