The sixth round produced less fireworks than usual but we still had a nice game when Sara Khadem beat Mikhail Antipov with the black pieces. The players now gather their forces on a rest day before the final push.

Antipov tried hard to punish Sara’s …Ng4 move with a pawn push in the center and a pawn sacrifice but it simple looked like it didn’t work. Sara kept a very cool head and refuted all attacking attempts, sacrificing back a piece that was offered a few moves earlier and leaving the white position in ruins in just 24 moves.

The games of the 6th round:

6th round results

Standings after 6 rounds

7th round pairing

Ahmed Adly with his uncomprimising style will surely try to play for a win against Sara who also needs to win to have chances for a GM norm. She requires 2.5 out of the remaining 3 rounds.

The Russian Lomasov and Antipov meet. Lomasov only needs 1.5 out of 3 to get his final GM norm so a draw seems not completely out of the question, potentially opening the door for Adly.

Results and standings on chess-results