Biel MTO R7: Karthikeyan Murali and Pranav Anand emerge coleaders
GM Karthikeyan Murali and GM Pranav Anand have emerged coleaders 6/7 at 58th Biel Chess Festival Master Tournament (MTO). Karthikeyan and Pranav defeated GM Sasikiran Krishnan and IM Christian Gloeckler (GER) respectively to stay in the lead. They are pursued by four players - GM Mustafa Yilmaz (TUR), GM Karthik Venkataraman, IM Dau Khuong Duy (VIE) and GM Pranesh M at 5.5/7 each. In the GMT Masters, GM Salem Saleh (UAE) and GM Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO) moved to the top with 23/48 each. Fedoseev topped the Blitz event with 7.5/10, after starting the event with a loss against GM Aravindh Chithambaram. Aravindh scored 6/10 in Blitz, same as Salem. Aravindh's overall score is 21.5/48. He is in the final four of the GMT Masters with Salem, Fedoseev and GM Volodar Murzin. GMT Final Round 1 starts today at 2 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Biel Chess Festival
GMT: Salem soars to the top, Aravindh in final four
MTO Round 6: Pranav Anand, Karthikeyan Murali, Sasikiran Krishnan and Pranesh M draw
GM Sasikiran Krishnan (2531) had some chances in the end against GM Pranesh M (2592). However, it was not easy to find and the game ended in a draw.
Round 7: Karthikeyan and Pranav score
Karthikeyan was outplaying his opponent Sasikiran until the former allowed his opponent to get back in the rook endgame.
Karthikeyan - Sasikiran
58...Kb7 was the tiny inaccuracy by Black. 59.Rxh4 a5 60.Rf4 Kxb6 61.h4 White promoted the queen first which helped him to win the game.
Gloeckler - Pranav
The talented teenager, IM Christian Gloeckler (GER, 2439) misjudged the intensity of Black's attack in the complex position and decided to sacrifice an exchange 32.Rxc6? Qxc6 33.Qxb5 Qxb5 34.Nxb5 fxe5 35.fxe5 Rb8 and Black went on to win the game.
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 Qualifiers Blitz
Standings after GMT Challengers Qualifiers Blitz
MTO standings after Round 7
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | GM | Karthikeyan, Murali | IND | 2650 | 6 | 0 | 28,00 | 30 |
| 2 | 5 | GM | Pranav, Anand | IND | 2566 | 6 | 0 | 27,75 | 30,5 |
| 3 | 4 | GM | Yilmaz, Mustafa | TUR | 2586 | 5,5 | 0 | 25,00 | 29,5 |
| 4 | 6 | GM | Karthik, Venkataraman | IND | 2540 | 5,5 | 0 | 23,75 | 27,5 |
| 5 | 9 | IM | Dau, Khuong Duy | VIE | 2456 | 5,5 | 0 | 23,00 | 28,5 |
| 6 | 3 | GM | Pranesh, M | IND | 2592 | 5,5 | 0 | 23,00 | 26,5 |
| 7 | 13 | FM | Gloeckler, Christian | GER | 2439 | 5 | 0 | 21,75 | 29,5 |
| 8 | 7 | GM | Sasikiran, Krishnan | IND | 2531 | 5 | 0 | 20,00 | 28,5 |
| 9 | 2 | GM | Bok, Benjamin | NED | 2593 | 5 | 0 | 19,50 | 27,5 |
| 10 | 8 | IM | Poh, Yu Tian | MAS | 2458 | 5 | 0 | 19,50 | 27,5 |
