pring Chess Classic: Xiong wins, Cuban Bruzon fifth

HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 15 (acn) American Jeffery Xiong won the 2018 Spring Chess Classic held in Saint Louis, USA, while Cuban Lazaro Bruzon ranked fifth.

Xiong totaled 6.5 points from possible nine and in the final round beat his countryman Alexander Onischuk, thus taking an advantage of 1.5 units over the also American Samuel Shankland, who finished second.
The latter defeated Indian Surya Ganguly and reached 5 units, same amount of Polish Dariusz Swiercz, who ranked third after winning over the local Yarolav Zherebukh.
Bruzon amounted 4.5 points after signing peace with the defending champion, American Varuzhan Akobian.
The game ended in 30 moves of a French Defense and was the seventh draw of the Caribbean GM, who also achieved a win and a loss.
Akobian, far below his performance a year ago, now totaled five units and ranked fourth.
The standings were completed in the following way: French Romain Edouard (6th with 4.5 points), Onischuk (7th - 4), Zherebukh (8th - 4), Turkish Alexander Ipatov (9th - 3.5) and Ganguly (10th - 3).
The 2018 Spring Chess Classic is a 10-player round-robin tournament which took place from March 6-14 and granted more than $30,000 in prize money.