Biel MTO 2021 R5: Karthikeyan takes sole lead 4.5/5

by Shahid Ahmed - 31/07/2021

Gata Kamsky maintained his sole lead 19.5 points at the conclusion of fourth round at 54th Biel International Chess Festival 2021 GMT. Nihal overcame adversity against Studer to salvage a draw. He is at fourth place 14.5 points. In the MTO section, Ganguly drew with Praggnanandhaa, although the former had a decent chance. Karthikeyan Murali beat the top seed, Salem Saleh, to take the sole lead 4.5/5. Sethuraman, Ganguly, Praggnanandhaa along with Eljanov and Banusz are in pursuit 4.0/5. Today is a rest day for MTO. Their Round 6 will be played tomorrow. GMT will have Blitz today and a rest day tomorrow. The standings will change a lot and Nihal would like to jump to the top of the points table. Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Nihal survives a scare

Nihal was in deep trouble against Swiss GM Noel Studer. The latter missed his opportunity and Nihal managed to save the game. Gata Kamsky drew with Boris Gelfand to maintain his lead at 19.5 points. Maxime Lagarde jumped to the second position 16.5 with a victory over Kirill Alekseenko who is at third place 14.5 points. Vincent Keymer scored the only other victory of the round against Alan Pichot.

Karthikeyan is playing some fine chess in this event | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

GMT R4: Studer - Nihal: 0.5-0.5

Nihal was in deep trouble against Studer.

Position after 24...bxc6

25.Qf6 would have made things extremely difficult for Black. 25...Qxf6 is forced then 26.exf6 Rg6 27.Rg3 and White is in complete control. The game continued 25.Rh4 allowed Black to prevent Qf6 with 25...Nd7

Nihal survived a scare against Studer | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

MTO R5: Salem - Karthikeyan: 0.5-0.5

Karthikeyan got himself a decisive advantage against Salem. Let's take a look at a sharp position.

Position after 27.Rd1

The c5-bishop is pinned and the d7-knight which is attacking it is also pinned. A lot of possibilities are there - Blockade, X-ray attack. Black can gain material in the above position. How?

Position after 31.Bd4

The game reached to another interesting position after 31.Bd4. Black cannot take the queen now because 31...Rxc2 is a blunder 32.Rb8+ Kh7 33.Rh8#. Find out the winning continuation for Black. Karthikeyan could not find the precise continuation, but he eventually managed to win the game and take sole lead 4.5/5.

Karthikeyan played a sharp game | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Praggnanandhaa - Ganguly: 0.5-0.5

Praggnanandhaa seemed to be in a bit of trouble against Ganguly.

Position after 21.fxe3

21...Ng3 could have made things quite difficult for White. The game continuation 21...Nc5 loosened the grip, and it eventually ended in a draw.

Highlights

Here is an interesting finish from MTO Round 5

GM Salem Saleh (UAE) lost to GM Karthikeyan Murali

Replay GMT Classical Round 4 games

Replay MTO Round 5 games

Photo Gallery

Nihal is eagerly awaiting the Blitz today | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Vincent Keymer (GER) defeated Alan Pichot (ARG) | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Gata Kamsky (USA) drew with Boris Gelfand (ISR) | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Maxime Lagarde (FRA) won against Kirill Alekseenko (RUS) | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

The GMT participants | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

The playing arena | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

GMT Classical Round 4 results

Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.
1	8	2581	GM	Studer Noel	½ - ½	GM	Nihal Sarin	2620	6
2	7	2591	GM	Keymer Vincent	1 - 0	GM	Pichot Alan	2630	5
3	1	2658	GM	Kamsky Gata	½ - ½	GM	Gelfand Boris	2675	4
4	2	2648	GM	Lagarde Maxime	1 - 0	GM	Alekseenko Kirill	2699	3

Details

Round 5 pairings

Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.
1	3	2699	GM	Alekseenko Kirill		GM	Studer Noel	2581	8
2	4	2675	GM	Gelfand Boris		GM	Lagarde Maxime	2648	2
3	5	2630	GM	Pichot Alan		GM	Kamsky Gata	2658	1
4	6	2620	GM	Nihal Sarin		GM	Keymer Vincent	2591	7

Details

GMT Overall standings

GMT Classical Scoring: Win - 4 points, Draw - 1.5 points and Loss - 0.

MTO Round 5 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Saleh Salem A.R.	2682	3½	0 - 1	3½	GM	Murali Karthikeyan	2606	12
2	11	GM	R Praggnanandhaa	2608	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2625	8
3	6	GM	Banusz Tamas	2631	3	1 - 0	3½	GM	Fedorchuk Sergey	2598	13
4	29	IM	Raja Harshit	2484	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Eljanov Pavel	2671	2
5	4	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2644	3	1 - 0	3	GM	Yuffa Daniil	2578	16
6	9	GM	Narayanan S.L.	2624	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	2555	20
7	17	GM	Wagner Dennis	2572	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Erdos Viktor	2614	10
8	3	GM	Donchenko Alexander	2652	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Valsecchi Alessio	2527	23
9	5	GM	Chithambaram Aravindh	2641	2½	0 - 1	2½	GM	Tang Andrew	2525	24
10	7	GM	Chigaev Maksim	2630	2½	1 - 0	2½	GM	Shchekachev Andrei	2515	26
11	30	IM	NR Vignesh	2428	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2589	14
12	15	GM	Gukesh Dommaraju	2578	2½	1 - 0	2½	IM	Unuk Laura	2407	32
13	28	IM	Kalyan Arjun	2503	2½	1 - 0	2½	GM	Dragnev Valentin	2569	18
14	19	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2567	2½	1 - 0	2½	FM	Papadiamandis Elliot	2363	38
15	21	GM	Korpa Bence	2536	2½	½ - ½	2½	IM	Bänziger Fabian	2392	34

Details

Round 6 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	12	GM	Murali Karthikeyan	2606	4½		4	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2644	4
2	2	GM	Eljanov Pavel	2671	4		4	GM	R Praggnanandhaa	2608	11
3	8	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2625	4		4	GM	Banusz Tamas	2631	6
4	17	GM	Wagner Dennis	2572	3½		3½	GM	Saleh Salem A.R.	2682	1
5	20	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	2555	3½		3½	GM	Chigaev Maksim	2630	7
6	22	GM	Kantor Gergely	2527	3½		3½	GM	Narayanan S.L.	2624	9
7	10	GM	Erdos Viktor	2614	3½		3½	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2567	19
8	24	GM	Tang Andrew	2525	3½		3½	GM	Fedorchuk Sergey	2598	13
9	15	GM	Gukesh Dommaraju	2578	3½		3½	IM	Kalyan Arjun	2503	28
10	27	GM	Budisavljevic Luka	2509	3		3	GM	Donchenko Alexander	2652	3
11	14	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2589	3		3	IM	Raja Harshit	2484	29
12	16	GM	Yuffa Daniil	2578	3		3	IM	NR Vignesh	2428	30
13	31	IM	Gschnitzer Adrian	2420	3		3	GM	Korpa Bence	2536	21
14	34	IM	Bänziger Fabian	2392	3		3	GM	Valsecchi Alessio	2527	23
15	25	GM	NR Visakh	2516	3		3	IM	Haimovich Tal	2388	35

Details

Replay the livestream

54th International Biel Chess Festival GMT Classic Tournament Round 4 - Live Commentary by GM Artur Neikšāns | Video: Biel Chess Festival

Links

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