R Vaishali makes a brilliant start at Biel Chess Festival Challengers

R. Vaishali showcased a tactical display of skills as she secured a remarkable victory against Alexander Donchenko of Germany in the second round of the 57th Biel Chess Festival GMT Challengers 2024 in Switzerland on Wednesday.

Vaishali dominated Donchenko by willingly sacrificing her rook, gaining a tactical advantage with an attack on Donchenko’s Kingside.

This move created significant pressure on the German GM to find a viable defence. Consequently, Vaishali maintained pressure on Donchenko which resulted in a crucial victory for her at the festival.

This victory propelled her to second place in the standings with 13 points out of 22, just one point behind the table topper, Salem Saleh of UAE.

Meanwhile, Vaishali’s brother and GM R Praggnanandhaa held two-time Biel GMT Champion Liem Le Quang of Vietnam to a draw in GMT Masters.

Abhimanyu Mishra Dominates

GM Abhimanyu Mishra maintained his lead after Round 2 with a solid win over Sam Shankland of the USA.

Sam had the chance to attack Abhimanyu by locking his kingside, which could have pinned down Abhimanyu, who was playing with the black pieces.

However, a clever play of a passed b-pawn by Abhimanyu caused confusion for Sam, who feared that Black could advance and target his queen or another powerful piece.

As a result, Sam restrained from attacking Abhimanyu's kingside, which allowed Abhimanyu to gain a better position and launch an attack on Sam’s kingside.

In the parallel Master Tournament Open (MTO), Indian GMs Koustav Chatterjee and Krishnan Sasikiran continued their dominant run, each securing wins to maintain perfect scores of 3/3 at Round 3. Koustav shares the second spot with Ori Kobo of Israel the higher-ranked Indian at the MTO.