Master Report 7

Time is flying when you're in a chess tournament and by now seven rounds have already been played in the Master Tournament. IM Thomas Willemze consolidated his lead by beating Romario Sanches. The Surinam Champion certainly had his chances though, most notably the simple 32...Bxb5, when only White is in danger of losing.

FM Ryan Harper did a good job staying in the Dutchman's slipstream by beating the strong Cuban IM Luis Lazaro Aguero Jimenez in a pretty attacking game. Trinidad and Tobago's number one was happy to present the game to the audience in the commentary room and now needs 1.5 points from the remaining 2 rounds for his first IM norm. GM Jha Sriram did not manage to win his game, because IM Gerardo Lebredo Zaragoitia defended very stubbornly throughout the game.

Even more stubborn defence was shown by FM Roger Matoewi, who happily defended his position with Black against IM Jose Luis Vilela De Acuna for no less than 188 moves, before the draw was signed. WGM Alina L’Ami successfully executed a classical dark-squared strategy to beat FM Dewperkash Gajadin.

1st Srefidensi standings after round 7:
1 Willemze (6)
2 Harper (5.5)
3 Sriram (5)
4 L'Ami (4.5)
5-6 Aguero Jimenez, Vilela De Acuna (4)
7 Lebredo Zaragoitia (2.5)
8 Matoewi (2)
9 Sanches (1.5)
10 Gajadin (0)

IM Merijn van Delft