Photo Jennifer Shahade

by Jennifer Shahade

Going into the last day of the top section at the World Open (June 28-July 4, King of Prussia, PA) there are five GMs tied for first with 5.5/7: Varuzhan Akobian, Leonid Yudasin, Hikaru Nakamura, Chanda Sandipan and Alexander Stripunsky. Stripunsky, who began the tournament with 4-0 recovered from a fifth round loss to Varuzhan Akobian with a win over recent father GM David Fridman.

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The seventh round was relatively uneventful. All four leaders drew on boards one and two, allowing Chanda Sandipan of India to catch up with a win over Eugene Perelshteyn.

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In round 7, Hikaru Nakamura drew against Alexander Stripunsky while Leonid Yudasin took a quick draw against Varuzhan Akobian.

17-year-old Teddy Coleman (2254) is on the norm hunt in the Open section. He defeated Lubomir Ftacnik (2606), the highest rated GM he ever beat, in round six and holding Lars B. Hansen (2704) to a draw in round seven. He will be attending Harvard in the fall.

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Teddy Coleman

Photo Gallery
Tatev Abrahamyan and Iryna Zenyuk analyze.


On the top board of the U2400 section, Ilya Filger and Pedram Atoufi drew, leaving the field wide open with seven players with 5.5/7.


Leonid Yudasin often has religious conflicts with major opens, but this year's World Open three-day schedule (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday) presented no problems.