Biel MTO 2021 R6: Karthikeyan stays at the top 5.5/6
Twelfth seed Karthikeyan Murali maintained his sole lead by scoring a victory over Sethuraman in the sixth round of 54th Biel International Chess Festival MTO 2021. Eljanov is the only player who is a half point behind him 5.0/6. They will face each other in a crucial game in the seventh round. IM Harshit Raja scored a fine victory over GM Abhimanyu Puranik. GM Raunak Sadhwani held GM Maksim Chigaev to a marathon draw. Yesterday was a rest day for the GMT. The fifth round of GMT and seventh round of MTO will start at 5:30 p.m. IST today. Nihal has reduced the gap between him and Kamsky by winning the GMT Blitz on 31st July. He will face Keymer today against whom Nihal has a 3-1 score in this event. Photo: Rupali Mullick
Ganguly in pursuit
Karthikeyan scored a nice victory over compatriot Sethuraman in the sixth round to maintain his sole lead 5.5/6. GM Pavel Eljanov (UKR) is the only one who is a half point 5.0/6 behind him. Five players are behind the Ukrainian at 4.5/6. They are - Banusz, Ganguly, Erdos, Tang and Kantor.
Karthikeyan - Sethuraman: 1-0
Karthikeyan's relentless attack was capped off with a nice combination, but before that, his opponent Sethuraman could have done tactics of his own and saved the position.
White's kingside is a little vulnerable. How can Black take advantage of that? The game continued 35...Qb6 36.Qb3 Kf8. Find out the finish for White.
Ganguly - Banusz: 0.5-0.5
Banusz had a substantial advantage in both middlegame and endgame but he was unable to convert it.
Black is completely winning in the above position. Find out the best plan for Black.
Raunak - Chigaev: 0.5-0.5
Raunak Sadhwani had a marathon draw with Maksim Chigaev. The 15-year-old had to defend a rook vs rook and knight endgame for 50-moves.
Puranik - Harshit: 0-1
In a battle between two good friends from the same city, IM Harshit Raja prevailed. However, GM Abhimanyu Puranik had his opportunity to bring things back to balance.
White can do a pretty nice combination to restore equilibrium. Find out how.
Highlights
Here are a few interesting finishes from Round 6
Replay Round 6 games
Round 6 results
Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
1 | 12 | GM | Murali Karthikeyan | 2606 | 4½ | 1 - 0 | 4 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | 2644 | 4 | ||
2 | 2 | GM | Eljanov Pavel | 2671 | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4 | GM | R Praggnanandhaa | 2608 | 11 | ||
3 | 8 | GM | Ganguly Surya Shekhar | 2625 | 4 | ½ - ½ | 4 | GM | Banusz Tamas | 2631 | 6 | ||
4 | 17 | GM | Wagner Dennis | 2572 | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | GM | Saleh Salem A.R. | 2682 | 1 | ||
5 | 20 | GM | Sadhwani Raunak | 2555 | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | GM | Chigaev Maksim | 2630 | 7 | ||
6 | 22 | GM | Kantor Gergely | 2527 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | GM | Narayanan S.L. | 2624 | 9 | ||
7 | 10 | GM | Erdos Viktor | 2614 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | 2567 | 19 | ||
8 | 24 | GM | Tang Andrew | 2525 | 3½ | 1 - 0 | 3½ | GM | Fedorchuk Sergey | 2598 | 13 | ||
9 | 15 | GM | Gukesh Dommaraju | 2578 | 3½ | ½ - ½ | 3½ | IM | Kalyan Arjun | 2503 | 28 | ||
10 | 27 | GM | Budisavljevic Luka | 2509 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | GM | Donchenko Alexander | 2652 | 3 | ||
11 | 14 | GM | Puranik Abhimanyu | 2589 | 3 | 0 - 1 | 3 | IM | Raja Harshit | 2484 | 29 | ||
12 | 16 | GM | Yuffa Daniil | 2578 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | IM | NR Vignesh | 2428 | 30 | ||
13 | 31 | IM | Gschnitzer Adrian | 2420 | 3 | 0 - 1 | 3 | GM | Korpa Bence | 2536 | 21 | ||
14 | 34 | IM | Bänziger Fabian | 2392 | 3 | 0 - 1 | 3 | GM | Valsecchi Alessio | 2527 | 23 | ||
15 | 25 | GM | NR Visakh | 2516 | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | IM | Haimovich Tal | 2388 | 35 |
Round 7 pairings
Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
1 | 2 | GM | Eljanov Pavel | 2671 | 5 | 5½ | GM | Murali Karthikeyan | 2606 | 12 | |||
2 | 6 | GM | Banusz Tamas | 2631 | 4½ | 4½ | GM | Erdos Viktor | 2614 | 10 | |||
3 | 22 | GM | Kantor Gergely | 2527 | 4½ | 4½ | GM | Ganguly Surya Shekhar | 2625 | 8 | |||
4 | 1 | GM | Saleh Salem A.R. | 2682 | 4 | 4½ | GM | Tang Andrew | 2525 | 24 | |||
5 | 4 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | 2644 | 4 | 4 | GM | Sadhwani Raunak | 2555 | 20 | |||
6 | 7 | GM | Chigaev Maksim | 2630 | 4 | 4 | GM | Korpa Bence | 2536 | 21 | |||
7 | 11 | GM | R Praggnanandhaa | 2608 | 4 | 4 | GM | NR Visakh | 2516 | 25 | |||
8 | 23 | GM | Valsecchi Alessio | 2527 | 4 | 4 | GM | Gukesh Dommaraju | 2578 | 15 | |||
9 | 28 | IM | Kalyan Arjun | 2503 | 4 | 4 | GM | Wagner Dennis | 2572 | 17 | |||
10 | 29 | IM | Raja Harshit | 2484 | 4 | 3½ | GM | Donchenko Alexander | 2652 | 3 | |||
11 | 9 | GM | Narayanan S.L. | 2624 | 3½ | 3½ | GM | Budisavljevic Luka | 2509 | 27 | |||
12 | 13 | GM | Fedorchuk Sergey | 2598 | 3½ | 3½ | IM | Unuk Laura | 2407 | 32 | |||
13 | 33 | WGM | Vaishali R | 2393 | 3½ | 3½ | GM | Yuffa Daniil | 2578 | 16 | |||
14 | 30 | IM | NR Vignesh | 2428 | 3½ | 3½ | GM | Dragnev Valentin | 2569 | 18 | |||
15 | 19 | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | 2567 | 3½ | 3½ | FM | Tahay Alexis | 2349 | 39 |