The second round had the twelve winners of the first round all paired against eachother. Since we now have six live boards, all action at the top boards could be followed nicely. Clearly the game of the round was the one on the first board. Young IM Jose Rafael Gascon Del Nogal from Venezuela played a very inspired attacking game to take down the number one rated player of the tournament, Gergely-Andras-Gyula Szabo. The key move of the game was 20.g4, which gives White nice attacking chances on the kingside. In fact, Black may have to look for an improvement earlier on.

On the second board, GM Sipke Ernst slowly but surely created a nasty bind versus IM Anna Zozulia, building up a space advantage for the endgame. Black probably should have included 26...h5, with a very complex fight ahead. Be careful relying on the computer engine analysing these positions, since it seems to constantly change its mind. At the end of the game the black rook got trapped.

WGM Katerina Nemcova and IM Edwin van Haastert also had quite a tense battle on the third board. The Dutchman sacrificed the exchange for a big passed pawn on b2. He should have followed up more energetically though, since taking on a2 allowed White to neutralise everything. In the end it was Black who had to be careful to make a draw. So the three top rated players only scored 50% this round. On the other three live boards it was the favourite who won. An instructive moment was Damion Davy's 22...Nxg3?, whereas simply keeping the knight on e4 would have been perfectly fine for Black.