The third round was played on Saturday evening and was a most exciting one. All three games on the top boards were eventually drawn, so nobody is on 100% anymore, but what a great fights. On the first board Dutch GM Sipke Ernst just couldn't help himself and gambitted a pawn with Black as early as move 7 against Cuban IM Humberto Pecorelli Garcia. Things quickly got out of control, and while White was objectively on top for most of the game, the game was always very complicated. Even in the final position White still has good chances in the knight ending, but Pecorelli must have been very tired as well after such a long tense game and offered a draw.

On the second board, the game between Cuban IM Jose Luis Vilela De Acuna and Idonesian IM Irine Kharisma Sukandar knew a much quieter start. Vilela was playing for a small positional edge, but Sukandar knew what she was doing and fully equalized. When she started to play for more, that quickly backfired, but she showed her class by drawing the endgame a pawn down. Dutch IM Edwin van Haastert had neglected the move 5...cxd4 in his preparation, after which the man of the moment, IM Jose Rafael Gascon Del Nogal from Venezuela, quickly equalized. After a mass exchange of pieces, the draw was agreed.

WGM Katerina Nemcova joined the group of leaders on 2,5 out of 3 by beating IM Ariel Marichal Gonzalez in a very cool attacking game. The number one seed Gergely-Andras-Gyula Szabo didn't quite recover from his tough loss in the morning, and was convincingly held to a draw by Orlando Husbands from Bardabos, who is the best performer of the region so far with a 2367 tpr. The players from Suriname are gathering on 1 out 3, which is according to Elo expectation. They still have every chance to beat some good players and gain more international experience in this great tournament.