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55th Biel MTO R8: Pranav Anand scores his final GM-norm with a round to spare

by Shahid Ahmed - 22/07/2022

IM Pranav Anand drew with Spain no.6, GM Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli at 55th Biel Chess Festival 2022 MTO. His live rating is now 2491 which means he is just nine Elo rating points away from becoming India's next GM. The 15-year-old from Karnataka will face GM Yu Yangyi (CHN) in the final round. GM Visakh N R drew with GM Kirill Alekseenko. Visakh had a few chances in the endgame, however things did not materialize in his favor. GM D Gukesh drew with GM Gata Kamsky (USA). He is out of the championship picture. However, he can still make a podium finish. GMT Round 7 and MTO Round 9 starts today at 10 a.m. local time (1:30 p.m. IST). Photo: Rupali Mullick

Visakh, Sethuraman and Leon in pursuit

Sethuraman S P handed Aryan Chopra his second consecutive loss of the event. Leon Luke Mendonca ended Surya Sekhar Ganguly's unbeaten run in the MTO. Both of them are now at 6/8, a half point behind the leaders, Kirill Alekseenko and Mahammad Muradli (AZE) at 6.5/8 each.

IM Pranav Anand is 9 Elo rating points away from becoming India's next GM | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

GMT Round 6 - GM D Gukesh - GM Gata Kamsky (USA): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Simon Bohnenblust/Biel Chess Festival

MTO Round 8: Visakh - Alekseenko: 0.5-0.5

GM Visakh N R (2503) is in great form ever since he won 2nd San leo International Open last month. GM Kirill Alekseenko (2708) made a few questionable choices in the double rook and minor piece endgame.

Position after 25.e4

White made a very sensible break 25.e4. Black should be happy to exchange the pawns at d5 to free up his b6-rook. It eventually ran out of safe squares to go until it got exchanged. 25...dxe4 created an opportunity for White 26.Rxg5+. Once again 26...Kf8 was a better choice for Black. 26...Kh7 and now White should play 27.Re5 instead of 27.Re1. The key difference is the former prevents Re8. White would be happy to trade the rooks at e8 and gain the e4-pawn. Anyway, White got a few more half chances which were certainly not easy and the game meandered into a draw.

Leon - Surya: 1-0

GM Leon Luke Mendonca (2567) defeated GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly (2608) after the latter made a tactical blunder.

Position after 25...Rxa4

Find out the winning continuation for White which Leon executed in the game.

GM Yu Yangyi (CHN) - IM Prraneeth Vuppala (pictured): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Biel Chess Festival
Replay 55th Biel Chess Festival GMT Round 6 Live commentary by GM Arturs Neiksans and Angelika Valkova | Video: Biel Chess Festival

A total of 114 players including 26 GMs, 23 IMs and 3 WIMs are taking part from 31 countries across the world. The nine-round Swiss League tournament is organized by Biel-Bienne Chess at Biel Congress House, Biel, Switzerland from 13th to 22nd July. The sole rest day is Sunday 17th July. The time control is 90 minutes/40 moves with 30 seconds increment + 30 minutes.

Replay GMT Round 6 games

Round 6 results

Bo.No.RtgNameResultNameRtgNo.
182684GMGukesh D½ - ½GMKamsky Gata26557
212688GMAbdusattorov Nodirbek0 - 1GMEsipenko Andrey26826
322722GMLe Quang Liem1 - 0GMNaiditsch Arkadij26645
432686GMKeymer Vincent½ - ½GMSalem A.R. Saleh26844

Round 7 pairings

Bo.No.RtgNameResultNameRtgNo.
142684GMSalem A.R. SalehGMGukesh D26848
252664GMNaiditsch ArkadijGMKeymer Vincent26863
362682GMEsipenko AndreyGMLe Quang Liem27222
472655GMKamsky GataGMAbdusattorov Nodirbek26881

Details

Gukesh can make a podium finish | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Replay MTO Round 8 games

Round 8 results

Bo.No.NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtgNo.
123GMVisakh N R2503½ - ½6GMAlekseenko Kirill27082
221GMMuradli Mahammad25231 - 0GMMotylev Alexander26327
33GMFedoseev Vladimir26865½ - ½5GMErdos Viktor258616
45GMSargsyan Shant266151 - 05GMBharath Subramaniyam H247924
59GMSethuraman S.P.262351 - 05GMAryan Chopra261013
610GMIturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo26195½ - ½5IMPranav Anand246327
717GMMendonca Leon Luke256751 - 05GMGanguly Surya Shekhar260815
811GMPuranik Abhimanyu26121 - 05GMIniyan P253320
91GMYu Yangyi2720½ - ½CMPrraneeth Vuppala245729
1032IMMohammad Nubairshah Shaikh24450 - 1GMMartirosyan Haik M.26724

Details

Round 9 pairings

Bo.No.NameRtgPts.ResultPts.NameRtgNo.
12GMAlekseenko Kirill2708GMMuradli Mahammad252321
217GMMendonca Leon Luke256766GMSargsyan Shant26615
39GMSethuraman S.P.262366GMVisakh N R250323
426GMRaja Harshit2477GMFedoseev Vladimir26863
54GMMartirosyan Haik M.2672GMPuranik Abhimanyu261211
616GMErdos Viktor2586GMMotylev Alexander26327
728GMPavlovic Milos2461GMIturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo261910
827IMPranav Anand24635GMYu Yangyi27201
98GMLagarde Maxime263155CMPrraneeth Vuppala245729
1012GMBanusz Tamas261155IMLicznerski Lukasz245130

Details

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