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Hastings is moving in a very peculiar direction. Usually, in Swiss tournaments, the number of leaders drops as more rounds are played. But at Hastings, the number of leaders in increasing as a result of which we now have 8 leaders ! Only Greet, Mamedov and Lalic could win on the top boards. Leading results: HEBDEN,Mark (4) ½ - ½ MALAKHATKO,Vadim (4) CHATALBASHEV,Boris (4) ½ - ½ CONQUEST,Stuart (4) NEVEROV,Valeriy (4) ½ - ½ PERT,Nicholas (4) GREET,Andrew (3½) 1 - 0 GEORGIEV,Vladimir (3½) JONES,Gawain (3½) ½ - ½ RENDLE,Thomas (3½) BOGNER,Sebastian (3½) 0 - 1 MAMEDOV,Nidjat (3½) TAHIROV,Farhad (3½) ½ - ½ RADOVANOVIC,Jovica (3½) PAVLOVIC,Milos (3½) ½ - ½ HOUSKA,Jovanka (3½) ROY CHOWDHURY,Saptars (3½) ½ - ½ BINDRICH,Falko (3½) LALIC,Bogdan (3½) 1 - 0 COLLINS,Sam (3½) Standings after Round 6: Malakhatko, Lalic, Pe...

There are now six leaders at the top of the leader board. Overnight sole leader, Hebden was held to a draw by Bindrich Falko. Malakhatko continued his impressive comeback after the shock first round loss. He has now won four games in a row. Chatalbashev beat Glenn Flear. Stuart Conquest and Nicholas Pert won against Deep Sengupta and Abu Sufian Shakil. Houska held GM Gawain Jones to a creditable draw. Results of Round 5: 1 BINDRICH,Falko (3) HEBDEN,Mark (3½) 0.5-0.5 2 MALAKHATKO,Vadim (3) HASLINGER,Stewart (3) 1-0 3 FLEAR,Glenn (3) CHATALBASHEV,Boris (3) 0-1 4 GEORGIEV,Vladimir (3) LALIC,Bogdan (3) 0.5-0.5 5 HOUSKA,Jovanka (3) JONES,Gawain (3) 0.5-0.5 6 MAMEDOV,Nidjat (3) GORMALLY,Daniel (3) 0.5-0.5 7 BATES,Richard (3) NEVEROV,Valeriy (3) 0-1 8 CONQUEST,Stuart (3) SENGUPTA,Deep (3) 1-0 9 MARUSENKO,Peter (3) TAH...

The pace of upsets subsided somewhat in the second round of the Hastings Chess Congress Tournament. But the Indians continued their rampage. Deep Sengupta beat fifth seed Nidjat Mamedov, Saptarishi Roy Chowdhury drew Stuart Conquest, S Satyapragyan drew against Pert Nicholas. In other notable games, Farhad Tahirov beat Jovanka Houska. Mark Hebden was held to a draw by Andrew Greet. JONES,Gawain beat Poobalasingam to rise up in the standings list.

The Hastings Chess Congress tournament has started and will last until 6th of January, 2008. There was a big upset in the first round. Top seed Vadim Malakhatko was beaten by Sebastian Bogner. The seeds 2-5 were also held to draws. This includes Gawain Jones who drew Simon Knott. Sanity was restored by seeds 5-9 who beat their opponents as expected.

Tournaments to be held in the near future: Hastings Chess Congress - 28 December 2007 to 6 January 2008 (David Howell,Stuart Conquest, Glenn Flear, Danny Gormally, Valeriy Neverov, Mark Hebden, Nicholas Pert,Safarli Eltaj Nidjat, Mamedov, others ). Contact Stuart Reuben. 50th Torneo di Capodanno Reggio Emilia - December 29th 2007 - January 6th 2008 (Almasi Zoltan, Landa Konstantin, Harikrishna Pentala, Gashimov Vugar, Navara David, Tivjakov Sergej, Ni Hua, Korchnoi Viktor, Marin Mihail, Godena Michele) 6th Parsvnath International Open Chess Tournament New Delhi, 12-20 January 2008 http://www.delhichess.com/