57th Biel Festival MTO R7: Leon Luke Mendonca maintains his sole lead
GM Aryan Chopra and GM Leon Luke Mendonca signed a 22-move draw in the seventh round of 57th Biel Chess Festival MTO 2024. Leon maintained his sole lead 6/7. GM Arseniy Nesterov and GM Krishnan Sasikiran joined Aryan in pursuit as they defeated Tong Xiao (CHN) and IM Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ) respectively. GM Harsha Bharathakoti, GM Koustav Chatterjee and IM Ayush Sharma are at 5/7 each. IM Ritviz Parab and FM Kashish Manoj Jain drew with GM Sethuraman S P and GM Frank Holzke (GER) respectively. GMT Round 1 Final, MTO Round 8 starts today at 2 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Biel Chess Festival
Sasikiran and Nesterov join Aryan in the chase
The eighth round battles will be interesting as two out of the top three boards will be All-Indian clashes: GM Krishnan Sasikiran vs GM Aryan Chopra and GM Harsha Bharathakoti vs IM Ayush Sharma. The top board match will be between GM Leon Luke Mendonca and GM Arseniy Nesterov.
Bibisara - Sasikiran
24.b5? allowed Black to place his knight firmly on b4 and gain control of the b-file. 24...Nb4 25.Qc1 Qf6 26.f3 Na2 27.Nxa2 Rxa2 28.Rd2 Ra4 29.Kf2 Rda8 and Black soon converted his positional advantage into a win.
Replay all MTO Round 7 games
Round 7 results
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | GM | Aryan, Chopra | 2632 | 5 | ½ - ½ | 5½ | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | 2615 | 2 | ||
| 2 | 13 | Xiao, Tong(Qd) | 2518 | 4½ | 0 - 1 | 4½ | GM | Nesterov, Arseniy | 2602 | 3 | |||
| 3 | 18 | IM | Assaubayeva, Bibisara | 2472 | 4½ | 0 - 1 | 4½ | GM | Sasikiran, Krishnan | 2581 | 6 | ||
| 4 | 30 | IM | Gan-Erdene, Sugar | 2407 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | GM | Harsha, Bharathakoti | 2569 | 8 | ||
| 5 | 9 | GM | Jumabayev, Rinat | 2565 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | IM | Materia, Marco | 2453 | 22 | ||
| 6 | 15 | IM | Madaminov, Mukhiddin | 2512 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | GM | Gavrilescu, David | 2540 | 10 | ||
| 7 | 23 | Xue, Haowen | 2452 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | GM | Koustav, Chatterjee | 2525 | 12 | |||
| 8 | 17 | IM | Macovei, Andrei | 2479 | 4 | ½ - ½ | 4½ | IM | Petkidis, Anthony | 2428 | 28 | ||
| 9 | 5 | GM | Sethuraman, S.P. | 2589 | 4 | ½ - ½ | 4 | IM | Ritviz, Parab | 2334 | 46 | ||
| 10 | 7 | GM | Moiseenko, Alexander | 2570 | 4 | ½ - ½ | 4 | FM | Dotzer, Lukas | 2375 | 38 |
Standings after Round 7
| Rk. | SNo | Name | sex | FED | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | IND | 2615 | 6 | 0 | 24,00 | 25,5 | ||
| 2 | 1 | GM | Aryan, Chopra | IND | 2632 | 5,5 | 0 | 23,00 | 27,5 | ||
| 3 | 6 | GM | Sasikiran, Krishnan | IND | 2581 | 5,5 | 0 | 22,50 | 27 | ||
| 4 | 3 | GM | Nesterov, Arseniy | FID | 2602 | 5,5 | 0 | 20,50 | 24,5 | ||
| 5 | 9 | GM | Jumabayev, Rinat | KAZ | 2565 | 5 | 0 | 23,50 | 30 | ||
| 6 | 23 | Xue, Haowen | CHN | 2452 | 5 | 0 | 21,75 | 28,5 | |||
| 7 | 30 | IM | Gan-Erdene, Sugar | MGL | 2407 | 5 | 0 | 20,50 | 27,5 | ||
| 8 | 14 | GM | Sokolovsky, Yahli | ISR | 2516 | 5 | 0 | 20,00 | 27,5 | ||
| 9 | 8 | GM | Harsha, Bharathakoti | IND | 2569 | 5 | 0 | 20,00 | 27 | ||
| 10 | 12 | GM | Koustav, Chatterjee | IND | 2525 | 5 | 0 | 19,50 | 26 |
Round 8 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | 2615 | 6 | 5½ | GM | Nesterov, Arseniy | 2602 | 3 | |||
| 2 | 6 | GM | Sasikiran, Krishnan | 2581 | 5½ | 5½ | GM | Aryan, Chopra | 2632 | 1 | |||
| 3 | 8 | GM | Harsha, Bharathakoti | 2569 | 5 | 5 | IM | Ayush, Sharma | 2342 | 44 | |||
| 4 | 28 | IM | Petkidis, Anthony | 2428 | 5 | 5 | GM | Jumabayev, Rinat | 2565 | 9 | |||
| 5 | 10 | GM | Gavrilescu, David | 2540 | 5 | 5 | Xue, Haowen | 2452 | 23 | ||||
| 6 | 12 | GM | Koustav, Chatterjee | 2525 | 5 | 5 | IM | Madaminov, Mukhiddin | 2512 | 15 | |||
| 7 | 14 | GM | Sokolovsky, Yahli | 2516 | 5 | 5 | IM | Gan-Erdene, Sugar | 2407 | 30 | |||
| 8 | 22 | IM | Materia, Marco | 2453 | 5 | 4½ | Xiao, Tong(Qd) | 2518 | 13 | ||||
| 9 | 4 | GM | Ganguly, Surya Shekhar | 2592 | 4½ | 4½ | FM | Kalogridis, Antonios | 2391 | 33 | |||
| 10 | 32 | IM | Tahay, Alexis | 2392 | 4½ | 4½ | GM | Sethuraman, S.P. | 2589 | 5 |
