The two last placed players after yesterday's day met today: Noël Studer against Romain Édouard, who launched his tournament yesterday with a draw against Radoslaw Wojtaszek. The two fought a duel at eye level, in which the Bernese player, who played with white, came under increasing time pressure. Nobody knew how to use the final game of a white bishop against a black knight to his advantage and thus a draw resulted.
Drawing favourites
David Antón Guijarro and Radoslaw Wojtaszek also agreed to a draw after a close game, as did Arkadij Naiditsch and Pentala Harikrishna. While the first game was very balanced, the Grandmaster from Azerbaijan managed to push Harikrishna, playing the black pieces, into the defensive at times without gaining a decisive advantage. The two tournament favourites Pentala Harikrishna and Radolsaw Wojtaszek have thus so far not been able to win a classic match. The won 1½ points are enough for Wojtaszek though to take the top of the tournament ranking again.
Adams overcomes Keymer
The only victory today was for Mickey Adams. He used the advantage of the first move to gain a continuously more advantageous position in this clash of generations. With the self-confidence of a so far extremely satisfying tournament course, Vincent Keymer defended himself very persistently. Despite increasing time pressure, the 15-year-old German forced the FIDE runner-up of 2004 into a queens' final that he only lost after losing four of his five remaining pawns. This victory puts Adams now at third place, only 1½ points behind leader Radoslaw Wojtaszek.
Corona amateur tournament: Grandmaster loses
In the corona amateur tournament, again one of the three participating grandmasters stumbled: Sebastian Siebrecht (Elo 2429) lost to Sladjan Jovanovic (Elo 2176) - with the white pieces! After three rounds, nine players remain who have not yet lost any points, including tournament favourite Christian Bauer from France.
The games of the grand master tournament can be followed online on the festival's homepage, accompanied by the comments of Australian grandmaster Ian Rogers: https://www.bielchessfestival.ch/LIVE.html
Pictures of the Biel International Chess Festival are available under the following link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/143150736@N02/album