Can Pavel Eljanov win 2nd Dole Trophy Pasino Grand Aix 2025 Masters?

by Shahid Ahmed - 27/07/2025

GM Pavel Eljanov (UKR) made an 18-move short draw against IM Jakub Seemann (POL) to maintain his sole lead 7/8 at 2nd Dole Trophy Pasino Grand Aix 2025 Masters. This draw earned Jakub his final GM-norm with a round to spare. Apart from Jakub, GM Jan Malek (POL) and GM Iniyan Pa are two more players at 6.5/8 each. Iniyan defeated IM Marco Materia (FRA) to get in the title fray. IM Nitish Belurkar had a hard-fought draw after more than 5.5 hour-long battle against GM Yahli Sokolovsky (ISR). GM Leon Luke Mendonca defeated IM Dimitar Mardov (USA) to move to 6/8. Round 9 starts today at 9:30 a.m. local time, 1 p.m. IST. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

Jakub Seemann earns his final GM-norm with a round to spare, Iniyan in the fray

The success of a GM tournament can be measured in general by how many norms are scored. Even before the tournament is over, already one GM-norm is scored by IM Jakub Seemann (POL) . All participants of the eighth round were given a fresh banana each as Dole, the main sponsor is celebrating 125 years of banana at Dole.

GM Pavel Eljanov (UKR) maintains his sole lead 7/8, heading into the last round

2nd Dole Trophy 2025 is taking place from 19th to 27th July at Pasino Grand in Aix-en-Provence, France

GM Pavel Eljanov (UKR) and IM Jakub Seemann (POL) played an 18-move short draw

GM Jorden van Foreest (NED) - GM Bryce Tiglon (USA): 0.5-0.5

Jan Malek - Suleymanli

Position after 37.Bf4

Where should Black move the queen? 37...Qe6?? turned out to be a mistake as 38.Nxd4 gave White a decisive advantage.

GM Jan Malek (POL) handed GM Aydin Suleymanli (AZE) his first loss of the event

Marco - Iniyan

Position after 24...g4

GM Iniyan Pa (2558) launched a beautiful attack on the kingside 24...g4 25.Nd4 Bxc4 26.Qxc4 Bxe5 27.Ne6 Rf5 28.Nxf4 White got the pawn back, but it only helped Black Qf6 29.Nd3 b5 30.Qe4 Bd4 31.Rc1 Rxf2 32.Kh1 Rf5 33.Qxc6?? was not a good idea as the resultant endgame is winning for Black due to the bishop dominating the knight in the open position.

GM Iniyan Pa outplayed IM Marco Materia (FRA) who suffered his first loss of the event

GM Leon Luke Mendonca defeated IM Dimitar Mardov (USA) comfortably

IM Nitish Belurkar had a hard-fought draw after more than 5.5 hour-long battle against GM Yahli Sokolovsky (ISR)

IM Leya Garifullina defeated her third GM of the tournament - David Gavrilescu (ROU)

IM Anuj Shrivatri lost a prolonged a double bishop which ideally should have ended in a draw against GM Leonardo Costa (GER)

GM Yair Parkhov (ISR) - IM Dushyant Sharma: 0-1

IM Shahil Dey (pictured) - GM Aditya S Samant: 0.5-0.5

GM Shardul Gagare - IM Senthil Maran K: 0.5-0.5

IM Pham Tran Gia Phuc (VIE) - FM Ajay Santhosh Parvathareddy: 0.5-0.5

Round 8 in progress at Pasino Grand in Aix-en-Provence, France

For more Round 8 photos, please click here.

Replay live stream

Replay Round 8 live commentary by IM Laura Unuk (SLO) and GM Sergei Movsesian (ARM) | Video: Echiquier du Roy René

Replay Round 8 Masters games

Masters Round 8 results

Ech.	Pts	Blancs		Res.	Noirs		Pts
1	6½	ELJANOV Pavel	2675 F	X - X	SEEMANN Jakub	2451 F	6
2	5½	VAN FOREEST Jorden	2698 F	X - X	TIGLON Bryce	2535 F	5½
3	5½	MALEK Jan	2499 F	1 - 0	SULEYMANLI Aydin	2607 F	5½
4	5½	MATERIA Marco	2493 F	0 - 1	INIYAN Pa	2558 F	5½
5	5	MENDONCA Leon Luke	2603 F	1 - 0	MARDOV Dimitar	2506 F	5½
6	5	BORUCHOVSKY Avital	2508 F	X - X	SANTOS LATASA Jaime	2623 F	5
7	5	NIGMATOV Ortik	2488 F	0 - 1	JACOBSON Brandon	2569 F	5
8	5	CHEN Qi B	2472 F	0 - 1	VETOKHIN Savva	2569 F	5
9	5	GANGULY Surya Shekhar	2566 F	X - X	TROST Edvin	2470 F	5
10	5	CELIK Hasan Huseyin	2465 F	1 - 0	RAJA RITHVIK R	2557 F	5
11	5	SAMUNENKOV Ihor	2555 F	1 - 0	RACZEK Krzysztof	2465 F	5
12	5	CIESLAK Patryk	2458 F	0 - 1	MADAMINOV Mukhiddin	2553 F	5
13	5	NITISH BELURKAR	2453 F	X - X	SOKOLOVSKY Yahli	2545 F	5
14	5	GAVRILESCU David	2543 F	0 - 1	GARIFULLINA Leya	2450 F	5
15	5	COSTA Leonardo	2528 F	1 - 0	ANUJ SHRIVATRI	2416 F	5

Details

Standings after Round 8

Pl		Nom	Elo	Cat.	Fede	Ligue	Club	Pts	Tr.	Bu.	Perf
1	g	ELJANOV Pavel	2675 F	SenM		PAC	L'Echiquier du Roy René	7	35½	44½	2826
2	m	SEEMANN Jakub	2451 F	CadM		ARA	Lyon Olympique Echecs	6½	35	38	2717
3	g	MALEK Jan	2499 F	CadM				6½	33	38½	2703
4	g	INIYAN Pa	2558 F	SenM		IDF	Echiquier de Franconville	6½	29	36	2667
5	g	MENDONCA Leon Luke	2603 F	JunM		EST	Mulhouse Philidor	6	34	43½	2655
6	g	VAN FOREEST Jorden	2698 F	SenM		PAC	L'Echiquier du Roy René	6	33	42½	2653
7	g	TIGLON Bryce	2535 F	SenM				6	33	41	2673
8	m	COSTA Leonardo	2528 F	CadM				6	33	39½	2617
9	m	CELIK Hasan Huseyin	2465 F	CadM				6	32½	40	2618
10	g	JACOBSON Brandon	2569 F	SenM				6	31½	40	2662
11	g	VETOKHIN Savva	2569 F	MinM		IDF	Asnières - Le Grand Echiquier	6	31	39	2621
12	m	GARIFULLINA Leya	2450 F	SenF				6	31	37½	2634
13	g	XIAO Tong Qd	2520 F	CadM				6	30½	36	2583
14	g	SAMUNENKOV Ihor	2555 F	MinM				6	29½	37	2544
15	g	MADAMINOV Mukhiddin	2553 F	JunM				6	29	36½	2600

Details

Round 9 pairings

Ech.	Pts	Blancs		Res.	Noirs		Pts
1	6½	MALEK Jan	2499 F		ELJANOV Pavel	2675 F	7
2	6½	INIYAN Pa	2558 F		SEEMANN Jakub	2451 F	6½
3	6	MADAMINOV Mukhiddin	2553 F		VAN FOREEST Jorden	2698 F	6
4	6	TIGLON Bryce	2535 F		MENDONCA Leon Luke	2603 F	6
5	6	JACOBSON Brandon	2569 F		COSTA Leonardo	2528 F	6
6	6	VETOKHIN Savva	2569 F		PENG Xiongjian	2520 F	6
7	6	GARIFULLINA Leya	2450 F		SAMUNENKOV Ihor	2555 F	6
8	5½	GRANDELIUS Nils	2642 F		CELIK Hasan Huseyin	2465 F	6
9	5½	SANTOS LATASA Jaime	2623 F		MATERIA Marco	2493 F	5½
10	5½	SCHITCO Ivan	2481 F		LAGARDE Maxime	2618 F	5½
11	5½	SULEYMANLI Aydin	2607 F		BEGMURATOV Khumoyun	2470 F	5½
12	5½	TROST Edvin	2470 F		PIORUN Kacper	2575 F	5½
13	5½	GORSHTEIN Ido	2568 F		KOELLE Tobias	2466 F	5½
14	5½	HAGNER Bennet	2435 F		GANGULY Surya Shekhar	2566 F	5½
15	5½	SOKOLOVSKY Yahli	2545 F		CAMLAR Arda	2443 F	5½

Details

Links

Official site: Dole and Echiquier du Roy

Tournament details

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