Biel MTO R8: Karthik Venkataraman executes a beautiful combination
GM Karthikeyan Murali drew against GM Mustafa Yilmaz to maintain his lead 6.5/8 at 58th Biel Chess Festival Master Tournament (MTO). It allowed GM Karthik Venkataraman to catch up as he defeated GM Pranav Anand to emerge coleader with Karthikeyan. In the penultimate ninth round, Karthikeyan will inevitably clash against Karthik. Eight players including GM Pranesh M and GM Magesh Chandran Panchanathan are trailing by a half point at 6/8 each. GM Aravindh Chithambaram missed a great opportunity to push for a win agaginst GM Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO) and emerge sole leader himself. GM Salem Saleh (UAE) and Fedoseev maintain their lead 24.5/52. Aravindh is currently at third place. GMT Final Round 2 starts today at 2 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Biel Chess Festival
MTO: Karthik joins Karthikeyan in the lead, GMT: Aravindh lets Fedoseev escape
MTO : Mustafa - Karthikeyan: 0.5-0.5
Karthik - Pranav
GM Karthik Venkataraman (2540) sacrificed an exchange ten moves ago. GM Pranav Anand's (2566) 26...d4? allowed 27.Qh5! beautiful rook sacrifice Qxh1+ 28.Ka2 Kxg7 29.Qxf7+ Kh6 30.Qf6+ Kh7 31.Qf5+ Kg7 32.Qg5+ Kh7 33.f5 Rc6 34.Qh5+ Kg7 35.Qf7+ Kh6 36.f6 Re5 37.Qg7+ Kh5 38.Bf7+ and White won. This win put Karthik in the lead with GM Karthikeyan Murali at 6.5/8 each.
GMT: Aravindh - Fedoseev, Final Round 1
GM Aravindh Chithambaram (2724) had to play 33.Ne2 to reinforce f4. A move ago 32.f4 would have ran into Rxf4. That would not have been possible if he had played 33.Ne2. The game continued 33.Re3? and it ended in a draw after a dozen more moves.
Scoring
Classical: 4 points for a win; 1½ point for a draw; 0 point for a loss.
Rapid: 2 points for a win; 1 point for a draw; 0 point for a loss.
Blitz: 1 point for a win; ½ point for a draw; 0 point for a loss.
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Standings after GMT Masters Final Round 1
Standings after GMT Challengers Final Round 1
MTO standings after Round 8
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | GM | Karthikeyan, Murali | IND | 2650 | 6,5 | 0 | 34,00 | 39 |
| 2 | 6 | GM | Karthik, Venkataraman | IND | 2540 | 6,5 | 0 | 31,75 | 35,5 |
| 3 | 5 | GM | Pranav, Anand | IND | 2566 | 6 | 0 | 31,25 | 40,5 |
| 4 | 4 | GM | Yilmaz, Mustafa | TUR | 2586 | 6 | 0 | 30,75 | 38,5 |
| 5 | 3 | GM | Pranesh, M | IND | 2592 | 6 | 0 | 28,25 | 35 |
| 6 | 2 | GM | Bok, Benjamin | NED | 2593 | 6 | 0 | 27,75 | 35 |
| 7 | 9 | IM | Dau, Khuong Duy | VIE | 2456 | 6 | 0 | 27,00 | 36 |
| 8 | 8 | IM | Poh, Yu Tian | MAS | 2458 | 6 | 0 | 26,25 | 35 |
| 9 | 10 | GM | Panchanathan, Magesh Chandran | IND | 2454 | 6 | 0 | 26,25 | 34,5 |
| 10 | 33 | FM | Soo, Kai Jie | AUS | 2240 | 6 | 0 | 25,50 | 35,5 |
