Biel GM Round 9: MVL and Wojtaszek on top

A crucial victory by GM Vachier-Lagrave over GM Navara in the penultimate round of the Biel Grandmasters Tournament allowed him to catch up with GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek at the top of the table. The duo now lead the pack with a score of 5.5/9.

Meanwhile, GM Richard Rapport’s terrible run of form at Biel continued as he lost another game, this time to GM Pavel Eljanov. Rapport, so far, has only managed to score 2 points out of a possible 9 with no wins by his name.

Round 9 Results:

Navara 2724 0-1 Vachier-Lagrave 2731
Rapport 2671 0-1 Eljanov 2723
Adams 2740 ½-½ Wojtaszek 2733

Rankings before the Final Round:

Rank Name Pts
1 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 5.5
1 Wojtaszek, Radoslaw 5.5
3 Navara, David 5
4 Adams, Michael 4.5
4 Eljanov, Pavel 4.5
6 Rapport, Richard 2

Biel GM Round 6: 3 players in lead as Navara loses

A 6th Round loss for GM David Navara against GM Michael Adams allowed GMs Vachier-Lagrave and Wojtaszek to catch up Navara on the top spot. The Navara – Adams encounter, which took off with the Exchange Variation in the Queen’s Gambit Declined, didn’t go too well for Navara as he failed to obtain any advantage whatsoever from the opening. However, it was Navara’s 21st move which actually allowed Adams to dominate as the latter obtained 3 pawns for a minor piece along with plenty of activity. The matters were never in doubt after that and Navara resigned on move 37.

In the other games, GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek convincingly overcame GM Richard Rapport whilst GMs Eljanov and Vachier-Lagrave drew their personal encounter.

Rankings after Round 6:

Rank

 Players

Points

1

 David Navara 3.5
1 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

3.5

1

 Radoslaw Wojtaszek 3.5
4 Michael Adams

3

5

 Pavel Eljanov 2.5
6 Richard Rapport

2

Leiden Open Round 7: Howell Unstoppable!

With a convincing victory over IM Arghyadip Das in Round 7, GM David Howell of England took up a massive one-point lead over his nearest rivals. The Howell – Arghyadip game, which started with an in-trend line of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, turned out to be a complex affair right out of the opening. However, on move 17, Arghyadip made a crucial mistake with his Knight leap. Howell took perfect advantage of this and never allowed his opponent to sneak back into the game. The Indian IM resigned 10 moves later.

On the other top boards, GMs Postny and Tiviakov split points while GM Chatalbashev overcame FM Erwich. With this win, Chatalbashev joined Postny on the second spot with 5.5 points, a full point behind David Howell. The two Indians in the fray – IMs Arghyadip Das and Palit Somak – are currently placed joint 3rd and joint 4th respectively.

Biel GM Round 5: All Draws

The 5th round of the Biel Grandmaster Chess Tournament 2015 saw all the 3 games ending in draws, although none of them were too short. GM Eljanov failed to convert a sizeable advantage against GM Rapport while GM Adams was unsuccessful in making a good Queenless middlegame count against GM Wojtaszek. Meanwhile, GMs Vachier-Lagrave and Navara played out a 36-move draw.

After the first half of the tournament, Navara is in the lead with a tally of 3.5 points followed by Vachier-Lagrave and Wojtaszek on 3 and 2.5 points respectively.

Biel GM Round 4: Navara wins spectacularly, leads!

The 4th round of the Biel GM Tournament 2015 witnessed one of the most spectacular King manoeuvres as GM David Navara overcame GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek in an inspired fashion. In a Queenless middlegame, Navara, playing White, drove his King all the way up to h8 while resourcefully sidestepping any mating nets whatsoever. As such, Wojtaszek, who had already sacrificed a full Bishop to create a mating net, proved unsuccessful and soon resigned on move 48.

In other games, GM Pavel Eljanov defeated GM Michael Adams whilst GMs Rapport and Vachier-Lagrave split points amongst themselves.

After 4 Rounds, Navara leads the table with a tally of 3 points followed by Vachier-Lagrave on 2.5 points.

Biel Chess 02: Navara beats Eljanov

Czech GM David Navara (2724) beat Ukrainian GM Pavel Eljanov (2723) to reach fifty percent.

Hungarian talent GM Richard Rapport (2671) meanwhile played a wild game against GM Michael Adams (2740), which eventually petered out into a draw. The other game between French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2731) and Polish GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek (2733) also ended in a draw.

Standings

Sant Marti 09: Kidambi wins the tournament

GM Sundararajan Kidambi (2433) drew his final round game to earn a draw and win the tournament with a score of 7.5/9. IM Shardul Gagare (2425), who was sharing the lead with GM Kidambi, tragically lost his final round game to GM Karen Grigoryan (2580) of Armenia, allowing the latter to catch up with GM Kidambi on 7.5/9. GM Grigoryan finished second while IM Gagare was third.

IM Diptayan Ghosh (2523) managed to defeat IM Swapnil Dhopade (2453) to finish at 6.5/9 while CM Abhimanyu Puranik (2328) finished at 6.0/9.

Final Standings after Round 9.

Biel 01: Adams sole winner

English GM Michael Adams (2740) was the sole winner in the first round of the Biel International Chess Festival. He managed to beat Czech GM David Navara (2724).

Hungarian GM Richard Rapport (2671) survived a scary position against Polish GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek (2733) who let his opponent off the hook. Defending champion GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2731) of France meanwhile settled for a draw with Ukrainian GM Pavel Eljanov (2723).

Results of Round 1:

Adams, Michael 2740 1-0 Navara, David 2724
Wojtaszek, Radoslaw 2733 ½-½ Rapport, Richard 2671
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2731 ½-½ Eljanov, Pavel 2723

Sant Marti 08: Kidambi and Gagare draw, maintain lead

GM Sundararajan Kidambi (2433) drew with compatriot IM Shardul Gagare (2425) to maintain both their leads, moving to 7.0/8.

Among the other Indians, IM Diptayan Ghosh (2523) will take on IM Swapnil Dhopade (2453) both standing at 5.5/8. CM Abhimanyu Puranik (2328) managed to upset GM Shyam Sundar M. (2492) while IM Sayantan Das (2444) suffered a loss, both of them also standing at 5.5/8.

Check the Round 9 pairings here.

Leiden Chess Round 4: Howell in sole lead

A crucial victory in Round 4 over GM Nikolic allowed GM David Howell of England to take up the sole lead after Round 4 at the Leiden Chess tournament 2015. This win also helped the British GM to cross the 2700-mark for the first time ever in the live ratings.

Amongst Indians, IM Arghyadip Das succeeded in holding GM Tiviakov to a draw while IM Palit Somak went down to much lesser rated Van Halderen.

Round 4 Results: Click Here