Leko On Top
By Arvind Aaron

Peter Leko of Hungary wrested sole lead from fellow 1979-born Jan Gustfasson of Germany in the Sparkassen Chess Meeting at Dortmund, Germany on July 5.

Leko had won a similar 8-player all-play-all in 1999 as a teenager. He leads with four points from six rounds. One round remains to be played on July 7.

On Saturday, Leko accepted a central pawn on move 21 with the black pieces in a queen's Indian defence and defended the queenless middlegame to cash a 45-move win.

Sunday's pairings are great. All four players who are gaining Elo are facing each other and the losers are taking on each other. Leko v Naiditch and Nepomniachtchi v Gustafsson will be the key games to decide the title.

The results (round six): J. Gustafsson (Ger) 3.5 lost to Peter Leko (Hun) 4, S. Mamedyarov (Aze) 3 drew with V. Ivanchuk (Ukr) 3, V. Kramnik (Rus) 3 drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus) 3.5, A. Naiditch (Ger) 3 bt Loek Van Wely (Ned) 1.

Home                                                            Published on 07^th July, 2008