Doha: Top seed Anish Giri of Holland will clash Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in the seventh round match of the Qatar Masters Open 2014 here yesterday.
The clash between the two promises to be an interesting dual.
Leader at the end of the sixth round Giri is the only player to have a perfect record in the championship having won all his six matches and has six points in his kitty.
On the other hand the Russian former world champion did not have a the best of the starts in the championship and currently has five points from six.
Yesterday the 20-year-old from Holland defeated Nils Grandelius of Sweden while Kramnik defeated compatriot Sanan Sjugirov.
Meanwhile many chess fans have been following the twitter handle of Qatar Masters Open @Qatar_Masters to update the progress of their favourite players.
“@anishgiri you’re a monster! You’ve made it look really easy to defeat a GM!,” wrote one fan on twitter after his sixth consecutive victory in the Doha tournament.
“@anishgiri ..... Six wins in a row in @Qatar_Masters...... Go for the clean sweep and make us proud,” another fan wrote.
In today’s top pairing of the seventh round Kramnik (5) takes on Giri (6), while Mikhailo Oleksienko (4.5) faces Evgeny Tomashevsky (4.5).
The other top pairs are Yuriy Kryvoruchko (4.5) vs Sam Shankland (4.5) and Yu Yangi (4.5) against Aleksandr Lenderman (4.5).
The tournament is being conducted according to the Swiss System of nine rounds and if necessary a play-off. The event will end on December 4. Some of the high profile players are taking part in the event including 92 grandmasters, of the 154 players taking part. The total prize money is $110,000. The first place winner will get $25,000. First place for ladies is $5,000.
The Peninsula
