1 February 2018
Five Players Lead in Gibraltar Before Last Round
Daniil Dubov shares 1st place.
Photo: Sophie Triay, Official website
Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Richard Rapport (Hungary), Levon Aronian (Armenia), and Daniil Dubov (Russia) are leading the race with 7 points in the main tournament of the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival after 9 rounds.
14 players, including the Russians Mikhail Antipov, Grigoriy Oparin, and Nikita Vitiugov, are half a point behind.
The following leaders' games will be played in round 10: Aronian - Nakamura, Vachier-Lagrave - Rapport, and Le Quang Liem - Dubov.
According to the Regulations, in the event of a tie for first place, there shall be a play-off. If there are four or fewer players tied for first place, there will be a speed knock-out play-off for the first prize of £25,000.
If three players tie for first place, the player with the highest performance rating will be seeded directly into the Final of the Play-Off; the other two players will contest the Semi-Final.
If more than four players tie for first place, the four players with the highest performance ratings shall qualify for the play-off to decide the first prize.
Round 10 pairings
Official website