Aravindh Chithambaram on the verge of winning 58th Biel Chess Festival GMT Masters

by Shahid Ahmed - 24/07/2025

GM Aravindh Chithambaram defeated GM Salem Saleh (UAE) to regain his sole lead 27/48 at 58th Biel Chess Festival GMT Masters 2025. Aravindh avenged his fifth round loss in the Qualifiers where he had a great position against the UAE no.1. A win in the final round against the reigning World Rapid champion, GM Volodar Murzin makes Aravindh a clear champion. A draw would mean, Aravindh would need the other game between GM Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO) and Salem to end in a draw too, because if Aravindh draws and Fedoseev or Salem win, then they will become champion as both finished higher than Aravindh in the 960 event which will be used to break the tie if the need arises. GMT Final Round 3 starts today at 2 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Biel Chess Festival

MTO R9: Benjamin and Pranesh join Karthikeyan and Karthik in the lead, Theodorou wins GMT Challengers with a round to spare

In the Master Tournament (MTO), GM Karthikeyan Murali drew against GM Karthik Venkataraman in just 21 moves. It allowed GM Pranesh M and GM Benjamin Bok (NED) to catch up with them.All four players - Karthikeyan, Karthik, Pranesh and Benjamin are at 7/9 each. They all will face each other in the final round to determine the winner.

GMT Final Round 2: Salem - Aravindh: 0-4

Few days ago, in the last round of Qualifier stage, GM Aravindh Chithambaram (2724) lost from a promising position against the UAE no.1, GM Salem Saleh (2627). It was about time for him to avenge that loss.

Position after 20.Bd2?

White was going to lose the d5-pawn anyway. 20.Bd2? was not the best way to lose it. 20...Nexd5 21.Ncxd5 Nxd5 22.Nf1 Be5 23.Re1 Bxb2 24.Rf3 Bd4 25.Re4 Nf6 26.Rh4 Be5 27.Be3 Rd1 28.Qe2 Rb1 and Black won as there is no way to save the knight.

GM Aravindh Chithambaram has regained his sole lead 27/48 | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

GMT Challengers: GM Nikolas Theodorou (GRE) drew against GM Rinat Jumbayev (KAZ) to win the Challengers with a round to spare | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Interview with GM Nikolas Theodorou (GRE) | Video: Biel Chess Festival

MTO: Kai Jee - Pranesh

Postion after 30.Qe2

Find out the winning combination after 30.Qe2 which GM Pranesh M (2592) executed against FM Kai Jee Soo (AUS, 2240).

GM Pranesh M has joined the four-way lead 7/9 | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

GM Benjamin Bok (NED) is one of the four leaders 7/9, heading into the final round | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

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.

Replay live stream

Watch Biel Chess Festival GMT Masters and Challengers Final Round 2 live commentary by GM Arturs Neiksans (LAT) and Angelika Valkova (UKR) | Video: Biel Chess Festival

Replay Biel GMT Masters Final Round 2 games

Replay MTO Round 9 games

Standings after GMT Masters Final Round 2

Aravindh Chithambaram is back at the top 27/48 | Graphic: Biel Chess Festival

Details

Standings after GMT Challengers Final Round 2

Nikolas Theodorou (GRE) won the Challengers with a round to spare 32/48 | Graphic: Biel Chess Festival

Details

MTO Round 9 results

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	1	GM	Karthikeyan, Murali	2650	6½	½ - ½	6½	GM	Karthik, Venkataraman	2540	6	PGN
2	9	IM	Dau, Khuong Duy	2456	6	0 - 1	6	GM	Bok, Benjamin	2593	2	PGN
3	33	FM	Soo, Kai Jie	2240	6	0 - 1	6	GM	Pranesh, M	2592	3	PGN
4	8	IM	Poh, Yu Tian	2458	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Yilmaz, Mustafa	2586	4	PGN
5	5	GM	Pranav, Anand	2566	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Panchanathan, Magesh Chandran	2454	10	PGN
6	22	FM	Federer, Colin	2303	5½	½ - ½	5½	IM	Baenziger, Fabian	2450	11	PGN
7	23	IM	Sanket, Chakravarty	2301	5½	½ - ½	5½	IM	Banh, Gia Huy	2445	12	PGN
8	13	FM	Gloeckler, Christian	2439	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Gruenfeld, Yehuda	2367	18	PGN
9	30	WGM	Doluhanova, Evgeniya	2256	5½	0 - 1	5½	FM	Adewumi, Tanitoluwa	2397	14	PGN
10	48	WGM	Georgescu, Lena	2185	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Sasikiran, Krishnan	2531	7	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 9

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB2	TB3
1	1	GM	Karthikeyan, Murali	IND	2650	7	41,75	51
2	6	GM	Karthik, Venkataraman	IND	2540	7	38,50	46,5
3	2	GM	Bok, Benjamin	NED	2593	7	38,00	46
4	3	GM	Pranesh, M	IND	2592	7	37,25	44,5
5	5	GM	Pranav, Anand	IND	2566	6,5	38,50	51
6	4	GM	Yilmaz, Mustafa	TUR	2586	6,5	36,50	48
7	13	FM	Gloeckler, Christian	GER	2439	6,5	35,75	47,5
8	10	GM	Panchanathan, Magesh Chandran	IND	2454	6,5	34,00	46
9	14	FM	Adewumi, Tanitoluwa	USA	2397	6,5	31,50	42
10	8	IM	Poh, Yu Tian	MAS	2458	6,5	31,25	44

Details

Round 10 pairings

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	No.
1	2	GM	Bok, Benjamin	2593	7		7	GM	Karthikeyan, Murali	2650	1
2	6	GM	Karthik, Venkataraman	2540	7		7	GM	Pranesh, M	2592	3
3	4	GM	Yilmaz, Mustafa	2586	6½		6½	FM	Gloeckler, Christian	2439	13
4	14	FM	Adewumi, Tanitoluwa	2397	6½		6½	GM	Pranav, Anand	2566	5
5	10	GM	Panchanathan, Magesh Chandran	2454	6½		6½	IM	Poh, Yu Tian	2458	8
6	7	GM	Sasikiran, Krishnan	2531	6		6	FM	Lacan Rus, David	2369	17
7	19	FM	Otsuka, Shou	2362	6		6	IM	Dau, Khuong Duy	2456	9
8	11	IM	Baenziger, Fabian	2450	6		6	IM	Sanket, Chakravarty	2301	23
9	12	IM	Banh, Gia Huy	2445	6		6	FM	Federer, Colin	2303	22
10	33	FM	Soo, Kai Jie	2240	6		6	IM	Arfan, Aditya Bagus	2385	15

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament Regulations

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