Praggnanandhaa tops 57th Biel GMT Blitz with a 2773 performance, secures his place in the final four
R Praggnanandhaa scored 7/10 to finish at the top of 57th Biel Chess Festival GMT Masters Blitz 2024. This performance earned him a spot in the Final stage with Liem Quang Le (VIE), Haik Martirosyan (ARM) and Abhimanyu Mishra (USA). Each player will play with their opponent with a reversed color of their previous Classical encounter at this event. Liem is currently leading with 24 points, followed by Haik at 21, Praggnanandhaa and Abhimanyu are at 19 points each. With 12 points hanging in the balance anyone can win in the Masters. Salem Saleh (UAE) is the leading the Challengers with 30 points. He has a staggering seven point lead which means he just needs to score either a win or two draws in the Final to become a clear champion. Today is the second and last rest day in GMT. Round 1 Final starts tomorrow Tuesday 23rd July at 2 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Biel Chess Festival
Salem on the verge of winning the Challengers
Alexander Donchenko (GER) is currently at second spot 23 points. Vaishali's tough day in Blitz dropped her to third place with 22.5 points. She needs to beat both Donchenko and Salem in the Final to have a chance to finish at the top. Jonas Buhl Bjerre (DEN) got eliminated as there is a 12-point rule. He had 17.5 points which means there was no mathematical possibility left for him to catch up with the sole leader, Salem Saleh (UAE).
Out of the six wins scored by GM R Praggnanandhaa (2680), his best one has to be against GM Liem Quang Le (VIE, 2700). Sure he could have finished things much earlier. The most important thing is the will he showed to win in the three vs. two pawns rook endgame in the fifth round is really what sets him apart. He grinded that endgame like the World no.1 - Magnus Carlsen. It certainly paid off in the end. The 113-move marathon certainly drained as he lost the following round game against GM Samuel Shankland (USA, 2648).
From Press Release
Flashback: A Guinness World Record – certified in Biel
On Saturday, 20 July, International Chess Day, the World Chess Federation FIDE announced a world record attempt: The most chess games played worldwide within 24 hours: at one of the 827 registered tournaments, or on the major online platforms. The FIDE technical centre, where all the registered games of the various events were recorded, was located in Biel at the Biel Chess Festival. As the day progressed, it became clear that a record number of games would be played. The representative of Guinness World Records was therefore able to officially announce the record at around 9 p.m. at the Biel Congress Centre and present IA Laurent Freyd, the FIDE Operational Director for this event, with the corresponding certificate. At that time, 5.4 million games had been played worldwide, 356 of which were contributed by the Biel Chess Festival on that day. The final result will be communicated by FIDE.
Every day, the best games from MTO and ATO are voted for on social media.
Winner MTO Round 6: GM Yahil Sokolovsky (ISR, 2516) vs. GM Aryan Chopra (2632) 0-1
Winner ATO Round 5: Felix Meshach (SUI, 1773) vs. Simon Kuenzli (SUI, 1919) 1-0
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Scoring in GMT Classical
Win = 4 points
Draw = 1.5 point
Loss = 0
Replay all GMT Masters Blitz games
Replay all GMT Challengers Blitz games
GMT Masters Blitz Round 10 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | 2449 | GM | Mishra, Abhimanyu | ½ - ½ | GM | Shankland, Sam | 2648 | 3 | |||
| 2 | 2 | 2700 | GM | Le, Quang Liem | ½ - ½ | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 2680 | 4 | |||
| 3 | 1 | 2607 | GM | Keymer, Vincent | ½ - ½ | GM | Martirosyan, Haik M. | 2716 | 5 |
Standings after Blitz
Final Round 1 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2731 | GM | Le, Quang Liem | GM | Mishra, Abhimanyu | 2604 | 3 | ||||
| 2 | 2 | 2661 | GM | Martirosyan, Haik M. | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 2757 | 4 |
GMT Challengers Blitz Round 10 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | 2471 | GM | Samunenkov, Ihor | 1 - 0 | GM | Bjerre, Jonas Buhl | 2519 | 3 | |||
| 2 | 2 | 2569 | GM | Donchenko, Alexander | ½ - ½ | GM | Maurizzi, Marc`andria | 2443 | 4 | |||
| 3 | 1 | 2654 | GM | Salem, A.R. Saleh | 1 - 0 | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | 2366 | 5 |
Standings after Blitz
Final Round 1 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2638 | GM | Salem, A.R. Saleh | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | 2488 | 3 | ||||
| 2 | 2 | 2633 | GM | Donchenko, Alexander | 0 | bye | 0 | -1 |
