2020 Australian Championship - Day 8

Round 8 of the 2020 Australian Chess Championship saw two challengers fall away, and tournament leader GM Temur Kuybokarov extend his lead to 1.5 points. Kuybokarov inflicted the tournaments first defeat on IM Igor Bjelobrk, going into a Rook and Bishop ending a pawn up, and converting that to a win. On board 2 FM Chris Wallis also suffered his first loss of the tournament, losing to IM Junta Ikeda. This propelled Ikeda into second place on 5.5/8, where he was joined by IM Brodie McClymont, who drew a very entertaining game with IM Brandon Clarke.
With Kuybokarov having played the next 6 players below him, his round 9 opponent is IM Stephen Solomon. Indeed most of the players in the leading groups have already played each other, so the final three rounds may see some odd pairings.
In the Australian Reserves Championship joint leaders Kevin Sheldrick and David Spuler face each other in what could be the decisive game of the tournament. Sheldrick has done well to reach 7/8, as he started the event with a loss in round 1. Nathan Hibberd is in third place on 6.5, followed by a large group of players on 6.