57th Biel Festival MTO R8: Aryan misses against Sasikiran, Leon stays ahead
GM Leon Luke Mendonca drew with GM Arseniy Nesterov in the eighth round of 57th Biel Chess Festival MTO 2024 to stay ahead with a score 6.5/8. GM Aryan Chopra missed a good winning chance against GM Krishnan Sasikiran. IM Ayush Sharma capitalized on his opportunity when his opponent - GM Harsha Bharathakoti made a tactical error. Ayush joined Sasikiran, Aryan and four more players in pursuit of the top spot. They are at 6/8 each. GM Salem Saleh (UAE) defeated GM R Vaishali to win the GMT Challengers. GM R Praggnanandhaa drew his game against GM Haik Martirosyan (ARM). He is in a virtual must-win situation to keep first place chances. GMT Round 2 Final, MTO Round 9 starts today at 2 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Biel Chess Festival
Salem Saleh wins the Challengers with two rounds to spare
Salem Saleh (UAE) defeated R Vaishali to win the GMT Challengers event with 34 points. This was his tenth appearance in the watchmaking city of Switzerland. The fight for second place is on as Alexander Donchenko (GER) is at 23 points and Vaishali 22.5 points. Both of them will face each other in Finals Round 2. The last round battle will be between Salem and Donchenko. So this is Vaishali's last chance to make her claim for the second place. In GMT Masters, Praggnanandhaa has 20.5 points. He will face the leader and two-time GMT winner - Liem Quang Le (VIE) who has 25.5 points. Praggnanandhaa needs to win today to keep his first place chances.
MTO: Sasikiran - Aryan: 0.5-0.5
GM Aryan Chopra (2632) had a substantial advantage for the better part of the double rook and minor piece endgame against GM Krishnan Sasikiran (2581).
White's final trick on the board is e6. To curb it, Black needed to go 48...Rb1 49.e6 runs into Rxd1 50.exf7 Nf3 and Black would have won the game. 48...Rbc3?! 49.e6 and White is back in the game. Black's decisive advantage diminished in just one move and the game eventually ended in a draw.
Harsha - Ayush
29...Nxe3 30.fxe3 would have kept things in balance. GM Harsha Bharathakoti (2569) blundered 30.Qxe3?? missing a long range tactics Rxc1 31.Nxc1 Qc6+ and Black just grabs the knight for free. 32.d5 Qxc1 33.d6 only temporarily blinds the bishop as it moved to the adjacent a7-g1 diagonal and made deadly threats from there.
GMT Finals Round 1: Salem - Vaishali: 4-0
GM R Vaishali (2489) decided to take the game to UAE no.1, GM Salem Saleh (2638) by playing attacking chess. She made a thematic knight sacrifice on f2.
15.Rxf2 Bxe3 16.Qf1 Qb6 17.Rd1 Rad8 18.Be1 Qc5 19.Kh1 Bg6 20.Nc7 Re7 21.b4
Black needed to follow through correctly 21...Nxb4 22.axb4 Qxc7 was necessary. 21...axb4 22.axb4 Qc2? turned things completely in White's favor 23.Nxd5 and White went on to win the game.
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Winner MTO Round 7: Zachary Saine (CAN, 2058) vs. CM Nikash Vemparala (USA, 2150): 1-0
Winner ATO Round 6: Friedrich Günther Klas (GER, 1750) vs. Ieremia Hottinger (SUI, 1523) 1-0
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Scoring in GMT Classical
Win = 4 points
Draw = 1.5 point
Loss = 0
Replay all GMT Masters Finals Round 1 games
Replay MTO Round 8 games
GMT Masters Finals Round 1 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2731 | GM | Le, Quang Liem | ½ - ½ | GM | Mishra, Abhimanyu | 2604 | 3 | |||
| 2 | 2 | 2661 | GM | Martirosyan, Haik M. | ½ - ½ | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 2757 | 4 |
Standings after Finals Round 1
Finals Round 2 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 2757 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | GM | Le, Quang Liem | 2731 | 1 | ||||
| 2 | 3 | 2604 | GM | Mishra, Abhimanyu | GM | Martirosyan, Haik M. | 2661 | 2 |
GMT Challengers Finals Round 1 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2638 | GM | Salem, A.R. Saleh | 1 - 0 | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | 2488 | 3 | |||
| 2 | 2 | 2633 | GM | Donchenko, Alexander | 0 | bye | 0 | -1 |
Standings after Finals Round 1
Final Round 2 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 2633 | GM | Donchenko, Alexander | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | 2488 | 3 | ||||
| 2 | 1 | 2638 | GM | Salem, A.R. Saleh | 0 | bye | 0 | -1 |
MTO Round 8 results
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | PGN | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | 2615 | 6 | ½ - ½ | 5½ | GM | Nesterov, Arseniy | 2602 | 3 | PGN | ||
| 2 | 6 | GM | Sasikiran, Krishnan | 2581 | 5½ | ½ - ½ | 5½ | GM | Aryan, Chopra | 2632 | 1 | PGN | ||
| 3 | 8 | GM | Harsha, Bharathakoti | 2569 | 5 | 0 - 1 | 5 | IM | Ayush, Sharma | 2342 | 44 | PGN | ||
| 4 | 28 | IM | Petkidis, Anthony | 2428 | 5 | 0 - 1 | 5 | GM | Jumabayev, Rinat | 2565 | 9 | PGN | ||
| 5 | 10 | GM | Gavrilescu, David | 2540 | 5 | ½ - ½ | 5 | Xue, Haowen | 2452 | 23 | PGN | |||
| 6 | 12 | GM | Koustav, Chatterjee | 2525 | 5 | 0 - 1 | 5 | IM | Madaminov, Mukhiddin | 2512 | 15 | PGN | ||
| 7 | 14 | GM | Sokolovsky, Yahli | 2516 | 5 | 0 - 1 | 5 | IM | Gan-Erdene, Sugar | 2407 | 30 | PGN | ||
| 8 | 22 | IM | Materia, Marco | 2453 | 5 | 0 - 1 | 4½ | Xiao, Tong(Qd) | 2518 | 13 | PGN |
Standings after Round 8
| Rk. | SNo | Name | sex | FED | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | IND | 2615 | 6,5 | 0 | 29,75 | 35 | ||
| 2 | 9 | GM | Jumabayev, Rinat | KAZ | 2565 | 6 | 0 | 31,00 | 38 | ||
| 3 | 6 | GM | Sasikiran, Krishnan | IND | 2581 | 6 | 0 | 30,25 | 38 | ||
| 4 | 1 | GM | Aryan, Chopra | IND | 2632 | 6 | 0 | 28,50 | 36,5 | ||
| 5 | 30 | IM | Gan-Erdene, Sugar | MGL | 2407 | 6 | 0 | 27,25 | 35,5 | ||
| 6 | 15 | IM | Madaminov, Mukhiddin | UZB | 2512 | 6 | 0 | 27,00 | 36 | ||
| 7 | 3 | GM | Nesterov, Arseniy | FID | 2602 | 6 | 0 | 27,00 | 34,5 | ||
| 8 | 44 | IM | Ayush, Sharma | IND | 2342 | 6 | 0 | 25,25 | 32 | ||
| 9 | 10 | GM | Gavrilescu, David | ROU | 2540 | 5,5 | 0 | 25,75 | 34,5 | ||
| 10 | 18 | IM | Assaubayeva, Bibisara | w | KAZ | 2472 | 5,5 | 0 | 25,50 | 36 |
Round 9 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | GM | Jumabayev, Rinat | 2565 | 6 | 6½ | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | 2615 | 2 | |||
| 2 | 1 | GM | Aryan, Chopra | 2632 | 6 | 6 | IM | Madaminov, Mukhiddin | 2512 | 15 | |||
| 3 | 3 | GM | Nesterov, Arseniy | 2602 | 6 | 6 | IM | Gan-Erdene, Sugar | 2407 | 30 | |||
| 4 | 44 | IM | Ayush, Sharma | 2342 | 6 | 6 | GM | Sasikiran, Krishnan | 2581 | 6 | |||
| 5 | 26 | IM | Fromm, Marius | 2448 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Ganguly, Surya Shekhar | 2592 | 4 | |||
| 6 | 29 | IM | Amartuvshin, Ganzorig | 2427 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Gavrilescu, David | 2540 | 10 | |||
| 7 | 13 | Xiao, Tong(Qd) | 2518 | 5½ | 5½ | IM | Tahay, Alexis | 2392 | 32 | ||||
| 8 | 18 | IM | Assaubayeva, Bibisara | 2472 | 5½ | 5½ | FM | Dotzer, Lukas | 2375 | 38 | |||
| 9 | 23 | Xue, Haowen | 2452 | 5½ | 5½ | IM | Ritviz, Parab | 2334 | 46 | ||||
| 10 | 7 | GM | Moiseenko, Alexander | 2570 | 5 | 5 | WIM | Balabayeva, Xeniya | 2210 | 69 |
