For the  4th time, 12/16  of the games in Group A were decisive (round one had 13/16).  Perhaps the combination of attacking players and the 30-move "no draw" rule has produced these results.  The games are not only exciting, but of good quality. In this round, Alexander Onischuk updended Dmitry Schneider to hold an impressive 6-1 mark and top spot in the group.

The Gurevich-Akobian game proved that one can never relax in a winning position. Dmitry Gurevich had admitted in an earlier round he may have had a bit of luck against Alexander Goldin. However, in this game against Varuzhan Akobian, the luck was against him! Akobian is making quite a run since his first round thrashing at the hands of Emory Tate.

Gurevich pressed the initiative throughout and Akobian's blockaded isolated queen pawn was a liability. In order to prevent losing it, he had to allow Gurevich's rook a dominating presence on the board. Gurevich later won another pawn and was sailing to victory until he made the fateful decision of tucking his white king in the h1-corner and advancing his passed pawns.  Akobian's rook and king raced up the board and miraculously conjured up a unstoppable mating attack!

As predicted Hikaru Nakamura is making his run and defeated Nick DeFirmian for his fourth win in a row. He will face the beleaguered Gurevich in round 8. In DeFimian-Nakamura, it appeared that black was able to keep dynamism in the game while white was shuffling pieces about the board. Nakamura blasted his way through on the queenside, then penetrated white rear guard then chased the white king out in the open where it was finally mated. In Fernandez-Kraai, we saw a similar French game with a different result!

Emory Tate has had chances. After his stirring win over Akobian in round one, he has battled to gain consistency. His game against Gregory Serper was another example of Tate being within moves of gaining a decisive edge and then having the tables turned… his games against Rusudan Goletiani and Daniel Fernandez were bitter lessons in this regard.

To the shock of everyone, he started with the opening salvo of 1.b4!? He was able to obtain an advantage on the queenside after an imposing 19.b5. Tate pressed with his two bishops when Serper decided to sacrifice the exchange to relieve pressure.

Spectators at the chessclub felt that black had adequate compensation, and white had to solve one main problem. The one problem with Tate's position was a hemmed in rook on h1. As fate would have it, that rook never moved in the entire game. When Tate attempted to free his rook with 30.Kg1, Serper began his counterplay with the two bishops.

At a critical moment, Tate played 33.Qa4?? (earlier 31.Qa4??) overlooking a tricky combination that would win a piece. After 33…Qxa4 34.Nxa4 Bb3 35.Ra1 Nd5 36.Ra3 Bxa4 37.Rxa4 b5! wins a piece. Certainly a tough loss for Tate as he will look to close the tournament on +1. (Read Serper's commentary on the game and about Emory Tate)

In Tate-Serper, white plays 33.Qa4?? Qxa4 34.Nxa4 Bb3 35.Ra1 Nd5 36.Ra3 Bxa4 37.Rxa4 b5! winning a piece.

Shulman-Kaidanov set off fireworks

Perhaps one of the most mind-boggling games occurred in Shulman-Kaidanov when complexities reached a peak very early on. The complicated Botvinnik variation has been analyzed thoroughly, but there are still a few adherents… Kaidanov is one of them. ICC spectators had no idea what was happening even though much of the first 15 moves is known theory. After that, the board exploded and pieces zipped around the board. This is a game you have to see to believe… no further comments!

The women took a beating in round seven and all gave up points except for Anna Zatonskih's draw with Julio Becerra. Meanwhile, Stephen Muhammad played a nice game against Hana Itkis' Benko Gambit. Muhammad usually employs the London System, but this time he went into the once-feared and often avoided gambit.

Muhammad did decline the gambit and played the more solid approach by building a strong center. Itkis seemed lost for a plan when she began to shuffle her pieces around. Determined to get counterplay, she sacrificed a pawn for the two bishops, but was unable to get enough compensation and Muhammad wrapped up the point in a clean performance.

Muhammad will face the out-of-form Julio Becerra in the penultimate round eight… still a tough assignment. However, he actually defeated Becerra enroute to his second IM norm. Stay tuned!