There was a photo finish at the Gibralter tournament, as Nigel Short was able to catch Hou Yifan with a last round victory. The two game play-off went in Short’s favour 1.5-0.5. This was surely Hou’s finest moment in mixed play. Tied for 3rd were Michael Adams, Shak Mamedyarov, Viktor Bologan, and Emil Sutovsky.

The Moscow Open was won by Russian GM Igor Lysyj, closely followed by more Russian GM’s Ernesto Inarkiev and Dmitriy Kokarev, and Untitled !! Urii Eliseev (RUS). The Young GM’s RR event was won by Ukranian GM Yaroslav Zherebukh (that Ukranian guy from the World Cup). Second and third went to Maxim Matkalov (RUS) and Ray Robson (USA), respectively.

The Aeroflot Open (Moscow) is now underway. It seemed that on the top boards yesterday, the top players were winning with white, but drawing with black .... so that should make for a good dynamic in today’s round. Denis Khismatullin is the only player in the clubhouse with 2 points, but as I write there are another 5 or 6 games are still in play. Lots of draws in the first two days (top 4 boards today).