Leaders after 8 rounds:
| Rk. | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | ||||
| 1 | GM | Rakhmanov Aleksandr | RUS | 2559 | 7,0 | |||
| 2 | GM | Anastasian Ashot | ARM | 2566 | 6,5 | |||
| 3 | GM | Aleksandrov Aleksej | BLR | 2616 | 6,5 | |||
| 4 | GM | Amin Bassem | EGY | 2551 | 6,0 | |||
| 5 | GM | Andriasian Zaven | ARM | 2585 | 6,0 | |||
| 6 | GM | Ovetchkin Roman | RUS | 2548 | 6,0 | |||
| 7 | GM | Savchenko Stanislav | UKR | 2526 | 6,0 | |||
| 8 | GM | Filippov Anton | UZB | 2583 | 6,0 | |||
| 9 | GM | Bocharov Dmitry | RUS | 2613 | 6,0 | |||
| 10 | GM | Melkumyan Hrant | ARM | 2530 | 6,0 | |||
| 11 | GM | Simonian Hrair | ARM | 2520 | 6,0 | |||
| 12 | GM | El Gindy Essam | EGY | 2501 | 6,0 | |||
| 13 | GM | Drozdovskij Yuri | UKR | 2620 | 6,0 | |||
| 14 | IM | Laxman R R | IND | 2501 | 5,5 | |||
| 15 | GM | Kengis Edvins | LAT | 2543 | 5,5 | |||
| 16 | GM | Salem A R Saleh | UAE | 2469 | 5,5 | |||
| 17 | GM | Ghaem Maghami Ehsan | IRI | 2589 | 5,5 | |||
| 18 | GM | Agamaliev Gamil | AZE | 2490 | 5,5 | |||
| 19 | FM | Saeed Ishaq | UAE | 2188 | 5,5 | |||
| 20 | WGM | Galojan Lilit | ARM | 2338 | 5,5 | |||
| 21 | GM | Sturua Zurab | GEO | 2513 | 5,5 | |||
| 22 | Yousif Ammar Mohd | SUD | 2061 | 5,5 | ||||
| 23 | FM | Al-Tarbosh Ward | SYR | 2173 | 5,5 |
Full standings here.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
It will be an exciting finish.