GM Suri Surprising Winner In Biel Master Tournament
The Indian GM Vaibhav Suri was the surprising winner of the Biel Master Tournament (MTO) held alongside the Accentus Grandmaster Tournament in Biel, Switzerland.
The Biel Master Tournament (MTO) is a part of the Biel Chess Festival. This event was a nine-round Swiss-system for players with a 2000 rating or more. The tournament was held July 23–August 1, 2018 (with a rest day on July 28). Some 117 players from 31 countries participated. Seventy were titled, including 26 grandmasters.
GM Pavel Eljanov (rated 2706) of Ukraine was the top seed, followed by 27 GMs above 2500. | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Biel International Chess Festival.
GM Suri started as the 19th seed but continued in the great form he showed at the Commonwealth Chess Championships, winning the tournament alone with 7/9 and a 2696 performance rating and gaining 17 Elo points. He won five games and drew four including the last two rounds.
GM Suri started strongly with 3.5/4 but two clutch wins in the fifth and seventh rounds against strong young German 2500s with the white side of the Italian Game proved pivotal for his tournament victory.
Here is his fifth-round game against German GM Dennis Wagner (rated 2558).
This was followed up by another nice tactical game in the seventh round against the German IM Jonas Lampert (rated 2546).
Suri had a slender half-point lead going into the last round. He easily managed to draw his last-round game with white against IM Bilguun Sumiya, ensuring himself at least a tie for first and a well deserved GM norm for his opponent.
Final round underway with GM Vaibhav Suri vs. IM Bilguun Sumiya in the foreground.
| Photo: Lennart Ootes/Biel International Chess Festival.
None of the next three boards yielded a result, so GM Suri finished clear first. Eight players tied for the second spot with 6.5/9 including Dennis Wagner (GER), top seed Pavel Eljanov (UKR), and the former world's youngest GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) amongst others.
2018 Biel Master Open Tournament (MTO) | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rk. | SNo | Title | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 |
| 1 | 19 | GM | Vaibhav Suri | 2556 | 7 | 48 | 416 | |
| 2 | 18 | GM | Wagner Dennis | 2558 | 6.5 | 49 | 422.5 | |
| 3 | 1 | GM | Eljanov Pavel | 2706 | 6.5 | 48 | 424.5 | |
| 4 | 21 | GM | Kuljasevic Davorin | 2545 | 6.5 | 47 | 423 | |
| 5 | 3 | GM | Salem A.R. Saleh | 2642 | 6.5 | 47 | 419.5 | |
| 6 | 29 | IM | Bilguun Sumiya | 2490 | 6.5 | 46 | 410 | |
| 7 | 9 | GM | Donchenko Alexander | 2601 | 6.5 | 45 | 424.5 | |
| 8 | 24 | GM | Lalith Babu M R | 2529 | 6.5 | 45 | 411 | |
| 9 | 23 | GM | Abdusattorov Nodirbek | 2534 | 6.5 | 43.5 | 421 | |
| 10 | 12 | GM | Baklan Vladimir | 2595 | 6 | 45.5 | 411 | |
| 11 | 36 | IM | Prithu Gupta | 2436 | 6 | 45.5 | 409.5 | |
| 12 | 48 | Arjun Kalyan | 2370 | 6 | 45.5 | 401.5 | ||
| 13 | 15 | GM | Kovchan Alexander | 2572 | 6 | 44.5 | 421.5 | |
| 14 | 17 | GM | Moussard Jules | 2559 | 6 | 44 | 401.5 | |
| 15 | 7 | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | 2609 | 6 | 42 | 401 | |
| 16 | 6 | GM | Antipov Mikhail Al. | 2626 | 6 | 41.5 | 410.5 | |
| 17 | 8 | GM | Bartel Mateusz | 2604 | 6 | 41.5 | 394.5 | |
| 18 | 5 | GM | Romanov Evgeny | 2636 | 6 | 41 | 403 | |
| 19 | 16 | GM | Michalik Peter | 2562 | 6 | 39.5 | 378.5 | |
| 20 | 2 | GM | Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo | 2652 | 5.5 | 46 | 416 |
GM Dennis Wagner (Germany) [2nd], GM Vaibhav Suri (India) [Winner] and GM Pavel Eljanov (Ukraine) [3rd] Photo: | Lennart Ootes/Biel International Chess Festival
Three GM norms were scored, all by young Asian talents:
- IM Bilguun Sumiya (Mongolia)
- IM Prithu Gupta (India)
- Arjun Kalyan (India)
World Champion Magnus Carlsen was seen spectating the open games (especially his father's) during his mid-game strolls. | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Biel International Chess Festival.
The Biel Chess Festival also included an open, a rapid tournament, a blitz tournament, a rapid chess960 tournament, youth tournament, a physicians' tournament and a simultaneous exhibition by world number-eight, French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
Rapid Tournament Winners
GM Aravindh Chithambaram (India) [2nd], GM Mikhail Antipov (Russia) [Winner] and GM Alexander Donchenko (Germany) [3rd] | Photo: Simon Bohnenblust/Biel International Chess Festival.
Blitz Tournament Winners
GM Kamil Dragun (Poland) [2nd], GM Alexander Donchenko (Germany) [Winner] and GM Jules Moussard (France) [3rd] | Photo: Simon Bohnenblust/Biel International Chess Festival.
Chess960 Tournament Winners
GM Pavel Tregubov (Russia) [3rd], FM Arjun Erigaisi (India) [Winner] and IM Gabriel Flom (France) [3rd] | Photo: Simon Bohnenblust/Biel International Chess Festival.
Simultaneous Exhibition
World number-eight GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France gave a simul and scored 27-0. | Photo: Simon Bohnenblust/Biel International Chess Festival.
Rakesh Kulkarni is the Director of Indian Social Media for Chess.com and a correspondent on chess in India.
Rakesh has earned the International Master title and is a former Commonwealth Blitz Champion and a Commonwealth Bronze medallist in the junior category. Rakesh has a Masters of Commerce degree in Management & Business administration. He now is a professional chess player and trains young talents across the globe on chess.com
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