56th Biel MTO R9: Aditya Samant becomes India's 83rd Grandmaster
IM Aditya Samant just needed to play his ninth round game against GM Aryan Chopra at 56th Biel Chess Festival 2023 MTO. The result of the game was immaterial for his GM title. Aryan won the game and maintained his pursuit 7/9 against the tournament sole leader GM Xiangzhi Bu (CHN) 7.5/9. Thus, Aditya became India's 83rd and Maharashtra's 12th GM. The last two GMs from Maharashtra are named Aditya. For the third consecutive year, India has got a new GM at this event. Harshit Raja in 2021, Pranav Anand 2022 and now Aditya Samant. Liem Quang Le (VIE) 32.5/56 won the GMT event for the second consecutive year. Arjun Erigaisi defeated Vincent Keymer (GER) in the final round to dash his championship hopes. He finished second 31.5/56. David Navara (CZE) finished third 30.5/56. MTO Round 10 starts today from 2 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Biel Chess Festival
GMT: Liem wins twice in-a-row, Arjun spoils Keymer's finish
The Grandmaster title for IM Aditya S Samant was a long overdue. Anyone who has seen his games, is well aware of the fact that he likes playing sharp chess. However, he is also quite in his positional play. In every tournament he plays, there are at least one or two games which are worth checking out, irrespective of the result or the eventual tournament outcome. We will soon have a detailed report of Aditya's journey towards the coveted title.
The maestro Vishy Anand congratulated Aditya Samant on increasing the rare club of Indian GMs to 83
GMT Round 7: Arjun - Keymer: 4-0
Until the final round of the Classical event, Arjun Erigaisi (2710) had won against Vincent Keymer (GER, 2690) only once in the Blitz event. In a difficult rook and minor piece endgame, the Germany no.1 made a minute error.
Arjun correctly seized his opportunity, 45.Kf2 Nb5 46.Rc8 Na7 47.Ra8 Nb5 48.Rb8 Nc7 49.Ncd6 Re8 White slowly improved his position before liquidating into a completely winning rook and pawn endgame.
A fantastic statistics shared by Biel Chess Festival. Well we certainly hope to get another new GM in 2024.
Replay GMT Round 7 games
Replay MTO Round 9 games
GMT Scoring
Rapid: Win = 2 points, Draw = 1 point and Loss = 0
Classical: Win = 4 points, Draw = 1.5 points and Loss = 0
Blitz: Win = 1 point, Draw = 0.5 point and Loss = 0
GMT Round 7 results
Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||
1 | 4 | 2689 | GM | Navara, David | ½ - ½ | GM | Le, Quang Liem | 2728 | 8 | |
2 | 5 | 2694 | GM | Amin, Bassem | ½ - ½ | GM | Yu, Yangyi | 2735 | 3 | |
3 | 6 | 2710 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 1 - 0 | GM | Keymer, Vincent | 2690 | 2 | |
4 | 7 | 2654 | GM | Moussard, Jules | ½ - ½ | GM | Deac, Bogdan-Daniel | 2693 | 1 |
Final standings at GMT
MTO Round 9 results
Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | PGN | ||
1 | 1 | GM | Bu, Xiangzhi | 2676 | 6½ | 1 - 0 | 6 | GM | Pranav, Anand | 2510 | 10 | PGN |
2 | 3 | GM | Aryan, Chopra | 2626 | 6 | 1 - 0 | 6 | IM | Samant, Aditya S | 2510 | 11 | PGN |
3 | 9 | GM | Liu, Yan | 2542 | 6 | ½ - ½ | 6 | Peng, Xiongjian | 2489 | 13 | PGN | |
4 | 19 | IM | Rathanvel, V S | 2463 | 6 | ½ - ½ | 5½ | WGM | Vantika, Agrawal | 2428 | 28 | PGN |
5 | 16 | IM | Samadov, Read | 2482 | 5½ | ½ - ½ | 5½ | GM | Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son | 2645 | 2 | PGN |
6 | 33 | IM | Shlyakhtenko, Robert | 2401 | 5½ | 1 - 0 | 5½ | GM | Quesada Perez, Luis Ernesto | 2553 | 8 | PGN |
7 | 32 | IM | Harikrishnan, A Ra | 2406 | 5½ | ½ - ½ | 5 | GM | Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos Daniel | 2591 | 5 | PGN |
8 | 7 | GM | Meshkovs, Nikita | 2565 | 5 | ½ - ½ | 5 | FM | Deuer, Marius | 2374 | 39 | PGN |
9 | 46 | FM | Huston, Gus | 2341 | 5 | ½ - ½ | 5 | IM | Saraci, Nderim | 2472 | 18 | PGN |
10 | 41 | FM | Dotzer, Lukas | 2369 | 5 | 0 - 1 | 5 | IM | Chasin, Nico | 2455 | 20 | PGN |
Standings after Round 9
Rk. | SNo | Name | Typ | sex | FED | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | Rp | |
1 | 1 | GM | Bu, Xiangzhi | CHN | 2676 | 7,5 | 48 | 366,5 | 2756 | ||
2 | 3 | GM | Aryan, Chopra | IND | 2626 | 7 | 48 | 364,5 | 2695 | ||
3 | 9 | GM | Liu, Yan | CHN | 2542 | 6,5 | 47 | 355 | 2646 | ||
4 | 13 | Peng, Xiongjian | CHN | 2489 | 6,5 | 43 | 350 | 2555 | |||
5 | 19 | IM | Rathanvel, V S | IND | 2463 | 6,5 | 41,5 | 334 | 2553 | ||
6 | 33 | IM | Shlyakhtenko, Robert | U18 | USA | 2401 | 6,5 | 38 | 327 | 2506 | |
7 | 11 | IM | Samant, Aditya S | U18 | IND | 2510 | 6 | 48 | 357 | 2602 | |
8 | 10 | GM | Pranav, Anand | U18 | IND | 2510 | 6 | 47,5 | 358 | 2579 | |
9 | 2 | GM | Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son | VIE | 2645 | 6 | 47 | 340,5 | 2577 | ||
10 | 20 | IM | Chasin, Nico | U18 | USA | 2455 | 6 | 45,5 | 342,5 | 2531 |
Round 10 pairings
Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
1 | 13 | Peng, Xiongjian | 2489 | 6½ | 7½ | GM | Bu, Xiangzhi | 2676 | 1 | ||
2 | 3 | GM | Aryan, Chopra | 2626 | 7 | 6½ | IM | Rathanvel, V S | 2463 | 19 | |
3 | 9 | GM | Liu, Yan | 2542 | 6½ | 6½ | IM | Shlyakhtenko, Robert | 2401 | 33 | |
4 | 2 | GM | Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son | 2645 | 6 | 6 | WGM | Vantika, Agrawal | 2428 | 28 | |
5 | 10 | GM | Pranav, Anand | 2510 | 6 | 6 | IM | Samadov, Read | 2482 | 16 | |
6 | 22 | Huang, Renjie | 2445 | 6 | 6 | IM | Samant, Aditya S | 2510 | 11 | ||
7 | 20 | IM | Chasin, Nico | 2455 | 6 | 6 | IM | Harikrishnan, A Ra | 2406 | 32 | |
8 | 36 | IM | Seul, Georg | 2376 | 6 | 5½ | GM | Meshkovs, Nikita | 2565 | 7 | |
9 | 4 | GM | Yuffa, Daniil | 2603 | 5½ | 5½ | IM | Sanchez Alvarez, Roberto Carlos | 2444 | 23 | |
10 | 48 | Nie, Xinyang | 2288 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos Daniel | 2591 | 5 |