55th Biel MTO R8: Pranav Anand scores his final GM-norm with a round to spare
IM Pranav Anand drew with Spain no.6, GM Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli at 55th Biel Chess Festival 2022 MTO. His live rating is now 2491 which means he is just nine Elo rating points away from becoming India's next GM. The 15-year-old from Karnataka will face GM Yu Yangyi (CHN) in the final round. GM Visakh N R drew with GM Kirill Alekseenko. Visakh had a few chances in the endgame, however things did not materialize in his favor. GM D Gukesh drew with GM Gata Kamsky (USA). He is out of the championship picture. However, he can still make a podium finish. GMT Round 7 and MTO Round 9 starts today at 10 a.m. local time (1:30 p.m. IST). Photo: Rupali Mullick
Visakh, Sethuraman and Leon in pursuit
Sethuraman S P handed Aryan Chopra his second consecutive loss of the event. Leon Luke Mendonca ended Surya Sekhar Ganguly's unbeaten run in the MTO. Both of them are now at 6/8, a half point behind the leaders, Kirill Alekseenko and Mahammad Muradli (AZE) at 6.5/8 each.
MTO Round 8: Visakh - Alekseenko: 0.5-0.5
GM Visakh N R (2503) is in great form ever since he won 2nd San leo International Open last month. GM Kirill Alekseenko (2708) made a few questionable choices in the double rook and minor piece endgame.
White made a very sensible break 25.e4. Black should be happy to exchange the pawns at d5 to free up his b6-rook. It eventually ran out of safe squares to go until it got exchanged. 25...dxe4 created an opportunity for White 26.Rxg5+. Once again 26...Kf8 was a better choice for Black. 26...Kh7 and now White should play 27.Re5 instead of 27.Re1. The key difference is the former prevents Re8. White would be happy to trade the rooks at e8 and gain the e4-pawn. Anyway, White got a few more half chances which were certainly not easy and the game meandered into a draw.
Leon - Surya: 1-0
GM Leon Luke Mendonca (2567) defeated GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly (2608) after the latter made a tactical blunder.
Find out the winning continuation for White which Leon executed in the game.
A total of 114 players including 26 GMs, 23 IMs and 3 WIMs are taking part from 31 countries across the world. The nine-round Swiss League tournament is organized by Biel-Bienne Chess at Biel Congress House, Biel, Switzerland from 13th to 22nd July. The sole rest day is Sunday 17th July. The time control is 90 minutes/40 moves with 30 seconds increment + 30 minutes.
Replay GMT Round 6 games
Round 6 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
| 1 | 8 | 2684 | GM | Gukesh D | ½ - ½ | GM | Kamsky Gata | 2655 | 7 |
| 2 | 1 | 2688 | GM | Abdusattorov Nodirbek | 0 - 1 | GM | Esipenko Andrey | 2682 | 6 |
| 3 | 2 | 2722 | GM | Le Quang Liem | 1 - 0 | GM | Naiditsch Arkadij | 2664 | 5 |
| 4 | 3 | 2686 | GM | Keymer Vincent | ½ - ½ | GM | Salem A.R. Saleh | 2684 | 4 |
Round 7 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
| 1 | 4 | 2684 | GM | Salem A.R. Saleh | GM | Gukesh D | 2684 | 8 | |
| 2 | 5 | 2664 | GM | Naiditsch Arkadij | GM | Keymer Vincent | 2686 | 3 | |
| 3 | 6 | 2682 | GM | Esipenko Andrey | GM | Le Quang Liem | 2722 | 2 | |
| 4 | 7 | 2655 | GM | Kamsky Gata | GM | Abdusattorov Nodirbek | 2688 | 1 |
Replay MTO Round 8 games
Round 8 results
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
| 1 | 23 | GM | Visakh N R | 2503 | 5½ | ½ - ½ | 6 | GM | Alekseenko Kirill | 2708 | 2 |
| 2 | 21 | GM | Muradli Mahammad | 2523 | 5½ | 1 - 0 | 5½ | GM | Motylev Alexander | 2632 | 7 |
| 3 | 3 | GM | Fedoseev Vladimir | 2686 | 5 | ½ - ½ | 5 | GM | Erdos Viktor | 2586 | 16 |
| 4 | 5 | GM | Sargsyan Shant | 2661 | 5 | 1 - 0 | 5 | GM | Bharath Subramaniyam H | 2479 | 24 |
| 5 | 9 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | 2623 | 5 | 1 - 0 | 5 | GM | Aryan Chopra | 2610 | 13 |
| 6 | 10 | GM | Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo | 2619 | 5 | ½ - ½ | 5 | IM | Pranav Anand | 2463 | 27 |
| 7 | 17 | GM | Mendonca Leon Luke | 2567 | 5 | 1 - 0 | 5 | GM | Ganguly Surya Shekhar | 2608 | 15 |
| 8 | 11 | GM | Puranik Abhimanyu | 2612 | 4½ | 1 - 0 | 5 | GM | Iniyan P | 2533 | 20 |
| 9 | 1 | GM | Yu Yangyi | 2720 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | CM | Prraneeth Vuppala | 2457 | 29 |
| 10 | 32 | IM | Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh | 2445 | 4½ | 0 - 1 | 4½ | GM | Martirosyan Haik M. | 2672 | 4 |
Round 9 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
| 1 | 2 | GM | Alekseenko Kirill | 2708 | 6½ | 6½ | GM | Muradli Mahammad | 2523 | 21 | |
| 2 | 17 | GM | Mendonca Leon Luke | 2567 | 6 | 6 | GM | Sargsyan Shant | 2661 | 5 | |
| 3 | 9 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | 2623 | 6 | 6 | GM | Visakh N R | 2503 | 23 | |
| 4 | 26 | GM | Raja Harshit | 2477 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Fedoseev Vladimir | 2686 | 3 | |
| 5 | 4 | GM | Martirosyan Haik M. | 2672 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Puranik Abhimanyu | 2612 | 11 | |
| 6 | 16 | GM | Erdos Viktor | 2586 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Motylev Alexander | 2632 | 7 | |
| 7 | 28 | GM | Pavlovic Milos | 2461 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo | 2619 | 10 | |
| 8 | 27 | IM | Pranav Anand | 2463 | 5½ | 5 | GM | Yu Yangyi | 2720 | 1 | |
| 9 | 8 | GM | Lagarde Maxime | 2631 | 5 | 5 | CM | Prraneeth Vuppala | 2457 | 29 | |
| 10 | 12 | GM | Banusz Tamas | 2611 | 5 | 5 | IM | Licznerski Lukasz | 2451 | 30 |
