Wow! You don't see blunders from Shabalov very often, especially that early in the game. This was cerebral play from Yermo; he played an unusual variation of the Sicilian & caught Shabalov "napping". It looks like Shabalov isn't too familiar w/ this variation. You've got to hand it to Yermo, he did his homework. I'm going to predict that Onischuk will win the tournament. I also think Kaidanov has a good chance of winning. Dark horse? I think Perelshteyn fits the bill & will play better than his 9th highest ranking in the tournament.

Thanks for including the extended line of play in the moves list. Instructive game.

I love this approach to the Sicilian...Nice and positional...I wouldn't mind playing that way.  As a matter of fact, one time I did play against a Sicilian that began e4 c5 Nc3 Nc6 and I played Bb5.  It was positional in the beginning, but I castled queenside and opened the g and h files, checkmating the king on the h file.  A neat approach, simple and good, because you still have the option of an early f4.