During the third round the most intense game was at the central table between Kasparov and Bareev. Employing the French Defence Bareev used an exchanging variation that had previously caused the World Champion some problems. Kasparov enterprisingly sacrificed two pawns for a strong initiative . Bareev responded by returning the extra material in an attempt to diffuse the attack.

This was not entirely successful and apparently Kasparov missed a win aruond the 33rd move. Bareev succeeded in obtaining the drawn endgame of rook +knight against two rooks by eliminating all of the Champions pawns, but later blundered his knight in the simplified position.

The game between Vladimir Kramnik and Nigel Short featured an irregular queen`s pawn opening with Kramnik obtaining a slight edge. Attempting to exploit Short`s somewhat retarded development the Russian embarked upon a combination which , however , should not have caused his opponent too many difficulties. The Englishman erred , allowing white to obtain a technically winning endgame. After considerable resistance, when Short for a white appeared close to draw, Kramnik eventually broke through.

Boris Gelfand adopted the Petrosjan`s variation against Veselin Topalov`s Queen Indian Defence. The bulgarian grand master entered the middlegame with a superior position which gradually increased in strength. However, in the time trouble both sides missed opportunities Gelfand to win and Topalov to draw. The bulgarian made the last and decisive mistake on the final move of the time control .Enabling Gelfand to polish of the game nicely.

The situation after the third round was:
Kasparov , Kramnik -2,5;
Bareev-1,5;
Gelfand, Short-1,
Topalov - 0,5.

On the 14th of June the Open tournament`97 began in Novgorod. It can be called the 9th Cub of Russia. 63 chess players participated there from Russia, Uzbekistan, Latvia, America, Ukraine, Azerbaijan. Among them are 18 grand masters and 10 International chess masters. Each chess player paid 100$ to participate in the tournament . The tournament will be conducted over 9 rounds according to the Swiss system.