While i thought yesterdays games were fairly cautious, today saw a number of hard fought an exciting finishes. Before the start of the 2nd day the Arbiters make predictions about the number of expected playoff games, and this time we all overestimated the number. Of the 32 matches only 11 were drawn, with 21 matches finishing decisively.
I handled matches 2,4,6,8,10 and 12, and all matches finished with a clear winner. In some cases it was one player outplaying his opponent, but in others the pendulum of success swung back and forward. Michael Admas made the fatal choice on winning a piece instead of keeping the exchange, and was swamped by charging pawns. Short of time Giri blundered against Donchenko and Keymer found a nice queen sacrifice to finish off Pranesh.
But the game of the round was between Wojtaszek and Fedoseev, where Fedoseev chose a line in the Owens Defence which has been known to lose for Black since I was a boy. Wojtaszek was +2 after 5 moves but the way he played the attack was very interesting to follow.
So onto tie-breaks once again. While faster and faster games might not be the best way to determine the better player, they are very entertaining to watch. So again, set the alarm for 8:30pm (Canberra time) and tune in for the action
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