Karthikeyan finishes second on tie-breaks, Vaishali becomes an IM

Karthikeyan Murali drew his final round game against Gukesh. However the top seed of the tournament, Salem Saleh also finished with the same score 7.0/9. Due to a better tie-break score, Salem won the tournament and Karthikeyan was placed second.

54th Biel GMT Top 3 (L to R): 2nd Kirill Alekseenko, 1st Gata Kamsky and 3rd Nihal Sarin | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

54th Biel MTO Top 3 (L to R): 2nd Karthikeyan Murali, 1st Salem Saleh and 3rd Tamas Banusz | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

GMT R7: Nihal - Lagarde: 0.5-0.5

Nihal had a well contested draw with Lagarde in the final round.

Nihal Sarin drew with Maxime Lagarde | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Keymer - Kamsky: 0-1

Gata Kamsky won the tournament in style by scoring a brilliant victory over Vincent Keymer.

Winner of 54th Biel GMT 2021 - Gata Kamsky | Photo: Biel Chess Festival
Biel Chess Festival GMT Round 7 (host GM Arturs Neiksans ) | Video: Biel Chess Festival

MTO R9: Gukesh - Karthikeyan: 0.5-0.5

Gukesh despite being slightly better for the majority of the game, it was not enough to beat Karthikeyan.

Gukesh drew with Karthikeyan | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Sethuraman - Erdos: 0-1

Sethuraman was completely winning against GM Viktor Erdos (HUN) until he lost his advantage and then missed a draw in the endgame.

Position after 32...Rh6

White needed to prevent the rook's invasion of first rank. Thus, 33.f4 Rg6+ 34.Rg5 would have been a better idea than 33.Rfd1.

Position after 66...Kb4

White can no longer go for a win here but he can certainly try to salvage a draw. Find out the correct plan for White.

Sethuraman would have secured fourth place if he had won his game against Erdos | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Erigaisi - Chigaev: 1-0

Arjun Erigaisi scored a fantastic victory against GM Maksim Chigaev (RUS) in the final round.

Position after 43.e6

White set himself up a crushing attack and there is no way for Black to save after 43.e6. Black continued the fight and eventually he resigned on the verge of getting checkmated by a bishop and knight.

6th GM Arjun Erigaisi 6.5/9 | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Arjun Kalyan - Ganguly: 0-1

Ganguly played the double bishop endgame masterfully against GM Arjun Kalyan to score a victory.

Position after 35.h4

White needed to play 35.f4 and everything would have been fine. 35.h4 gave Black the opening he was looking for.

Photo Gallery

54th Biel GMT 2021 podium finishers - Alekseenko, Gelfand and Nihal | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

54th Biel MTO 2021 podium finishers - Karthikeyan, Salem and Banusz | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

All participants of 54th Biel GMT along with the officials | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

The GMT medals | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Women top three (L to R) - Eric Jovana, Vaishali and Tijana Blagojevic | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Gata Kamsky shares his thoughts | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Nihal has earned the legend Kamsky's respect | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

India's 69th GM Harshit Raja with his final GM-norm certificate | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

WGM Vaishali with her final IM-norm certificate, with Angelika Valkova | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Highlights

Here are a few interesting finishes from MTO Round 9

GM Salem Saleh (UAE) defeated GM Pavel Eljanov (UKR)

GM Arjun Kalyan lost to GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly

GM Visakh N R won against WGM R Vaishali

Replay GMT Round 7 games

Replay MTO Round 9 games

GMT Round 7 results

Bo.No.RtgNameResultNameRtgNo.
142675GMGelfand Boris1 - 0GMStuder Noel25818
252630GMPichot Alanยฝ - ยฝGMAlekseenko Kirill26993
362620GMNihal Sarinยฝ - ยฝGMLagarde Maxime26482
472591GMKeymer Vincent0 - 1GMKamsky Gata26581

Details

Final standings

Details

MTO Round 9 results

Bo.No. NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtg No.
115
GMGukesh Dommaraju25786ยฝ - ยฝ6ยฝGMMurali Karthikeyan2606
12
21
GMSaleh Salem A.R.268261 - 06GMEljanov Pavel2671
2
34
GMSethuraman S.P.26445ยฝ0 - 15ยฝGMErdos Viktor2614
10
46
GMBanusz Tamas26315ยฝ1 - 05ยฝGMSadhwani Raunak2555
20
519
GMErigaisi Arjun25675ยฝ1 - 05ยฝGMChigaev Maksim2630
7
622
GMKantor Gergely25275ยฝยฝ - ยฝ5GMR Praggnanandhaa2608
11
728
IMKalyan Arjun250350 - 15GMGanguly Surya Shekhar2625
8
89
GMNarayanan S.L.26245ยฝ - ยฝ5GMWagner Dennis2572
17
929
IMRaja Harshit248450 - 15GMFedorchuk Sergey2598
13
1027
GMBudisavljevic Luka25095ยฝ - ยฝ4ยฝGMDragnev Valentin2569
18
1130
IMNR Vignesh24284ยฝยฝ - ยฝ4ยฝGMDonchenko Alexander2652
3
1235
IMHaimovich Tal23884ยฝ0 - 14ยฝGMPuranik Abhimanyu2589
14
1331
IMGschnitzer Adrian24204ยฝ0 - 14ยฝGMYuffa Daniil2578
16
1423
GMValsecchi Alessio25274ยฝ1 - 04ยฝIMUnuk Laura2407
32
1548
WGMEric Jovana22504ยฝ0 - 14ยฝGMTang Andrew2525
24

Details

Final standings

Rk.SNo NameTypsexFEDRtgIRtgNPts. TB1  TB2 Rpw-we
11
GMSaleh Salem A.R.UAE268207,047,5355,027901,19
212
GMMurali KarthikeyanIND260607,046,0360,527431,61
36
GMBanusz TamasHUN263106,547,0353,527080,98
410
GMErdos ViktorHUN261406,543,0340,026270,61
515
GMGukesh DommarajuU20IND257806,541,5345,026000,43
619
GMErigaisi ArjunU20IND256706,541,0337,025910,54
78
GMGanguly Surya ShekharIND262506,047,5350,026650,53
82
GMEljanov PavelUKR267106,046,0356,526890,26
913
GMFedorchuk SergeyUKR259806,042,5347,526260,44
1022
GMKantor GergelyHUN252706,040,0333,525240,33
1117
GMWagner DennisGER257205,546,0357,025830,44
124
GMSethuraman S.P.IND264405,545,5335,02590-0,51
1311
GMR PraggnanandhaaU20IND260805,545,0344,526080,11
147
GMChigaev MaksimRUS263005,543,0336,02589-0,38
1523
GMValsecchi AlessioITA252705,543,0331,025971,00
1624
GMTang AndrewUSA252505,542,5340,525620,68
179
GMNarayanan S.L.IND262405,542,5317,52579-0,43
1820
GMSadhwani RaunakU20IND255505,541,5334,025580,32
1914
GMPuranik AbhimanyuIND258905,541,0343,02511-0,70
2025
GMNR VisakhIND251605,540,0336,525160,25

Details

Links

Official site