2nd Dole Trophy Pasino Grand Aix R7: Pavel Eljanov's king marches towards victory

by Shahid Ahmed - 26/07/2025

GM Pavel Eljanov (UKR) defeated GM Brandon Jacobson (USA) to stay a half point ahead 6.5/7 at 2nd Dole Trophy Pasino Grand Aix 2025 Masters. Eljanov used his king beautifully in the queen and rook endgame to win the game. IM Marco Materia (FRA) displayed gritty defence after GM Bryce Tiglon (USA) missed his winning opportunity. IM Jakub Seemann (POL) scored a fine victory over GM Xiao Tong (QD, CHN) to move to 6/7. Jakub will inevitably clash against Pavel in the penultimate round. IM Anuj Shrivatri held GM Savva Vetokhin to a draw. GM Iniyan Pa is the sole Indian at 5.5/7. Round 8 starts today at 2:30 p.m. local time, 6 p.m. IST. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

Jakub Seemann in the fray

IM Aradhya Garg and FM Rajesh Nayak defeated GM Prraneeth Vuppala and IM Carissa Yip (USA) respectively. IM Nitish Belurkar and Vignesh Advaith Vemula drew against GM Raja Rithvik R and GM Pierre Laurent-Paoli (FRA) respectively.

GM Pavel Eljanov (UKR) is still in the sole lead 6.5/7

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

Brandon - Eljanov

Position after 45...Kc5!

GM Pavel Eljanov (UKR, 2675) played a beautiful move 45...Kc5! The black king deliberately walks into the line of check because there is no reason to fret. 46.f4 Qe6 47.e4+ d4 48.Bxc4 Qxc4 Black used his king to capture the a6 and b5-pawns, then roll his newly created connected passed pawns on a and b-file to win the game.

GM Pavel Eljanov (UKR) scored a fine victory over GM Brandon Jacobson (USA)

GM Dimitar Mardov (USA) - GM Jorden van Foreest (NED): 0.5-0.5

Bryce - Marco

Position after 27...exf4

White needed to play 28.Rb6 to prevent Qe6+ and queen trade. 28.Bxd4 allowed Qe6+ 29.Qxe6 fxe6 alleviated the pressure 30.Be5 Rxd3 31.cxd3 fxg3 32.hxg3 Kd7 Black got back in the game. IM Marco Materia (FRA, 2493) showed great tenacity to defend a rook and bishop vs rook endgame for 50 moves to draw the game against GM Bryce Tiglon (USA, 2535).

IM Marco Materia (FRA) showed incredible defensive skill against GM Bryce Tiglon (USA)

Jakub - Xiao

Position after 23.dxe6

GM Xiao Tong (QD, CHN, 2520) did not respond well to the complexities after 23.dxe6 Qe7?? 24.Nbd4+- Bd3 25.Rxd3 Ncxd3 26.Rd1 Nxb2 27.Qxb2 Bc5 28.Nc6 Qxe6 29.Nxa7 IM Jakub Seemann (POL, 2451) is now ahead by a knight. He converted his advantage into a win with precise play. Black needed to play 23...Ne2+ in the above diagram 24.Qxe2 Bxe2 25.Rxd8 Rxd8 26.Nfd4 Nd3 and things would have been fine.

IM Jakub Seemann (POL) scored a crucial victory to move to 6/7

GM Aydin Suleymanli (AZE) outplayed GM Ortik Nigmatov (UZB)

Grandelius - Jan Malek

Position after 24.Nxh5

GM Nils Grandelius (SWE, 2642) made a correct sacrifice 24.Nxh5! gxh5 25.Rd3 Kf8 26.e5 Rd7 27.Rg3 Qh7 28.Bc2 Qh8 29.d5? instead 29.Rf3 Ree7 30.Bb3 Nd8 would have maintained the pressure slightly longer. 31.Bxf7! Rxf7 32.e6 would have been an interesting continuation.

GM Nils Grandelius (SWE) needed to maintain the pressure slightly longer against GM Jan Malek (POL)

Final moments: GM Savva Vetokhin vs IM Anuj Shrivatri and interview with Anuj | Video: ChessBase India

GM Savva Vetokhin - IM Anuj Shrivatri: 0.5-0.5

GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly had an intriguing draw against IM Krzysztof Raczek (POL)

GM Iniyan Pa scored an emphatic victory over IM Enes Tanriverdi (TUR, 2413) to move to 5.5/7

IM Nitish Belurkar drew against GM Raja Rithvik R

IM Patryk Cieslak (POL) - GM Ihor Samunenkov (UKR): 0.5-0.5

Vignesh Advaith Vemula - GM Pierre Laurent-Paoli (FRA): 0.5-0.5

IM Aradhya Garg - GM Prraneeth Vuppala: 1-0

FM Rajesh Nayak - IM Carissa Yip (USA): 1-0

Final moments: IM Miaoyi Lu (CHN) vs FM Ritvik Krishnan | Video: ChessBase India

IM Miaoyi Lu (CHN) - FM Ritvik Krishnan: 0.5-0.5

The longest game of the tournament lasted for 6.5 hours between Eric Christian Erard (USA) and WFM Honorine Auvray (FRA) which the former won

Round 7 in progress at Pasino Grand in Aix-en-Provence, France

For more Round 7 photos, please click here.

Replay live stream

Replay Round 7 live commentary by IM Laura Unuk (SLO) and GM Sergei Movsesian (ARM) | Video: Echiquier du Roy René

Replay Round 7 Masters games

Masters Round 7 results

Bo.	No.	White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.	Black	Rtg	No.
1	23	Jacobson, Brandon	2569	5	0 - 1	5½	Eljanov, Pavel	2675	6
2	67	Mardov, Dimitar	2506	5	½ - ½	5	Van Foreest, Jorden	2698	2
3	51	Tiglon, Bryce	2535	5	½ - ½	5	Materia, Marco	2493	74
4	123	Seemann, Jakub	2451	5	1 - 0	5	Xiao, Tong Qd	2520	62
5	15	Suleymanli, Aydin	2607	4½	1 - 0	5	Nigmatov, Ortik	2488	75
6	7	Grandelius, Nils	2642	4½	0 - 1	4½	Malek, Jan	2499	70
7	26	Vetokhin, Savva	2569	4½	½ - ½	4½	Anuj, Shrivatri	2416	155
8	103	Raczek, Krzysztof	2465	4½	½ - ½	4½	Ganguly, Surya Shekhar	2566	30
9	31	Iniyan, Pa	2558	4½	1 - 0	4½	Tanriverdi, Enes	2413	159
10	115	Nitish, Belurkar	2453	4½	½ - ½	4½	Raja, Rithvik R	2557	35
11	107	Cieslak, Patryk	2458	4½	½ - ½	4½	Samunenkov, Ihor	2555	38
12	126	Garifullina, Leya	2450	4½	½ - ½	4½	Costa, Leonardo	2528	54
13	10	Santos Latasa, Jaime	2623	4	1 - 0	4½	Schnaider, Ilan	2404	171
14	18	Jobava, Baadur	2605	4	½ - ½	4	Pham, Tran Gia Phuc	2452	122
15	19	Mendonca, Leon Luke	2603	4	1 - 0	4	Aaryan, Varshney	2436	134

Details

Standings after Round 7

Rk.	SNo	Name	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	6	Eljanov, Pavel	2675	6,5	24,5	30,25	2926
2	123	Seemann, Jakub	2451	6	23,5	21,75	2742
3	51	Tiglon, Bryce	2535	5,5	25	22,75	2679
4	2	Van Foreest, Jorden	2698	5,5	24,5	25,50	2679
5	70	Malek, Jan	2499	5,5	24,5	21,75	2656
6	15	Suleymanli, Aydin	2607	5,5	23,5	22,75	2668
7	74	Materia, Marco	2493	5,5	23,5	22,00	2590
8	67	Mardov, Dimitar	2506	5,5	22,5	22,75	2622
9	31	Iniyan, Pa	2558	5,5	20	19,00	2632
10	26	Vetokhin, Savva	2569	5	25	21,00	2580
11	54	Costa, Leonardo	2528	5	25	20,25	2583
12	107	Cieslak, Patryk	2458	5	24,5	21,50	2636
13	19	Mendonca, Leon Luke	2603	5	24	21,00	2614
14	23	Jacobson, Brandon	2569	5	24	20,75	2624
15	102	Celik, Hasan Huseyin	2465	5	24	20,50	2564

Details

Round 8 pairings

Bo.	No.	White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.	Black	Rtg	No.
1	6	Eljanov, Pavel	2675	6½		6	Seemann, Jakub	2451	123
2	2	Van Foreest, Jorden	2698	5½		5½	Tiglon, Bryce	2535	51
3	70	Malek, Jan	2499	5½		5½	Suleymanli, Aydin	2607	15
4	74	Materia, Marco	2493	5½		5½	Iniyan, Pa	2558	31
5	19	Mendonca, Leon Luke	2603	5		5½	Mardov, Dimitar	2506	67
6	66	Boruchovsky, Avital	2508	5		5	Santos Latasa, Jaime	2623	10
7	75	Nigmatov, Ortik	2488	5		5	Jacobson, Brandon	2569	23
8	91	Chen, Qi B	2472	5		5	Vetokhin, Savva	2569	26
9	30	Ganguly, Surya Shekhar	2566	5		5	Trost, Edvin	2470	95
10	102	Celik, Hasan Huseyin	2465	5		5	Raja, Rithvik R	2557	35
11	38	Samunenkov, Ihor	2555	5		5	Raczek, Krzysztof	2465	103
12	107	Cieslak, Patryk	2458	5		5	Madaminov, Mukhiddin	2553	39
13	115	Nitish, Belurkar	2453	5		5	Sokolovsky, Yahli	2545	43
14	46	Gavrilescu, David	2543	5		5	Garifullina, Leya	2450	126
15	54	Costa, Leonardo	2528	5		5	Anuj, Shrivatri	2416	155

Details

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