Gopal Beats Besou to Lead Bavarian Open, Piorun Among 12 Half a Point Behind

Indian grandmaster G.N. Gopal moved into sole first place at the 29th Open International Bavarian Chess Championship in Gmund am Tegernsee on Thursday. He beat 15-year-old German IM Hussain Besou in round six to reach 5½/6.

The nine-round Swiss runs from 31 October to 8 November, so three rounds remain. Twelve players trail Gopal by half a point.

How Gopal won

Besou had Black and, by the report’s account, never found enough room for his pieces. Gopal gradually built pressure on the kingside and converted.

It was Gopal’s fifth win of the event. His only draw so far came in round five against fellow Indian GM Krishnan Sasikiran.

His performance rating after six rounds is 2734, well above his 2530 FIDE rating. That gap suggests he is playing like a player 200 points stronger than his listing.

What it cost Besou

Besou had joined the leaders a day earlier by beating former world junior champion Peter Acs, a result we covered in our report on his win over Acs. The loss to Gopal ended a run of 15 tournament games without a defeat.

It also badly dented his hopes of a GM norm here. He stays on 4½/6, a point behind Gopal. For how norms work, see our explainer on how a player becomes a grandmaster.

Quiet draws on the top boards

Most clashes among the other leaders were peaceful. Kacper Piorun, the 2015 winner here, and Rithvik R Raja drew in just 13 moves on the top board. Sasikiran and Emre Can split the point after a symmetrical game.

Nijat Abasov and Sohum Lohia repeated moves after 19 moves. All six of those players finished the round on 5/6.

Those short draws are what let Gopal pull clear. With his rivals sharing points on the top boards, he was the only one of the leading group to win.

Svane wins, Donchenko stalls

Top seed Frederik Svane, rated 2662, beat Polish IM Klaudia Kulon with White. He got a slightly favourable position from a Colle-Zukertort setup. Kulon then weakened her kingside on moves 18 and 19, and the German GM took advantage to reach 5/6.

Third seed Alexander Donchenko, rated 2610, drew with IM Gerlef Meins. Meins defended an approximately equal rook endgame to hold the half point. Donchenko is on 4½/6.

Women’s standings

Kulon was the highest-rated woman in the field, and her loss let others catch her. Svenja Butenandt and Kateryna Dolzhykova are now level with her on 4/6.

What the table shows

Behind Gopal on 5 points are Raja, Sasikiran, Svane, Can, Piorun, Evan Park, Roven Vogel, Ashot Parvanyan, Leonardo Costa, Elham Amar, Moritz Weishaeutel and Adrian Gschnitzer. Raja has the best tiebreak among them.

Gopal, 37, became Kerala’s first GM in 2007 at 18. He finished fourth here in 2023 on 7/9.

Another strong finish would better that. The field of 548 players has plenty of rivals with 2500-plus ratings still within half a point.

For how the Swiss system pairs leaders against each other in the closing rounds, see our guide to how the event works.