Grandmaster Victor Mikhalevski: Born in Gomel, Belarus in 1972, he started to learn chess at the age of 5. Today, Grandmaster Mikhalevski is one the most active players in the professional chess circuit. He resides in Israel and some of his biggest titles include winning the Israeli Under 20 Championship in 1991 and 1992, the 2005 Lake George Open, the 2005 Montreal International, the 2006 Seattle Slugfest Invitational, and the 2007 Calvia Open by scoring an incredible 7 of 7 in the first 7 rounds against 5 Grandmasters with an average rating of 2522. He first broke the elite 2600 rating mark in January 2008, and he will break it again in October 2008.
Round 6 matchups:
Becerra – Mikhalevski
Kritz – Onischuk
Pentala – Miton
Stefansson – Akobian
Kaidanov – Perelshteyn
Standings after round 5:
1. Mikhalevski, Victor GM 2592 ISR 3.5
2-5. Kritz, Leonid GM 2610 GER 3.0
Akobian, Varuzhan GM 2610 USA 3.0
Onischuk, Alexander GM 2670 USA 3.0
Becerra, Julio GM 2598 USA 3.0
6. Pentala, Harikrishna GM 2668 IND 2.5
7-8. Kaidanov, Gregory GM 2605 USA 2.0
Miton, Kamil GM 2580 POL 2.0
9-10. Perelshteyn, Eugene GM 2555 USA 1.5
Stefansson, Hannes GM 2566 ISL 1.5
I see cracks in the water bottle!