THE number one player of the United Arab Emirates, GM A.R. Saleh Salem (2682), won on tiebreak over India GM Murali Karthikeyan (2606) in the 54th Biel Masters Open, which ended on August 4 in Switzerland. Salem and Karthikeyan finished the strong tournament with identical seven-point scores, but it was the Emirati’s last round win over his Indian foe that clinched the title.
The nine-round classic Swiss event drew 73 participants, of which 37 are GMs, 14 IMs, 4 WGMs, and three WIMs. India brought a large contingent of 17 players to the competition that included six super-GMs rated Elo 2600+, and 10 of them landed in the top 20 of the final standings.
The top 10 finishers: 1-2. Salem, Karthikeyan, 7; 3-6. Tamas Banusz, Viktor Erdos, Dommaraju Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, 6½; 7-10. Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Pavel Eljanov, Sergey Fedorchuk, Gergely Kantor, 6.
Salem,A.R. Saleh (2682) –
Karthikeyan,Murali (2606) [E54]
Biel op (5.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 c5 8.0-0 Nc6 9.Bd3 h6 10.a3 Ba5 11.dxc5 Bxc3 12.bxc3 Qa5 13.Qc2 Qxc5 14.a4 Re8 15.Ba3 Qh5 16.Rab1 e5 17.Nd2 b6 18.c4 Be6 19.c5 bxc5 20.Bxc5 Rac8 21.Rfc1 Red8 22.Nf1 Nb8 23.Ng3 Qg5 24.Nf5 Bxf5 25.Bxf5 Nbd7 26.f4 Qh5 27.Rd1 exf4 28.exf4 g6 29.g4 Nxg4 30.Rxd7 Rxd7 31.Bd4 Rdc7 32.Qxc7 Qxh2+ 33.Kf1 Qh1+ 34.Ke2 Qg2+ 35.Kd3 Nf2+ 36.Ke3 Nd1+ 37.Kd3 Nf2+ 38.Kd2 Ne4+ 39.Ke3 Qd2+ 40.Kf3 Qd3+ 41.Kg2 Qg3+ 42.Kf1 Qd3+ 43.Kg2 Qc2+ 44.Qxc2 Rxc2+ 45.Kf3 gxf5 46.Rb8+ Kh7 47.Bxa7 Ra2 48.Rb7 Kg6 49.Rb6+ f6 50.Ra6 Nd2+ 51.Ke3 h5 52.Bd4 Ne4 53.Ra8 h4 54.Kf3 Nd2+ 55.Kg2 Kh5 56.Rg8 Ne4+ 57.Kf3 Ra3+ 58.Be3 Ng3 59.Rh8+ Kg6 60.Kf2 Nh5 61.Rg8+ Kh7 62.Rg2 Ng3 63.Rh2 Ra2+ 64.Kg1 Rxh2 65.Kxh2 Nf1+ 66.Kh3 Nxe3 67.a5 Nd5 68.a6 Nxf4+ 69.Kxh4 Nd5 70.a7 Nc7 0-1
Banusz,Tamas (2631) –
Fedorchuk,Sergey A. (2598) [A05]
Biel op (5.3) 2021
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 b6 3.Bg2 Bb7 4.0-0 c5 5.c4 g6 6.d4 cxd4 7.Qxd4 Bg7 8.Nc3 d6 9.Rd1 Nbd7 10.Be3 Rc8 11.Rac1 a6 12.b3 0-0 13.Qh4 Re8 14.Bh3 Bf8 15.g4 e6 16.Bf4 b5 17.cxb5 d5 18.g5 Nh5 19.Bd2 Ba3 20.Rb1 Be7 21.Qg4 Bc5 22.a4 d4 23.Ne4 axb5 24.Nxc5 Nxc5 25.Nxd4 Be4 26.Rbc1 bxa4 27.Be3 Bd5 28.Nb5 Nxb3 29.Rxc8 Qxc8 30.Rxd5 Qb8 31.Ba7 Qb7 32.Re5 Rd8 33.Qe4 Rd1+ 34.Kg2 Nf4+ 35.Kg3 Nd5 36.Qxa4 Rg1+ 37.Kh4 h6 38.Qxb3 Qe7 39.f4 hxg5+ 40.fxg5 Rc1 41.Qxd5 1-0
Karthikeyan,Murali (2606) –
Sethuraman,S.P. (2644) [B40]
Biel op (6.1) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.Be2 a6 5.0-0 Qc7 6.d4 cxd4 7.Nxd4 Nf6 8.Be3 Be7 9.f4 d6 10.Kh1 0-0 11.Qe1 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 b5 13.a3 Bb7 14.Qg3 Bc6 15.Rae1 Rad8 16.Bf3 Ne8 17.Qf2 Rc8 18.f5 e5 19.Bb6 Qb7 20.g4 Bd8 21.Bxd8 Rxd8 22.g5 f6 23.g6 h6 24.Re3 Nc7 25.Rd1 a5 26.b4 axb4 27.axb4 Rd7 28.Red3 Rfd8 29.Qe3 Kf8 30.h3 Ke8 31.Kh2 Ke7 32.Bg2 Ra8 33.Ne2 Qa7 34.Qd2 Rad8 35.Qc3 Qb6 36.Qb3 Kf8 37.Rxd6 1-0
Praggnanandhaa,R (2608) –
Salem,A.R. Saleh (2682) [B12]
Biel op (8.3) 2021
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.h4 h5 5.c4 e6 6.Nc3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 Nd7 8.Nge2 Be7 9.Ng3 Bg6 10.Be2 Qb6 11.Be3 Rd8 12.Qc1 c5 13.Nb5 Qa5+ 14.b4 Qxb4+ 15.Bd2 Qa4 16.Qb2 cxd4 17.Nxd4 Nc5 18.Nb5 Nd3+ 19.Bxd3 Bxd3 20.Nd6+ Bxd6 21.exd6 Nf6 22.Qe5 0-0 23.f3 Rc8 24.Kf2 Rc2 25.Rhd1 Qxh4 26.Rac1 Rfc8 27.Rxc2 Rxc2 28.Kg1 Nd7 29.Bg5 Qa4 30.Qe1 Bg6 31.Rd2 Qxa2 32.Rxc2 Qxc2 33.Qa5 Qd1+ 34.Kh2 Qxd6 35.Qxa7 f6 0-1
Salem,A.R. Saleh (2682) –
Eljanov,Pavel (2671) [E24]
Biel op (9.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 d6 6.f3 c5 7.e4 Nc6 8.Be3 Qa5 9.Kf2 0-0 10.Ne2 Qc7 11.g4 b6 12.Ng3 Ba6 13.h4 Na5 14.h5 Bxc4 15.g5 Nd7 16.Bh3 Bb3 17.Qe2 cxd4 18.cxd4 Qc4 19.Rac1 Qxe2+ 20.Nxe2 Bc4 21.Bf4 d5 22.exd5 Bxd5 23.Rc7 Nb8 24.Nc3 Bb3 25.h6 Nbc6 26.d5 exd5 27.hxg7 Kxg7 28.Bf5 Rh8 29.Nb5 d4 30.Nxd4 Bd5 31.Nxc6 Nxc6 32.Bd2 Kf8 33.Bc3 Rg8 34.Bf6 Nd8 35.Rxh7 1-0
Sethuraman,S.P. (2644) –
Erdos,V (2614) [C78]
Biel op (9.3) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.a4 Rb8 8.c3 d6 9.d4 Bb6 10.a5 Ba7 11.h3 0-0 12.Be3 Nxe4 13.Bd5 exd4 14.Bxc6 dxe3 15.Bxe4 Re8 16.Qd3 exf2+ 17.Kh1 Qf6 18.Nd4 c5 19.Nc6 c4 20.Qf3 Rxe4 21.Qxe4 Bb7 22.Nd2 d5 23.Ne7+ Kf8 24.Nxd5 Qd6 25.Qxh7 Bxd5 26.Rad1 Qf4 27.Qh5 Bc6 28.Nf3 Bxf3 29.Qxf3 Qxf3 30.gxf3 Ke7 31.Kg2 Rh8 32.Rd5 Rh6 33.Rfd1 Rg6+ 34.Kf1 Rg1+ 35.Ke2 Ke6 36.Rd6+ Ke7 37.Rd7+ Ke6 38.R7d6+ Ke7 39.Rd7+ Ke6 40.Rd8 Ke7 41.R8d2 g5 42.Rf1 f6 43.Rd5 Be3 44.Rfd1 Ba7 45.R5d2 Bc5 46.Rf1 Ba7 47.Rd5 Be3 48.h4 gxh4 49.Rh5 Rxf1 50.Kxf1 Kd6 51.f4 Bxf4 52.Rf5 Be5 53.Kxf2 h3 54.Rh5 h2 55.Kg2 Kc5 56.Rh8 b4 57.Rc8+ Kb5 58.cxb4 Kxb4 59.Rc6 Kb5 60.Rc8 Kxa5 61.Rxc4 Bxb2 62.Kxh2 Kb5 63.Rc8 Be5+ 64.Kg2 a5 65.Kf3 a4 66.Ra8 Kb4 67.Ra7 a3 68.Ke4 Kb3 69.Rb7+ Kc2 70.Ra7 Bb2 71.Kf5 Kb3 72.Rb7+ Ka2 73.Ra7 Bd4 74.Rd7 Be5 75.Ke4 Kb1 76.Rb7+ Bb2 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Bf4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Ba7 2.Nxa7#; 1…Be4 2.Qxe4#; 1…Bxf3 2.Bxf3#; 1…Bxc4 2.Rxb3#; 1…Bxe6 2.Rd3#; 1…Na5/c5/d4/d2/a1/xc1 2.N(x)d4#; 1…Ne8/xe6/f5/h5 2.Q(x)e8#./PN
