Biel MTO 2021 R1: Tahay holds Donchenko to a draw

by Shahid Ahmed - 27/07/2021

The Master Tournament (MTO) of 54th Biel International Chess Festival 2021 started on Monday 26th July. A total of 73 players are taking part in the Master Tournament (MTO). The biggest contingent in this event is India, which consists of 17 players, followed by Switzerland having eleven players. 27 GMs, 13 IMs, 4 WGMs and 4 WIMs are taking part from 18 countries across the world. All seeded Indian players started the event with a victory. Total prize fund for the MTO is 39000 CHF (approx. Rs 31.6 lacs) with the first prize being 6000 CHF (approx. Rs.4.87 lacs). The tournament will witness a lot of interesting clashes between the Indian players starting from Round 2 which starts at 5:30 p.m. IST today. GMT Classical Round 1 also takes place at the same time. Photo: Niklesh Jain

Indian players make a smooth start

FM Alexis Tahay (FRA) held GM Alexander Donchenko and FM Sedrani Ammar (UAE) held GM Viktor Erdos (HUN) to a draw each respectively. Simon Schweizer (JPN) defeated GM Gergely Kantor (HUN). These were the big upsets among top 25 boards in Round 1.

Sethuraman is the highest rated Indian in the field | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Jeevitesh - Sethuraman: 0-1

IM Sai Agni Jeevitesh had a good opportunity to squeeze a draw in the rook and many pawns endgame against GM Sethuraman.

Position after 47...f4

There were two ways for White to go for a draw here. 48.e4 was an interesting choice. The other one was 48.gxf4. The text 48.Kd3 created a window of opportunity for Black to push for a win.

Position after 56...Kc4

This is slightly a tougher defense for White, but it can still be saved. Find out how.

Sethuraman was provided a good challenge by compatriot Jeevitesh | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Loeffler - Ganguly: 0-1

GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly scored a fine victory over IM Markus Löffler (GER).

Position after 27...e5

White could have played 28.Qxe5 and provided a strong defense but in a practical game, it is not an easy decision to allow 28...Nh4+ 29.Rxh4 Qxf2+ 30.Kh1 Rxg3 and expect that this will work out for White. The game continued 28.dxe5 Qe7 29.Rah1 Nxg3 soon things fell apart for White.

Jovana - Karthikeyan: 0-1

GM Karthikeyan Murali made his intentions very clear, early in the game against WGM Jovana Eric (SRB).

Position after 7...g5

When your opponent plays 7...g5, you can be rest assured that he wants to attack on your kingside and test your defensive skills which is exactly what Karthikeyan did and walked away with a victory.

Karthikeyan warmed up well the other day by winning all 18 games in his simul exhibition | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Replay Round 1 games

Photo Gallery

Third seed GM Alexander Donchenko (GER) was to held to a draw by... | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

...FM Alexis Tahay (FRA) | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

GM Aravindh Chithambaram started with a victory | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Opening Ceremony in progress | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

The tournament hall for GMT, MTO and ATO | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Round 1 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Saleh Salem A.R.	2682	0	1 - 0	0	IM	Omar Noaman	2367	37
2	38	FM	Papadiamandis Elliot	2363	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Eljanov Pavel	2671	2
3	3	GM	Donchenko Alexander	2652	0	½ - ½	0	FM	Tahay Alexis	2349	39
4	40	IM	J Sai Agni Jeevitesh	2322	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2644	4
5	5	GM	Chithambaram Aravindh	2641	0	1 - 0	0	WGM	Dordzhieva Dinara	2311	41
6	42	FM	Fecker Noah	2309	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Banusz Tamas	2631	6
7	7	GM	Chigaev Maksim	2630	0	1 - 0	0	FM	Stelmaszyk Nico	2296	43
8	44	IM	Löffler Markus	2295	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2625	8
9	9	GM	Narayanan S.L.	2624	0	1 - 0	0	FM	Kamber Bruno	2275	45
10	46	FM	Ammar Sedrani	2274	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Erdos Viktor	2614	10
11	11	GM	R Praggnanandhaa	2608	0	1 - 0	0	FM	Wacker Peter	2263	47
12	48	WGM	Eric Jovana	2250	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Murali Karthikeyan	2606	12
13	13	GM	Fedorchuk Sergey	2598	0	1 - 0	0	WIM	Blagojevic Tijana	2222	49
14	50		Pahud Cédric	2200	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2589	14
15	15	GM	Gukesh Dommaraju	2578	0	1 - 0	0	IM	Al Hosani Omran	2197	51

Details

Round 2 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	19	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2567	1		1	GM	Saleh Salem A.R.	2682	1
2	2	GM	Eljanov Pavel	2671	1		1	GM	Korpa Bence	2536	21
3	4	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2644	1		1	GM	Valsecchi Alessio	2527	23
4	20	GM	Sadhwani Raunak	2555	1		1	GM	Chithambaram Aravindh	2641	5
5	6	GM	Banusz Tamas	2631	1		1	GM	NR Visakh	2516	25
6	24	GM	Tang Andrew	2525	1		1	GM	Chigaev Maksim	2630	7
7	8	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2625	1		1	GM	Budisavljevic Luka	2509	27
8	26	GM	Shchekachev Andrei	2515	1		1	GM	Narayanan S.L.	2624	9
9	28	IM	Kalyan Arjun	2503	1		1	GM	R Praggnanandhaa	2608	11
10	12	GM	Murali Karthikeyan	2606	1		1	IM	Raja Harshit	2484	29
11	30	IM	NR Vignesh	2428	1		1	GM	Fedorchuk Sergey	2598	13
12	14	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2589	1		1	IM	Gschnitzer Adrian	2420	31
13	33	WGM	Vaishali R	2393	1		1	GM	Gukesh Dommaraju	2578	15
14	16	GM	Yuffa Daniil	2578	1		1	IM	Haimovich Tal	2388	35
15	58		Schweizer Simon	2142	1		1	GM	Wagner Dennis	2572	17

Details

Replay the livestream

54th Biel Chess Festival MTO Round 1 - Live Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Links

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