57th Biel GMT R5: Praggnanandhaa beats Shankland to keep his chances
GM R Praggnanandhaa ended his Classical win drought as he defeated GM Sam Shankland (USA) in Round 5 of 57th Biel Chess Festival GMT Masters 2024. It was the World no.8's first Classical win of the event. This crucial four point kept him in contention. He still needs to make a top four finish to advance to the Final stage. GM R Vaishali missed a win against GM Salem Saleh (UAE) in the Challengers. She has advanced to the next stage irrespective of the Blitz outcome. GM Leon Luke Mendonca scored an emphatic victory over GM Alxander Moiseenko (UKR) to maintain his sole lead 5.5/6. GM Aryan Chopra is in pursuit at 5/6 after winning against GM Yahli Sokolovsky (ISR). Blitz Round 1 for GMT and MTO starts today at 2 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Biel Chess Festival
Vaishali misses a win; Leon maintains his sole lead, Aryan in pursuit
GM Liem Quang Le (VIE) topped the first stage 17.5/34 in the GMT Masters. Among the Challengers, GM Salem Saleh (UAE) finished at the top with a 21/34 score. The top four finishers is likely to play in the Final stage of Challengers unless something changes in the Blitz.
GMT: Praggnanandhaa - Shankland: 4-0
GM R Praggnanandhaa (2757) scored his first Classical win of the event against GM Sam Shankland (USA, 2683).
12...Nxe4 was the correct decision to sacrifice an exchange for a pawn. 13.Bxe7 Nxd2 14.Bxf8 Kxf8 15.Rfd1 Nc4. However, White eventually used his material advantage to win the game.
GMT Challengers: Vaishali - Salem: 1.5-1.5
GM Vaishali (2488) had a decisive advantage for the better part of the queen and rook endgame against GM Salem Saleh (UAE, 2638). However, she blundered and was forced to draw the game via perpetual check.
40.Qc7+ Kh6 forced as the king cannot go to the back rank due to Qc8+ and Qd7+ forcing the queen trades, resulting in the pawn promotion. 41.Qb8 would have been winning for White. Instead, 40.Qd3?? was a blunder as Qg1 threatens Qb1# White has no choice but to go for perpetual checks 41.Qd7+ Kh6 42.Qd2+ resulting in a draw.
MTO: Leon - Moiseenko
22...Ne4?? is a big positional mistake by Black. Find out why and what was the better response to 22.Bd3.
Yahli - Aryan
Black is ready to exploit White's light square weakness on the kingside. 36...Rc4 37.Qxa6 Bf3+ 38.Nxf3 exf3+ 39.Kh2 Rxh4 White resigned as checkmate is unstoppable.
From Press Release
Today, 20 July, International Chess Day, the World Chess Federation FIDE has announced a world record attempt: The most chess games played within 24 hours: at one of the more than 800 registered tournaments, or on the major online platforms. FIDE's technical centre, where all the registered games from the various events were recorded, was located in Biel. As the day progressed, it became clear that a record number of games had been played. The representative of Guinness World Records was therefore able to officially announce the record at around 9 pm in the evening in the Biel Congress Centre and present IA Laurent Freyd, the FIDE Operational Director for this event, with the corresponding certificate. At this point, 5.4 million games had been played worldwide, 361 of which were played today at the Biel Chess Festival. The count will continue until midnight CEST.
Every day, the best games from MTO and ATO are voted for on social media.
Winner MTO Round 5: Zachary Saine (CAN, 2058) vs. Shiivesh Sunil Malli (SUI, 1916) 1-0
Winner ATO Round 4: Patrick Rossi (SUI, 1539) vs. Daniel Bachmann (SUI, 1713): 0-1
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Scoring in GMT Classical
Win = 4 points
Draw = 1.5 point
Loss = 0
Replay Round 5 GMT Masters games
Replay Round 5 GMT Challengers games
Replay Round 6 MTO games
Masters Round 5 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 2731 | GM | Le, Quang Liem | 1½ - 1½ | GM | Martirosyan, Haik M. | 2661 | 1 | |||
| 2 | 4 | 2604 | GM | Mishra, Abhimanyu | 1½ - 1½ | GM | Keymer, Vincent | 2721 | 2 | |||
| 3 | 3 | 2757 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 4 - 0 | GM | Shankland, Sam | 2683 | 6 |
Standings after Round 5
| Rank | Name | Games | Classical | Rapid | Blitz | Total |
| 1 | GM LÊ Quang Liêm | 10 | 12 ½ | 5 | 17 ½ | |
| 2 | GM Abhimanyu MISHRA | 10 | 12 ½ | 4 | 16 ½ | |
| 3 | GM Haik MARTIROSYAN | 10 | 7 ½ | 7 | 14 ½ | |
| 4 | GM Vincent KEYMER | 10 | 8 ½ | 5 | 13 ½ | |
| 5 | GM PRAGGNANANDHAA R | 10 | 7 | 5 | 12 | |
| 6 | GM Sam SHANKLAND | 10 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
Blitz Round 1 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2607 | GM | Keymer, Vincent | GM | Mishra, Abhimanyu | 2449 | 6 | ||||
| 2 | 2 | 2700 | GM | Le, Quang Liem | GM | Martirosyan, Haik M. | 2716 | 5 | ||||
| 3 | 3 | 2648 | GM | Shankland, Sam | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 2680 | 4 |
Challengers Round 5 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 2488 | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | 1½ - 1½ | GM | Salem, A.R. Saleh | 2638 | 1 | |||
| 2 | 3 | 2633 | GM | Donchenko, Alexander | 4 - 0 | GM | Maurizzi, Marc`andria | 2620 | 6 | |||
| 3 | 4 | 2535 | GM | Samunenkov, Ihor | 0 - 4 | GM | Bjerre, Jonas Buhl | 2653 | 2 |
Standings after Round 5
| Rank | Name | Games | Classical | Rapid | Blitz | Total |
| 1 | GM Saleh Salem | 10 | 15 | 6 | 21 | |
| 2 | GM VAISHALI Rameshbabu | 10 | 15 | 5 | 20 | |
| 3 | GM Alexander DONCHENKO | 10 | 11 | 7 | 18 | |
| 4 | GM Jonas BJERRE | 10 | 9 ½ | 5 | 14 ½ | |
| 5 | GM Marc'Andria MAURIZZI | 10 | 3 | 4 | 7 | |
| 6 | GM Ihor SAMUNENKOV | 10 | 1 ½ | 3 | 4 ½ |
Blitz Round 1 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2654 | GM | Salem, A.R. Saleh | GM | Samunenkov, Ihor | 2471 | 6 | ||||
| 2 | 2 | 2569 | GM | Donchenko, Alexander | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | 2366 | 5 | ||||
| 3 | 3 | 2519 | GM | Bjerre, Jonas Buhl | GM | Maurizzi, Marc`andria | 2443 | 4 |
MTO Round 6 results
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | 2615 | 4½ | 1 - 0 | 4 | GM | Moiseenko, Alexander | 2570 | 7 | ||
| 2 | 14 | GM | Sokolovsky, Yahli | 2516 | 4 | 0 - 1 | 4 | GM | Aryan, Chopra | 2632 | 1 | ||
| 3 | 6 | GM | Sasikiran, Krishnan | 2581 | 4 | ½ - ½ | 4 | GM | Jumabayev, Rinat | 2565 | 9 | ||
| 4 | 8 | GM | Harsha, Bharathakoti | 2569 | 4 | ½ - ½ | 4 | IM | Madaminov, Mukhiddin | 2512 | 15 | ||
| 5 | 12 | GM | Koustav, Chatterjee | 2525 | 4 | ½ - ½ | 3½ | GM | Sethuraman, S.P. | 2589 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 3 | GM | Nesterov, Arseniy | 2602 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | GM | Holzke, Frank | 2450 | 24 | ||
| 7 | 4 | GM | Ganguly, Surya Shekhar | 2592 | 3½ | 0 - 1 | 3½ | IM | Gan-Erdene, Sugar | 2407 | 30 | ||
| 8 | 10 | GM | Gavrilescu, David | 2540 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | IM | Juksta, Karolis | 2400 | 31 | ||
| 9 | 28 | IM | Petkidis, Anthony | 2428 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | GM | Kobo, Ori | 2529 | 11 | ||
| 10 | 37 | FM | Chinguun, Sumiya | 2377 | 3½ | 0 - 1 | 3½ | Xiao, Tong(Qd) | 2518 | 13 |
Standings after Round 6
| Rk. | SNo | Name | sex | FED | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | IND | 2615 | 5,5 | 0 | 18,25 | 17,5 | ||
| 2 | 1 | GM | Aryan, Chopra | IND | 2632 | 5 | 0 | 17,50 | 18,5 | ||
| 3 | 9 | GM | Jumabayev, Rinat | KAZ | 2565 | 4,5 | 0 | 17,50 | 21,5 | ||
| 4 | 8 | GM | Harsha, Bharathakoti | IND | 2569 | 4,5 | 0 | 16,75 | 20,5 | ||
| 5 | 12 | GM | Koustav, Chatterjee | IND | 2525 | 4,5 | 0 | 16,25 | 19,5 | ||
| 6 | 23 | Xue, Haowen | CHN | 2452 | 4,5 | 0 | 16,00 | 20 | |||
| 7 | 6 | GM | Sasikiran, Krishnan | IND | 2581 | 4,5 | 0 | 15,25 | 20 | ||
| 8 | 30 | IM | Gan-Erdene, Sugar | MGL | 2407 | 4,5 | 0 | 15,25 | 19 | ||
| 9 | 10 | GM | Gavrilescu, David | ROU | 2540 | 4,5 | 0 | 15,25 | 18 | ||
| 10 | 13 | Xiao, Tong(Qd) | CHN | 2518 | 4,5 | 0 | 15,00 | 18 |
