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Biel MTO 2021 R1: Tahay holds Donchenko to a draw

by Shahid Ahmed - 27/07/2021

The Master Tournament (MTO) of 54th Biel International Chess Festival 2021 started on Monday 26th July. A total of 73 players are taking part in the Master Tournament (MTO). The biggest contingent in this event is India, which consists of 17 players, followed by Switzerland having eleven players. 27 GMs, 13 IMs, 4 WGMs and 4 WIMs are taking part from 18 countries across the world. All seeded Indian players started the event with a victory. Total prize fund for the MTO is 39000 CHF (approx. Rs 31.6 lacs) with the first prize being 6000 CHF (approx. Rs.4.87 lacs). The tournament will witness a lot of interesting clashes between the Indian players starting from Round 2 which starts at 5:30 p.m. IST today. GMT Classical Round 1 also takes place at the same time. Photo: Niklesh Jain

Indian players make a smooth start

FM Alexis Tahay (FRA) held GM Alexander Donchenko and FM Sedrani Ammar (UAE) held GM Viktor Erdos (HUN) to a draw each respectively. Simon Schweizer (JPN) defeated GM Gergely Kantor (HUN). These were the big upsets among top 25 boards in Round 1.

Sethuraman is the highest rated Indian in the field | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Jeevitesh - Sethuraman: 0-1

IM Sai Agni Jeevitesh had a good opportunity to squeeze a draw in the rook and many pawns endgame against GM Sethuraman.

Position after 47...f4

There were two ways for White to go for a draw here. 48.e4 was an interesting choice. The other one was 48.gxf4. The text 48.Kd3 created a window of opportunity for Black to push for a win.

Position after 56...Kc4

This is slightly a tougher defense for White, but it can still be saved. Find out how.

Sethuraman was provided a good challenge by compatriot Jeevitesh | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Loeffler - Ganguly: 0-1

GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly scored a fine victory over IM Markus Löffler (GER).

Position after 27...e5

White could have played 28.Qxe5 and provided a strong defense but in a practical game, it is not an easy decision to allow 28...Nh4+ 29.Rxh4 Qxf2+ 30.Kh1 Rxg3 and expect that this will work out for White. The game continued 28.dxe5 Qe7 29.Rah1 Nxg3 soon things fell apart for White.

Jovana - Karthikeyan: 0-1

GM Karthikeyan Murali made his intentions very clear, early in the game against WGM Jovana Eric (SRB).

Position after 7...g5

When your opponent plays 7...g5, you can be rest assured that he wants to attack on your kingside and test your defensive skills which is exactly what Karthikeyan did and walked away with a victory.

Karthikeyan warmed up well the other day by winning all 18 games in his simul exhibition | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Replay Round 1 games

Photo Gallery

Third seed GM Alexander Donchenko (GER) was to held to a draw by... | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

...FM Alexis Tahay (FRA) | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

GM Aravindh Chithambaram started with a victory | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Opening Ceremony in progress | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

The tournament hall for GMT, MTO and ATO | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Round 1 results

Bo.No.NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtgNo.
11GMSaleh Salem A.R.268201 - 00IMOmar Noaman236737
238FMPapadiamandis Elliot236300 - 10GMEljanov Pavel26712
33GMDonchenko Alexander26520½ - ½0FMTahay Alexis234939
440IMJ Sai Agni Jeevitesh232200 - 10GMSethuraman S.P.26444
55GMChithambaram Aravindh264101 - 00WGMDordzhieva Dinara231141
642FMFecker Noah230900 - 10GMBanusz Tamas26316
77GMChigaev Maksim263001 - 00FMStelmaszyk Nico229643
844IMLöffler Markus229500 - 10GMGanguly Surya Shekhar26258
99GMNarayanan S.L.262401 - 00FMKamber Bruno227545
1046FMAmmar Sedrani22740½ - ½0GMErdos Viktor261410
1111GMR Praggnanandhaa260801 - 00FMWacker Peter226347
1248WGMEric Jovana225000 - 10GMMurali Karthikeyan260612
1313GMFedorchuk Sergey259801 - 00WIMBlagojevic Tijana222249
1450Pahud Cédric220000 - 10GMPuranik Abhimanyu258914
1515GMGukesh Dommaraju257801 - 00IMAl Hosani Omran219751

Details

Round 2 pairings

Bo.No.NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtgNo.
119GMErigaisi Arjun256711GMSaleh Salem A.R.26821
22GMEljanov Pavel267111GMKorpa Bence253621
34GMSethuraman S.P.264411GMValsecchi Alessio252723
420GMSadhwani Raunak255511GMChithambaram Aravindh26415
56GMBanusz Tamas263111GMNR Visakh251625
624GMTang Andrew252511GMChigaev Maksim26307
78GMGanguly Surya Shekhar262511GMBudisavljevic Luka250927
826GMShchekachev Andrei251511GMNarayanan S.L.26249
928IMKalyan Arjun250311GMR Praggnanandhaa260811
1012GMMurali Karthikeyan260611IMRaja Harshit248429
1130IMNR Vignesh242811GMFedorchuk Sergey259813
1214GMPuranik Abhimanyu258911IMGschnitzer Adrian242031
1333WGMVaishali R239311GMGukesh Dommaraju257815
1416GMYuffa Daniil257811IMHaimovich Tal238835
1558Schweizer Simon214211GMWagner Dennis257217

Details

Replay the livestream

54th Biel Chess Festival MTO Round 1 - Live Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Links

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