With one round left to play GM Temur Kybokarov holds a half point lead in the 2025 Oceania Zonal. Bouncing back after his round 4 loss, Kuybokarov has reeled off 4 straight wins, taking down FM Alphaeus And and FM Stirling Bayaca in todays rounds. In outright 2nd is Chris Wallis, who beat IM David Cannon in round 7 and drew with FM Luis Chan in round 8. Fittingly, Wallis and Kuybokarov will face each other in the final round, which begins at 10am Melbourne time, tomorrow.
In equal third are 6 players on 6/8. While 1st place is out of reach for this group, a 2nd or 3rd place finish is an IM norm for the non IM's in this group.
WGM Julia Ryjanova leads the Women Zonal on 7.5/8, half a point ahead of WFM Zhiyuan Shen. As both players have already met (drawing their game), the destination of the qualifying place for the World Cup will depend on their final round games. Ryjanova is playing Elaina Qiang, while Shen plays WCM Luna Xu.
While a few players have already scored enough points for direct titles, the last round will determine who else will earn them. Interestingly, the final round pairings see players in the open hoping to reach 6/9 (an FM title), up against players who already the this, or a higher title. So expect some fighting chess in the final round, which can be seen from 10:30am on Lichess.
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