No changes at the top

Even in the ninth round, the games on the top boards finished without a winner. Matthias Bluebaum quickly drew with Nisipeanu and maintained a half-point advantage over rivals. The Saric-Sargissian game ended with the same result. Lagarde won an important point in the match against Shevchenko. Gadimbayli defeated Navara and eliminated him from the fight for the highest spots. Bluebaum leads with 7.5 points, followed by Sargissian, Gadimbayli and Lagarde with 7 points.