Photo courtesy www.fideamerica.com

by Jennifer Shahade

With just one round to go in the Continental Championships (Cali, Columbia July 10-20), Varuzhan Akobian and Alexander Ivanov are in a 4-way tie for first with 7.5/10, along with Julio Granda Zuniga and Darcy Lima. Today Ivanov plays Darcy Lima from Brazil while Varuzhan faces off against the young Emilio Cordova.

Continental Championships
Standings after ten rounds

1-4- Varuzhan Akobian, Alexander Ivanov, Julio Granda Zuniga and Darcy Lima.
5-8- Giovanni Vescovi, Sergey Kudrin, Emilio Cordova and Pablo Lafuente.
9-22- Jaan Ehlvest, Dmitry Gurevich, Boris Gulko

In round 9, Ivanov defeated Emilio Cordova on the White side of a French defense.

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In Round 10, Varuzhan won against the Colombian IM Alder Escobar Forero. In this nice attacking game, Varuzhan maximized the strength of all his pieces before coming in for the final kill with 32.Ne6!

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