2nd Dole Trophy Pasino Grand Aix R1: Gulenay and Marco battle for nearly 6.5 hours

by Shahid Ahmed - 20/07/2025

The second edition of Dole Trophy Pasino Grand Aix 2025 features over 400 players from 40+ countries. In the very first round, teenagers WIM Gulenay Aydin (TUR) and IM Marco Materia (FRA) battled for over six hours and 20 minutes before their intriguing six minor piece endgame finished in a draw. Gulenay thwarted all attempts by Marco to score a win. CM V S Nandish had a great opportunity to trap GM Max Warmerdam's (NED) bishop in the endgame. Time trouble caused him to miss it and he ended up losing the game. Raghav V played a good game against the super strong GM Pavel Eljanov (UKR). However, in the endgame, Raghav got his knight trapped. A total of 39 GMs, 62 IMs, 4 WGMs and 9 WIMs are taking part in the Masters (>2100) section. Round 2 starts today at 2:30 p.m. local time, 6 p.m. IST. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

Nandish misses against Warmerdam

The tournament boasts a total prize fund of more than €30000. The top three prizes are €8000, €5500 and €3500 in the Masters (>2100). Out of 270+ players in the Masters, 100+ players are GMs and IMs, that certainly speaks volumes about the strength of the field.

The longest game of the round between WIM Gulenay Aydin (TUR) and IM Marco Materia (ITA)

2nd Dole Trophy 2025 is taking place from 19th to 27th July at Pasino Grand in Aix-en-Provence, France

The top seed - GM Jorden van Foreest (NED) started with a comfortable win over FM Ivan Povshednyi (UKR)

GM Awonder Liang (USA) - FM Baptiste Lissillour (FRA): 1-0

Raghav - Eljanov

Position after 19.Nxd4

GM Pavel Eljanov (UKR, 2675) played the interesting 19...Nxd4 temporarily sacrificing an exchange 20.Bxe8 Nde2+ 21.Kh1 Bd5 22.Rxe2 Bxg2+ 23.Kh2 Nxe2 24.Qxd6 cxd6 25.Bxf7+ Kxf7 26.Kxg2 Raghav V (2305) navigated through a complex position quite well and arrived at a balanced rook and knight endgame.

Position after 35...Ne4

White needed to prioritize getting his knight back into action. 36.Nd8 Ng5+ 37.Kg4 or 36.Ke3 Ng5 etc. 36.c4+ Kd4 37.Ke2? White is no longer attacking the knight, so the leverage is gone and he just gave up the extra pawn for no reason as White's knight is still not out of the woods. 37...Kxc4 38.Ke3 Kd5 39.Nd8 Nd6 and it's over. White's knight is stuck and it became just a matter of time for Black to win the game.

Final moments: FM Raghav V - GM Pavel Eljanov (UKR) | Video: ChessBase India

Raghav V put up a good fight against the super strong GM Pavel Eljanov (UKR)

FM Julius Ohler (GER) got his queen trapped against the Sweden no.1, GM Nils Grandelius

FM Bastien Dubessay (FRA) got outplayed by GM Jaime Santos Latasa (ESP)

GM Maxime Lagarde (FRA) got a winning position in less than 25 moves against FM Mario Alexis Arias Gaviria (PER)

Nandish - Warmerdam

Position after 26...Ng4

The best opportunity CM V S Nandish (2293) had in the entire game was after 26...Ng4 27.Be2 threatens to trap GM Max Warmerdam's (NED, 2618) bishop at f5. 27...Nxh2 28.g4 would have been winning for White. Being low on time, it made things difficult for White to find it. Instead, he played 27.Bc4 Re7 28.Nb5 Ne3 29.Bb3 Nxg2 30.Nxa7 Ne1 31.c6? defending the h2-pawn via Rd2 would have kept White in the fight. 31...Nf3 32.Rd6 Nxh2 33.b5? b6 and Black won the game in nine more moves as his passed pawns despite being further away from promotion square, was stronger.

Final moments: CM V S Nandish - GM Max Warmerdam (NED) | Video: ChessBase India

CM V S Nandish had a great opportunity against GM Max Warmerdam (NED) in the endgame

GM Aydin Suleymanli (AZE) got a winning position by move no.15 after his opponent WIM Sarayu Velpula went wrong early in the game

Former World no.19, GM Baadur Jobava (GEO) started with a win over FM Iren Lyutsinger

GM Leon Luke Mendonca defeated the newly Netherlands Women's champion, FM Machteld van Foreest (NED)

GM Kacper Piorun (POL, 2575) made an incredible save after his opponent, FM Andre Tulliez (FRA, 2284) quite a few winning chances against him.

Gulenay - Marco

Position after 6.Bxb7

The six minor piece endgame went on for 57 more moves before it ended in a draw after six hours and 20+ minutes. WIM Gulenay Aydin (TUR, 2239) thwarted all attempts to win by IM Marco Materia (FRA, 2493).

Final moments: WIM Gulenay Aydin (TUR) - IM Marco Materia (FRA) | Video: ChessBase India

David Benezra, CEO of Dole and President of Echiquier du Roy René, inaugurated the event

Over 400 players from 40 countries across the world are taking part in three separate events at Pasino Grand in Aix-en-Provence, France

For more Round 1 photos, please click here and here.

Replay Round 1 Masters games

Masters Round 1 results

Bo.	No.	White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.	Black	Rtg	No.
1	1	Povshednyi, Ivan	2307	0	0 - 1	0	Van Foreest, Jorden	2698	2
2	3	Liang, Awonder	2693	0	1 - 0	0	Lissillour, Baptiste	2306	4
3	5	Raghav, V	2305	0	0 - 1	0	Eljanov, Pavel	2675	6
4	7	Grandelius, Nils	2642	0	1 - 0	0	Ohler, Julius	2301	8
5	9	Dubessay, Bastien	2299	0	0 - 1	0	Santos Latasa, Jaime	2623	10
6	11	Lagarde, Maxime	2618	0	1 - 0	0	Arias Gaviria, Mario Alexis	2298	12
7	13	Nandish, V S	2293	0	0 - 1	0	Warmerdam, Max	2618	14
8	15	Suleymanli, Aydin	2607	0	1 - 0	0	Velpula, Sarayu	2290	16
9	17	Lyutsinger, Iren	2285	0	0 - 1	0	Jobava, Baadur	2605	18
10	19	Mendonca, Leon Luke	2603	0	1 - 0	0	Van Foreest, Machteld	2285	20
11	21	Tulliez, Andre	2284	0	½ - ½	0	Piorun, Kacper	2575	22
12	23	Jacobson, Brandon	2569	0	1 - 0	0	Birkisson, Bardur Orn	2283	24
13	25	Clery, Nicolas	2282	0	0 - 1	0	Vetokhin, Savva	2569	26
14	27	Gorshtein, Ido	2568	0	1 - 0	0	Breuil, Tristan	2280	28
15	29	Fiskaaen, Martin Holten	2280	0	½ - ½	0	Ganguly, Surya Shekhar	2566	30

Details

Standings after Round 1

Rk.	SNo	Name	Rtg	Pts.	TB3
1	37	Kurmangaliyeva, Liya	2274	1	3355
2	84	Bin-Suhayl, Ieysaa	2231	1	3277
3	89	Soumya, Swaminathan	2228	1	3273
4	97	Caglar, Sila	2225	1	3269
5	137	De Carvalho Massabo, Raphael	2193	1	3234
6	165	Delaplace, Mathias	2179	1	3210
7	194	El Karoui, Adam	2153	1	3170
8	214	Munier, Alexis	2136	1	3157
9	215	Rigaud-Retourne, Mael	2136	1	3155
10	245	Shubhi, Gupta	2114	1	3135
11	272	Duquesnoy, Jean-Philippe	2092	1	3109
12	273	Sivanandan, Bodhana	2087	1	3108
13	2	Van Foreest, Jorden	2698	1	3107
14	3	Liang, Awonder	2693	1	3106
15	6	Eljanov, Pavel	2675	1	3105

Details

Round 2 pairings

Bo.	No.	White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.	Black	Rtg	No.
1	2	Van Foreest, Jorden	2698	1		1	Hagner, Bennet	2435	135
2	134	Aaryan, Varshney	2436	1		1	Liang, Awonder	2693	3
3	6	Eljanov, Pavel	2675	1		1	Degraeve, Remy	2429	143
4	142	Mohamed, Anees M	2431	1		1	Grandelius, Nils	2642	7
5	10	Santos Latasa, Jaime	2623	1		1	Kuru, Atilla	2428	147
6	150	Rojas Salas, Steven	2425	1		1	Lagarde, Maxime	2618	11
7	14	Warmerdam, Max	2618	1		1	Anuj, Shrivatri	2416	155
8	159	Tanriverdi, Enes	2413	1		1	Suleymanli, Aydin	2607	15
9	18	Jobava, Baadur	2605	1		1	Bakhrillaev, Bakhrom	2412	163
10	162	Lee, Alice	2412	1		1	Mendonca, Leon Luke	2603	19
11	167	Audi, Ameya	2409	1		1	Jacobson, Brandon	2569	23
12	26	Vetokhin, Savva	2569	1		1	Schnaider, Ilan	2404	171
13	170	Rakhmatullaev, Almas	2409	1		1	Gorshtein, Ido	2568	27
14	176	Defromont, Benjamin	2398	1		1	Iniyan, Pa	2558	31
15	177	Palczert, Matyas	2396	1		1	Raja, Rithvik R	2557	35

Details

Links

Official site: Dole and Echiquier du Roy

Tournament details

Echiquier du Roy René fb page

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