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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.RtgNameResultNameRtgNo.
182581GMStuder Noel½ - ½GMNihal Sarin26206
272591GMKeymer Vincent1 - 0GMPichot Alan26305
312658GMKamsky Gata½ - ½GMGelfand Boris26754
422648GMLagarde Maxime1 - 0GMAlekseenko Kirill26993

Details

Round 5 pairings

Bo.No.RtgNameResultNameRtgNo.
132699GMAlekseenko KirillGMStuder Noel25818
242675GMGelfand BorisGMLagarde Maxime26482
352630GMPichot AlanGMKamsky Gata26581
462620GMNihal SarinGMKeymer Vincent25917

Details

GMT Overall standings

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

MTO Round 5 results

Bo.No. NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtg No.
11
GMSaleh Salem A.R.26820 - 1GMMurali Karthikeyan2606
12
211
GMR Praggnanandhaa2608½ - ½GMGanguly Surya Shekhar2625
8
36
GMBanusz Tamas263131 - 0GMFedorchuk Sergey2598
13
429
IMRaja Harshit248430 - 13GMEljanov Pavel2671
2
54
GMSethuraman S.P.264431 - 03GMYuffa Daniil2578
16
69
GMNarayanan S.L.26243½ - ½3GMSadhwani Raunak2555
20
717
GMWagner Dennis25723½ - ½3GMErdos Viktor2614
10
83
GMDonchenko Alexander2652½ - ½GMValsecchi Alessio2527
23
95
GMChithambaram Aravindh26410 - 1GMTang Andrew2525
24
107
GMChigaev Maksim26301 - 0GMShchekachev Andrei2515
26
1130
IMNR Vignesh2428½ - ½GMPuranik Abhimanyu2589
14
1215
GMGukesh Dommaraju25781 - 0IMUnuk Laura2407
32
1328
IMKalyan Arjun25031 - 0GMDragnev Valentin2569
18
1419
GMErigaisi Arjun25671 - 0FMPapadiamandis Elliot2363
38
1521
GMKorpa Bence2536½ - ½IMBänziger Fabian2392
34

Details

Round 6 pairings

Bo.No. NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtg No.
112
GMMurali Karthikeyan26064GMSethuraman S.P.2644
4
22
GMEljanov Pavel267144GMR Praggnanandhaa2608
11
38
GMGanguly Surya Shekhar262544GMBanusz Tamas2631
6
417
GMWagner Dennis2572GMSaleh Salem A.R.2682
1
520
GMSadhwani Raunak2555GMChigaev Maksim2630
7
622
GMKantor Gergely2527GMNarayanan S.L.2624
9
710
GMErdos Viktor2614GMErigaisi Arjun2567
19
824
GMTang Andrew2525GMFedorchuk Sergey2598
13
915
GMGukesh Dommaraju2578IMKalyan Arjun2503
28
1027
GMBudisavljevic Luka250933GMDonchenko Alexander2652
3
1114
GMPuranik Abhimanyu258933IMRaja Harshit2484
29
1216
GMYuffa Daniil257833IMNR Vignesh2428
30
1331
IMGschnitzer Adrian242033GMKorpa Bence2536
21
1434
IMBänziger Fabian239233GMValsecchi Alessio2527
23
1525
GMNR Visakh251633IMHaimovich Tal2388
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

Official site


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