Besou, 15, Joins the Tegernsee Leaders, Top Seed Svane Half a Point Back

Round five of the 29th Open International Bavarian Chess Championship, a nine-round Swiss at Gut Kaltenbrunn on Lake Tegernsee, left six players tied on 4½/5. Three of them are Indian grandmasters. One is a 15-year-old German IM: Hussain Besou.

Besou, playing White, beat seventh seed Peter Acs. The Hungarian grandmaster is 45 and won the World Junior Championship in 2001, ten years before Besou was born.

Why the win stands out

Besou is the only German, the only junior and the only non-GM in the leading group. He started as 21st seed with a rating of 2429, while Acs sat well above him in the pairings.

His youth résumé explains why this may not be a fluke. He took bronze at the 2022 World Under-12 Championship and in 2023, aged eleven, became the youngest player to represent Germany at senior level. In 2024 he won the German under-14 title.

Everyone else on 4½

The other five co-leaders are G.N. Gopal, Krishnan Sasikiran, Rithvik R Raja, Polish GM Kacper Piorun and Turkish GM Emre Can. Gopal and Sasikiran, who had both been perfect through four rounds, drew their direct game in 31 moves.

Rithvik Raja, the third of the Indian trio on 4/4, drew with White against top seed Frederik Svane after 25 moves. Svane, as Black, reached a symmetrical position. Piorun joined the lead by beating IM Dieter Morawietz, while Can profited when IM Tobias Kügel lost a piece.

All five games on the top boards were drawn, so nobody kept a perfect score. That is why a group this large formed: 31 more players sit half a point back on 4.

The chasing pack

Svane and third seed Alexander Donchenko are among those 31, as are Nijat Abasov, who played the 2024 Candidates, and reigning German champion Leonardo Costa. Donchenko drew with Turkish IM Eray Kilic after enjoying promising chances. Kilic held the endgame with resilient defence, and it drew plenty of attention.

Second seed Santos has more work to do. He has 3½/5 after being held to a draw by a much lower-rated opponent in round two.

An earlier upset

In round three, 62-year-old IM Dieter Morawietz beat Norwegian GM Elham Amar, 21, who mixed up the move order in a line he had played before and lost material early. Morawietz earned a GM norm at Tegernsee in 2005. He then lost to Piorun in round five.

What to watch

With four rounds left, Besou’s pairings will show whether he can stay with the grandmasters. Tiebreaks already separate the group: Rithvik Raja tops the table, and Besou is sixth of the six. A Swiss field this tight usually needs a few more decisive rounds before a clear leader appears.