A review of the 7th round.

The most important game of the round was the encounter between Fabian Baenziger and Moritz Weishaeutel. Already in the opening Fabian managed to surprise his opponent and achieve a big advantage, which he confidently brought to victory.

11.Nfd2! f5 12.Nxe4 fxe4?! (Better was 12...dxe4) 13.Ra2! Refutes Black's play. Be6 14.Rd2 Bg5 15. e3 Ne5 16.Nc3 Nc4 The black center collapses. If 16...Nd3, then 17.Nxe4 dxe4 18.Bxe4+-. 15.Rxd5 Bxd5 18.Nxd5 Nd6 19.Bb2 0-0 20.Dg4 Rc8 21.h4 Bh6 22.De6++- Black is totally disorganised and lacks any counterplay. In the 43rd move White brought his advantage to a full point. Winning the second game in a row put Fabian in joint first place (together with grandmaster Krasenkow whom he plays tomorrow). Another young German FM Tobias Koelle, playing black against Grandmaster Vaisser, missed an excellent chance to catch up with the leaders.

Here he played 27...Rf8? After 28.Nxd5 Nxd5 29.Bxd5 Rxd5 30.Rxd5 Bxd5 31.Qxd5 Qxf4 32.Nd7 White returned a pawn and a draw became inevitable. Instead Tobias could keep his advantage with 27...Kf8! and 28.Nxd5 would be met with Ne4!. Anothe good idea was immediate 27...d4! After 28.Bxf7+ Kf8 29.Qg3 dxc3 30.Rxd8 Rxd8 31.Rxd8+ Ke7 32.Rd1 Ne4 33.Qh4+ g5! Black is winning.

He is now in third place with Moritz Weishautel and GM Khenkin (all with 4 points). With only 2 rounds left, we are in for a dramatic final.