International News Today - April 21, 2011

In San Sebastian, 40 year old IM Javier Moreno Ruiz sports a one point lead over the field with two rounds to go. The Spaniard is ranked 14th nationally and went over 2500 for the 1st time in the latter half of 2010. His score of 6.5/7 would put him well on his way to a GM norm, but he will have to be paired against a GM in round 9 to get in the minimum 3 GM requirement. Viktor Korchnoi is one of 9 players with 5.5

Canadians Kevin Spraggett and Leon Piasetski had mixed results in today's double round action and both now have 4.5. Play ends Saturday.

Two rounds in Mexico today. In the early game Mark Bluvshtein won and now has 2. Anton Kovalyov was held to a draw and is now 1/2 pt behind the leaders. Two rounds again tomorrow. In the later game Mark drew and Anton won. Both are now 1/2 pt out of the lead. Ten players share 1st. Tomorrow Mark is black against Henry Panesso Rivera (2351) and Anton is black against Alonso Zapata (2477).

At St Louis, the final round of the preliminary has finished and we have the following siuation:
A - Kamsky 5, Shulman 4.5
B - Hess 5.5, Onischuk & Shankland 4. Rapid play-off for 2nd tomorrow.
Women's - Krush 5.5, Baginskaite, Abrahamyan 4.5, Zatonskih, Foisor 4. Rapid play-off for 4th tomorrow. Semi-finals start Saturday.