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Peter Svidler wins 28th Tepe Sigeman & Co 2023, Gukesh shares second place

by Shahid Ahmed - 11/05/2023

Boris Gelfand scored the sole victory in the final round of 28th TePe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2023. The win did not come easy. The legend started with three losses and then made three draws. The multi-stage endgame seemed to be heading towards a draw. His opponent, world's youngest GM Abhimanyu Mishra was unbeaten at 4/6. A draw would have allowed the boy to play tie-breaks against Peter Svidler. However, he crumbled in the final moments and Gelfand won. It means Peter Svidler won the tournament in his first appearance at this event. In the final round, he drew against D Gukesh who is now at the top of the FIDE Circuit leaderboard having 43.12 points. Gukesh shared second place with Nils Grandelius and Abhimanyu scoring 4/7 each. Photo: David Llada/TePe Sigeman & Co Tournament 2023

Gelfand scores a 125-move marathon win

Boris Gelfand headed into the final round of the tournament with three losses, three draws and zero wins. He is the winner of FIDE World Cup 2009 for a reason. He can endure long games. Abhimanyu Mishra should not feel bad about losing the game as he put up a good effort. The endgame is quite difficult to hold, even MVL mentioned it a few months ago.

D Gukesh drew against Peter Svidler in the final round | Photo: David Llada/TePe Sigeman & Co Tournament 2023

Abhimanyu - Gelfand: 0-1

Abhimanyu Mishra (USA, 2550) was facing the legendary Boris Gelfand (ISR, 2678) for the first time in a rated game. While the youngster was undefeated 4/6, his opponent had a tough event till then 1.5/6. The game arrived at a multi-stage queen endgame. The first stage was a rook endgame. After the rooks were traded, pawns were promoted into a queen each which got traded and again both sides promoted a queen each. Only this time, Gelfand was left with an extra pawn.

Position after 53.e8Q

The above endgame is neither easy to defend as White nor easy to win as Black. Earlier this year, former World Blitz champion, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave also acknowledged that it is almost impossible to comprehend the nuances.

The 14th world champion, Vladimir Kramnik discussed a similar position with India's top talents a few years ago at a Gelfand-Kramnik camp held.

Food and rest come second, chess is first at the Kramnik Training camp! | Video: ChessBase India

Position after 85.Kb8

White did the right thing by bringing his king to the farthest corner from the g-pawn. So how did he lose then?

Position after 120...Kg1

White's final decisive mistake was 121.Qd5. What he needed to do was give long distance checks 121.Qc5+ Kh2 122.Qc7+ Kh3 123.Qc8+ and it is not easy for Black to stop the checks. 121...Kf1 runs into 122.Qb5+ now the king cannot go to f2 or g1 as 123.Qb6+ forces a draw due to stalemate trick. 122...Kh2 123.Qd2 Qc6+ 124.Kb8 Kh1 and it was over for White. Abhimanyu played well. A long game certainly developed tiredness and fatigue, which got the better of him. Gelfand scored his sole win of the event after 125 moves in the final round.

Abhimanyu Mishra really put up a good fight against Boris Gelfand | Photo: David Llada/TePe Sigeman & Co Tournament 2023

Vincent Keymer (GER) - Arjun Erigaisi: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: David Llada/TePe Sigeman & Co Tournament 2023

Nils Grandelius (SWE) - Jorden van Foreest (NED): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: David Llada/TePe Sigeman & Co Tournament 2023

Photo Gallery

Peter Svidler won 28th TePe Sigeman & Co Chess tournament in his first appearance at this event | Photo: David Llada/TePe Sigeman & Co Tournament 2023

D Gukesh is now at the top of the FIDE Circuit leaderboard | Photo: David Llada/TePe Sigeman & Co Tournament 2023

D Gukesh is leading the FIDE Circuit leaderboard with 43.12 points | Photo: FIDE

The strong Dutch GMs (L to R) - Jorden van Foreest, Sipke Ernst and Erwin l'Ami | Photo: David Llada/TePe Sigeman & Co Tournament 2023

The official commentators - GM Stellan Brynell (SWE) and GM Erwin l'Ami (NED) | Photo: David Llada/TePe Sigeman & Co Tournament 2023

Johan Sigeman - successful lawyer, chess lover, tournament sponsor and a front-row spectator | Photo: David Llada/TePe Sigeman & Co Tournament 2023

Abhimanyu Mishra taking a quick glance at all the action | Photo: David Llada/TePe Sigeman & Co Tournament 2023

After a 125-move long battle - the boy and the legend | Photo: David Llada/TePe Sigeman & Co Tournament 2023

Peter Svidler and Boris Gelfand still going strong | Photo: David Llada/TePe Sigeman & Co Tournament 2023

Time Control

90 minutes for 40 moves and then 30 minutes for the remaining moves with 30 seconds cumulative increment for each move starting from the first move (Malmö rules-no draws before move 40).

Replay Round 7 games

Round 7 results

Bo.No.Rtg NameResultName RtgNo.
142700
GMKeymer, Vincent½ - ½GMErigaisi, Arjun
27018
252664
GMGrandelius, Nils½ - ½GMVan Foreest, Jorden
26893
362732
GMGukesh, D½ - ½GMSvidler, Peter
26832
472550
GMMishra, Abhimanyu0 - 1GMGelfand, Boris
26781

Details

Final standings

Rk.SNo NameFEDRtg TB1 
12
GMSvidler, PeterFID26834,5
25
GMGrandelius, NilsSWE26644
6
GMGukesh, DIND27324
7
GMMishra, AbhimanyuUSA25504
53
GMVan Foreest, JordenNED26893,5
68
GMErigaisi, ArjunIND27013
71
GMGelfand, BorisISR26782,5
4
GMKeymer, VincentGER27002,5

Details

Schedule

4th - 9th May - 3 p.m. CET (6:30 p.m. IST), 10th May - 12 p.m. CET (3:30 p.m. IST).

Links

Official site

Tournament details



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