YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–Alexander Motylev and Alexei Iljushin of Russia–who led the competition after nine rounds–did not take risks in the tenth round on Monday and quickly ended their games in draw.
Leading Armenian chess-players were strongly determined to win their games and all eventually succeeded. Levon Aronian beat Davit Arutiunian of Georgia–and Andranik Matikozian and Gabriel Sargissian–who played with black pieces–beat Alexander Moiseenko and Van Den Doel respectively.
Sopio Tkeshelashvili of Georgia made a serious bid to win the female competition by beating Nelly Aginian in the tenth round. Tkeshelashvili was followed by her teammate Rusudan Goletiani and Jovanka Houska. Only Lilit Mkrtchian and Lile Tsalugelashvili could then hope to place among the top three.