Canadian Closed - the games and players

[Hans Jung]

Keleberda declined Mendes exchange sacrifice. I wonder what he saw. I think I would have taken it.

[Hans Jung]

Shawn threatens mate in two.

Its over. Shawn has won.

[Hans Jung]

And Razvan ends up three pawns up in the endgame so Bator resigns.

[Hans Jung]

I think Nikolay missed 29...d4

Nikolay missed 45....Qe1+ trading queens and a clear win in the endgame.

Nikolay finally exchanges queens and its a clear win in the endgame.

[Hans Jung]

Svitlana Demchenko wins the key game to stay clear first going into the last round!

[Hans Jung]

Going into the last round Nikolay remains a half point ahead of Shawn for first. Its clearly a two horse race, after Razvan eliminated Bator from contention for first, but Nikolay remains in the drivers seat.

[Hans Jung]

Last round pairings Bd1 IM Nikolay Noritsyn vs GM Razvan Preotu, GM Shawn Rodrigue Lemieux vs IM Aaron Mendes, CM Dzmitry Kalinin vs IM Raymond Kaufman, GM Bator Sambuev vs FM Ryan Yang

[Hans Jung]

Last round pairings Women's Bd1 WIM Yunshan Li vs WIM Svitlana Demchenko, WCM Ashley Qian vs WFM Laksshana Deepak

[Hans Jung]

Lots of casualties in the closed - players not finishing - grueling tournament.

[Hans Jung]

Most of the games on the top boards in the last round have entered endgames which I am enjoying.

[Hans Jung]

The exceptions are Noritsyn - Preotu and Kalinin-Kaufman. Kalinin has just fired the tactical shot 31.Rc8!? in his opponents time pressure.

Free range tactics in the Noritsyn - Preotu middlegame.

[Hans Jung]

Ethan Song beat IM Thanh Nha Duong in a nice endgame display sacrificing the exchange for a dominating knight.

[Hans Jung]

Koosha Jaferian ended a tough tournament with a win.

[Hans Jung]

IM Raymond Kaufman prevailed when his opponent committed positional suicide.

[Hans Jung]

Congratulations to Ryan Yang for holding GM Sambuev to a draw as Black to complete a fine tournament.