56th Biel MTO R2: Harikrishnan's passed pawns too strong for Meshkovs

by Shahid Ahmed - 19/07/2023

GM Arjun Erigaisi salvaged a draw against GM Yangyi Yu in the first round of 56th Biel GMT 2023. Arjun was lost for the better part of the endgame against the China no.2. However, he persevered tough positions and eventually managed to escape with a 1.5 points. GM Liem Quang Le (VIE) and GM David Navara (CZE) scored the victories over GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU) and GM Bassem Amin (EGY) respectively. Navara is the early sole leader in the GMT with 14/18 points. IM Harikrishnan A Ra scored a fantastic win over Latvia no.2 GM Nikita Meshkovs. GM Aryan Chopra won the 'Beauty Award' for his first round win. Aryan, GM Pranav Anand, IM Aditya S Samant and Harikrishnan are at 2/2 in the MTO. Round 2 GMT and Round 3 MTO starts today from 2 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. Photo: 50th Dortmund Chess Days

Arjun Erigaisi survives against Yangyi Yu

MTO Round 2: IM Harikrishnan A Ra scored a beautiful win against GM Nikita Meshkovs (LAT) | Photo: 50th Dortmund Chess Days

GMT Round 1: Yangyi - Arjun: 1.5-1.5

Last month, GM Arjun Erigaisi (2710) defeated GM Yangyi Yu (CHN, 2735) in their first-ever Classical rated game at 23rd Dubai Open 2023. Once again, Arjun got the black pieces. However, this time he landed himself in trouble.

Position after 39...g6?

39...g6 allowed 40.Bh6+ Kg8 41.Ne7+ Kh7 42.Bd2 Kg7 43.f4 Kf6 44.h4 exf4 45.gxf4 Re8 46.f5 gxf5 47.exf5 Nf8 48.Bg5+ Ke5 49.Ra5+ Kd6 50.f6?

Position after 49...Kd6

Here, computer suggests 50.Ng8 to maintain White's substantial advantage. 50.f6 gave Black some fighting chances after Kc7. White got some more chances in the end, yet he could not capitalize on any. Arjun managed to salvage a draw.

Arjun Erigaisi scored 1.5 points where he was lost the majority of the endgame | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

David Navara (CZE) defeated Bassem Amin (EGY) to gain early sole lead 14/18 | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

André Vögtlin, President of Swiss Chess Federation in presence of Peter Bohnenblust made the ceremonial first move of GMT Round 1 | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

MTO Round 1: Aryan - Al Taher

GM Aryan Chopra (2626) found a beautiful checkmate combination against FM Al Taher Abdulrahman Mohammad (UAE, 2258) in the first round.

Position after 26...Rad8

Find out the forced winning sequence for White which Aryan executed in the game after 26...Rad8. Aryan won the Beauty Award for this game in MTO Round 1.

GM Aryan Chopra 2/2 | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Harikrishnan - Meshkovs, Round 2

Position after 25...Qxa2??

GM Nikita Meshkov's (LAT, 2565) position was in shambles. 25...Qxa2?? did not help his case. IM Harikrishnan A Ra (2406) seized his opportunity 26.Qxa2 Rxa2 27.bxc4 dxc4 28.Bb4 cxd3 29.Bxe7 d2 30.Rf1 Rxe7 31.d5 Rc2 32.d6

Position after 32.d6

White beautifully used his connected passed pawns on c and f-file to win the game. It goes without saying that this game is a top contender for the Beauty Award in MTO Round 2.

Replay 56th Biel International Chess Festival 2023 GMT Classical Round 1 Live commentary by GM Arturs Neiksans (LAT) and Angelika Valkova (UKR) - Part 1 | Video: Biel Chess Festival

Replay 56th Biel International Chess Festival 2023 GMT Classical Round 1 Live commentary by GM Arturs Neiksans (LAT) and Angelika Valkova (UKR) - Part 2 | Video: Biel Chess Festival

A total of 122 players including 6 GMs, 10 IMs, a WGM and a WIM took part from 22 countries across the world in the Rapid Open tournament. The one-day nine-round Swiss-League Rapid Rating event had a time control of 15 minutes + 5 seconds increment. It was held on Sunday 16th July at Congress Hall, Biel Congress Center in Switzerland.

GMT Scoring

Rapid: Win = 2 points, Draw = 1 point and Loss = 0

Classical: Win = 4 points, Draw = 1.5 points and Loss = 0

Replay GMT Round 1 games

Replay MTO Round 1-2 games

GMT Round 1 results

Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	2693	GM	Deac, Bogdan-Daniel	0 - 1	GM	Le, Quang Liem	2728	8
2	2	2690	GM	Keymer, Vincent	½ - ½	GM	Moussard, Jules	2654	7
3	3	2735	GM	Yu, Yangyi	½ - ½	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	2710	6
4	4	2689	GM	Navara, David	1 - 0	GM	Amin, Bassem	2694	5

Details

Current GMT standings

GM David Navara (CZE) has taken the sole lead in the GMT section 14/18 | Source: Biel Chess Festival

Round 2 pairings

Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.
1	8	2728	GM	Le, Quang Liem		GM	Amin, Bassem	2694	5
2	6	2710	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun		GM	Navara, David	2689	4
3	7	2654	GM	Moussard, Jules		GM	Yu, Yangyi	2735	3
4	1	2693	GM	Deac, Bogdan-Daniel		GM	Keymer, Vincent	2690	2

Details

MTO Round 2 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	27	IM	Rohith, Krishna S	2429	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Bu, Xiangzhi	2676	1	PGN
2	2	GM	Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son	2645	1	½ - ½	1	WGM	Huang, Qian	2422	29	PGN
3	28	WGM	Vantika, Agrawal	2428	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Aryan, Chopra	2626	3	PGN
4	4	GM	Yuffa, Daniil	2603	1	½ - ½	1		Jinan, Jomon	2409	31	PGN
5	30	IM	Wessman, Richard	2410	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos Daniel	2591	5	PGN
6	32	IM	Harikrishnan, A Ra	2406	1	1 - 0	1	GM	Meshkovs, Nikita	2565	7	PGN
7	8	GM	Quesada Perez, Luis Ernesto	2553	1	1 - 0	1	IM	Ajay Krishna, S	2390	35	PGN
8	34	IM	Morawietz, Dieter	2396	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Liu, Yan	2542	9	PGN
9	10	GM	Pranav, Anand	2510	1	1 - 0	1	FM	Jain, Kashish Manoj	2375	37	PGN
10	36	IM	Seul, Georg	2376	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Samant, Aditya S	2510	11	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 2

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2
1	1	GM	Bu, Xiangzhi	CHN	2676	2	1	2
	3	GM	Aryan, Chopra	IND	2626	2	1	2
	8	GM	Quesada Perez, Luis Ernesto	CUB	2553	2	1	2
	9	GM	Liu, Yan	CHN	2542	2	1	2
	10	GM	Pranav, Anand	IND	2510	2	1	2
	11	IM	Samant, Aditya S	IND	2510	2	1	2
	20	IM	Chasin, Nico	USA	2455	2	1	2
	22		Huang, Renjie	CHN	2445	2	1	2
	26	IM	Licznerski, Lukasz	POL	2430	2	1	2
	32	IM	Harikrishnan, A Ra	IND	2406	2	1	2

Details

Round 3 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Bu, Xiangzhi	2676	2		2	IM	Chasin, Nico	2455	20
2	3	GM	Aryan, Chopra	2626	2		2		Huang, Renjie	2445	22
3	25	IM	Materia, Marco	2436	2		2	GM	Quesada Perez, Luis Ernesto	2553	8
4	9	GM	Liu, Yan	2542	2		2	IM	Licznerski, Lukasz	2430	26
5	32	IM	Harikrishnan, A Ra	2406	2		2	GM	Pranav, Anand	2510	10
6	11	IM	Samant, Aditya S	2510	2		2	FM	Toktomushev, Teimur	2206	64
7	5	GM	Albornoz Cabrera, Carlos Daniel	2591	1½		2	IM	Sukandar, Irine Kharisma	2358	42
8	31		Jinan, Jomon	2409	1½		1½	GM	Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son	2645	2
9	29	WGM	Huang, Qian	2422	1½		1½	GM	Yuffa, Daniil	2603	4
10	33	IM	Shlyakhtenko, Robert	2401	1½		1½	GM	Erdos, Viktor	2571	6

Details

Links

Official site

GMT details

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