The Week in Chess

Liren Ding defeated Richard Rapport on the black side of a very sharp King's Indina. Ding grabbed an exchange when already standing better and with Ne5 as a very decent alternative. After this he came under a fierce attack but calculated well and Rapport gave up lots of material to win black's queen and once black co-ordinated he went on to the win.

Ian Nepomniachtchi won a Bb5 Sicilian against Alexander Moiseenko. A positional game turned tactical and eventually Nepomniachtchi won pawns to take into a winning rook and pawn ending.

Etienne Bacrot and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave drew a Gruenfeld that quickly converted to a symmetrical Double Rook ending.

Round 8 Standings: Ding Liren 13pts, Bacrot 12pts, Vachier 11pts, Moiseenko 10pts, Nepomniachtchi 8pts, Rapport 4pts.

Round 9 31st July 2013 1pm BST Pairings: Rapport-Bacrot, Ding Liren-Nepomniachtchi, Moiseenko-Vachier-Lagrave.