Consolidation in the lead in Master Tournament MTO
The leader Visakh drew with Sargsyan at table 1 and therefore retains the tournament lead with 4.5 out of 5 possible points. With him at 4.5 points are now however Pranav, who created a sensation by defeating Sethuraman, and by Aryan, who defeated Mendonca. All four of the above players who have just played each other are, like Visakh, Indian players! Visakh, Pranav and Aryan are leading the tournament, closely followed by a group of seven players on 4 points, including top seeds Alekseenko and Fedoseev who are coming back. Will the favourites of the tournament, at least on paper, succeed in knocking off the strong Indian players to take the trophy? The next rounds will tell us...
Current ranking of the MTO: https://chess-results.com/tnr636482.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=5
ATO: still two players with 5 out of 5
In the Amateur Tournament ATO, Matteo Sala (FRA, 1708) is definitely in form and achieves a fifth performance in a row by beating Uwe Arndt (1964 ELO)! The young Sala, born in 2008, already has gained 125.6 ELO points after 5 rounds! He is in the lead together with Hari Charan Sai Kalluri (2041 ELO), another Indian! With Gukesh leading the GMT and the three players leading the MTO, the Indians seem determined to win on all fronts, and only Matteo Sala is still able to hold against it. With a new victory tomorrow, the young Frenchman could be the hero to take the lead in one of the Biel Festival tournaments in front of this bunch of talented Indian players.
Current ranking of the ATO: https://chess-results.com/tnr636483.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=5
Outlook: Top game Gukesh-Esipenko
Tomorrow the participants in the Grandmaster Triathlon continue with the fourth round of classical chess. India's leading Gukesh faces Russia's Esipenko in the day's top game with the white pieces, a game that could be decisive for the race for the tournament title. Gukesh's first rival Lê Quang plays Keymer, Kamsky meets Naiditsch and Abdusattorov takes on Salem.
In the women's ACCENTUS Quadriathlon, second and third placed Iris Ciarletta and Margaux Moracchini will meet directly.
In parallel, the sixth round of MTO and ATO, as well as rounds 3 & 4 of the Swiss Youth Championships will take place tomorrow.
Pictures of the Biel International Chess Festival are available under the following link:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/143150736@N02/collections/72157720866132786/