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Biel MTO 2021 R7: Karthikeyan maintains his sole lead 6.0/7

by Shahid Ahmed - 03/08/2021

Karthikeyan Murali remains in the sole lead as he drew with Pavel Eljanov in the seventh round of 54th Biel International Chess Festival MTO 2021. Eljanov maintains his chase 5.5/7. They are followed by eight players at 5.0/7. IM Harshit Raja continues his quest for the GM title as he drew with GM Alexander Donchenko. Raunak Sadhwani showed great tenacity against Sethuraman to salvage a draw. Nihal drew with Keymer and Kamsky won his game against Pichot. The gap increased to four points now. Nihal must beat Kamsky in the penultimate round to keep his chances of finishing first. The sixth round of GMT and eighth round of MTO will start at 5:30 p.m. IST today. Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Ganguly, Pragg and Gukesh in the hunt

Karthikeyan drew with GM Pavel Eljanov (UKR) to maintain his sole lead 6.0/7. Eljanov is still trailing by a half point 5.5/7. Eight players are at 5.0/7. They are - Salem, Ganguly, Banusz, Praggnanandhaa, Chigaev, Erdos, Kantor and Gukesh.

Karthikeyan maintains his sole lead 6.0/7 | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

GMT R5: Nihal - Keymer: 0.5-0.5

Nihal refused threefold repetition twice before making the draw on the third occasion he could not find enough reason to go on against Keymer.

Nihal drew with Keymer | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Gelfand - Lagarde: 1-0

Rook endings are very common and quite critical. One wrong move and the possibility of draw just disappears in thin air.

Position after 36.b6

Find out one thing which Black should not do here to keep his chances of a draw.

To learn more about decisions in the endgame, you can get the book - Decision Making in Major Piece Endings by Boris Gelfand, available now on our site.

Gelfand's technical wins are very educational | Photo: Biel Chess Festival
Biel Chess Festival GMT Round 5 (hosts GM Arturs Neiksans and WGM Dina Belenkaya) | Video: Biel Chess Festival

MTO: Eljanov - Karthikeyan: 0.5-0.5

Karthikeyan had a well-fought draw with Eljanov to maintain his sole lead.

Sethuraman - Raunak: 0.5-0.5

Raunak showed great tenacity to save the game from a difficult position against Sethuraman.

Position after 47...Bd3

47...Bd3 serves two purposes - prevents a6 as well as threatens Bf1 to capture on g2. White just needed to focus on rolling the connected passed pawns on the queenside because even if g2 and h3 falls, White's pawns will be much quicker than Black's. White made a mistake of playing 48.Kg1 g5 49.Nd1 and Black happily traded the rooks because the resultant knight vs bishop ending with a split passed pawn is relatively easier to defend.

Raunak Sadhwani 4.5/7 | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Praggnanandhaa - Visakh: 1-0

Pragg bounced back strong after a forgettable loss against Eljanov in the previous round.

Position after 19.Rb5

White played a prophylactic move 19.Rb5 to make sure Black cannot leave the a5-pawn unprotected in the future. 19...Bf6 20.Ba3 Re8 21.c5 and White won the game comfortably.

R Praggnanandhaa 5.0/7 | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Valsecchi - Gukesh: 0-1

Gukesh made a nice combination against GM Alessio Valsecchi (ITA).

Position after 29.b3

Black's position was already good, but 29.b3 invited trouble. Find out the winning continuation for Black.

D Gukesh 5.0/7 | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

IM Harshit Raja drew with GM Alexander Donchenko (GER) | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Vaishali - Yuffa: 1-0

Vaishali completely turned around a difficult position into a win after her opponent GM Daniil Yuffa (RUS) messed up the move order during an exchange.

Position after 22.Be4

What should Black do here, 22...Ng4 or Bxg3 ? Find out the difference between the move order.

WGM R Vaishali 4.5/7 | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Highlights

Here are a few interesting finishes from MTO Round 7

GM Salem A R Saleh (UAE) defeated GM Andrew Tang (USA)

WGM R Vaishali defeated GM Daniil Yuffa (RUS)

IM Vignesh N R defeated with GM Valentin Dragnev (AUT)

WGM Eric Jovana (SRB) lost to GM Abhimanyu Puranik

Replay GMT Round 5 games

Replay MTO Round 7 games

GMT Round 5 results

Bo.No.RtgNameResultNameRtgNo.
132699GMAlekseenko Kirill½ - ½GMStuder Noel25818
242675GMGelfand Boris1 - 0GMLagarde Maxime26482
352630GMPichot Alan0 - 1GMKamsky Gata26581
462620GMNihal Sarin½ - ½GMKeymer Vincent25917

Details

Round 6 pairings

Round 6 on 2021/08/03 at 14:00
Bo.No.RtgNameResultNameRtgNo.
182581GMStuder NoelGMKeymer Vincent25917
212658GMKamsky GataGMNihal Sarin26206
322648GMLagarde MaximeGMPichot Alan26305
432699GMAlekseenko KirillGMGelfand Boris26754

Details

GMT Overall standings

MTO Round 7 results

Bo.No. NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtg No.
12
GMEljanov Pavel26715½ - ½GMMurali Karthikeyan2606
12
26
GMBanusz Tamas2631½ - ½GMErdos Viktor2614
10
322
GMKantor Gergely2527½ - ½GMGanguly Surya Shekhar2625
8
41
GMSaleh Salem A.R.268241 - 0GMTang Andrew2525
24
54
GMSethuraman S.P.26444½ - ½4GMSadhwani Raunak2555
20
67
GMChigaev Maksim263041 - 04GMKorpa Bence2536
21
711
GMR Praggnanandhaa260841 - 04GMNR Visakh2516
25
823
GMValsecchi Alessio252740 - 14GMGukesh Dommaraju2578
15
928
IMKalyan Arjun25034½ - ½4GMWagner Dennis2572
17
1029
IMRaja Harshit24844½ - ½GMDonchenko Alexander2652
3
119
GMNarayanan S.L.2624½ - ½GMBudisavljevic Luka2509
27
1213
GMFedorchuk Sergey25981 - 0IMUnuk Laura2407
32
1333
WGMVaishali R23931 - 0GMYuffa Daniil2578
16
1430
IMNR Vignesh24281 - 0GMDragnev Valentin2569
18
1519
GMErigaisi Arjun25671 - 0FMTahay Alexis2349
39

Details

Round 8 pairings

Bo.No. NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtg No.
112
GMMurali Karthikeyan260665GMBanusz Tamas2631
6
27
GMChigaev Maksim26305GMEljanov Pavel2671
2
311
GMR Praggnanandhaa260855GMSaleh Salem A.R.2682
1
48
GMGanguly Surya Shekhar262555GMGukesh Dommaraju2578
15
510
GMErdos Viktor261455GMKantor Gergely2527
22
624
GMTang Andrew2525GMSethuraman S.P.2644
4
713
GMFedorchuk Sergey2598IMKalyan Arjun2503
28
817
GMWagner Dennis2572IMRaja Harshit2484
29
933
WGMVaishali R2393GMErigaisi Arjun2567
19
1020
GMSadhwani Raunak2555IMNR Vignesh2428
30
113
GMDonchenko Alexander265244GMNR Visakh2516
25
1234
IMBänziger Fabian239244GMNarayanan S.L.2624
9
1314
GMPuranik Abhimanyu258944GMValsecchi Alessio2527
23
1421
GMKorpa Bence253644GMBudisavljevic Luka2509
27
1516
GMYuffa Daniil25784FMPapadiamandis Elliot2363
38

Details

Links

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