While the participants of the Corona main tournament were able to enjoy a day off today, the Grandmasters brought action into the otherwise deserted hall of the Biel Congress Centre. The Blitz tournament was on the agenda, where all opponents faced each other twice. This partly turned the balance of strengths upside down: former leader Vincent Keymer was unable to maintain his level of the previous days in this category and only scored 4½ points, the second worst result of the day. Also Pentala Harikrishna should be only moderately satisfied with his 6 points.
Wojtaszek and Adams winners of the day
The winners of the day are Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Mickey Adams. Of his 14 games today, the Pole didn't lose a single one! The British old champion also had a furious start to the tournament and did lose his first half a point only in the eighth round against Pentala Harikrishna. He also lost only two games: against Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Noël Studer. With this performance the two won 11 of 14 possible points each today, making them the leaders of the triathlon tournament: Wojtaszek with 31.5 points ahead of Adams with 27.5.
Tomorrow: rest day
After the hectic of today, the Grandmasters will enjoy their second rest day tomorrow. On Monday they will continue with the fifth round of the classical games. In the top match, the two Elo strongest players of the tournament will meet: Wojtaszek vs. Harikrishna. If the Indian, who is third, seven points behind the Pole, wants to keep a chance to win the tournament, he has to play for victory – with the black pieces! Also Wojtaszek's first pursuer has to play with Black on Monday: Mickey Adams will challenge David Antón Guijarro, who, after a weak start into the tournament, played the third best Blitz tournament today.
Ranking GMT
After Rapid, Blitz and four rounds classic:
|
Rank |
Name |
Games |
Classical |
Rapid |
Blitz |
Total |
|
1 |
GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek |
25 |
8.5 |
12 |
11 |
31.5 |
|
2 |
GM Michael Adams |
25 |
8.5 |
8 |
11 |
27.5 |
|
3 |
GM Pentala Harikrishna |
25 |
8.5 |
10 |
6 |
24.5 |
|
4 |
GM Vincent Keymer |
25 |
8 |
10 |
4.5 |
22.5 |
|
5 |
GM David Antón Guijarro |
25 |
5.5 |
4 |
8.5 |
18 |
|
6 |
GM Arkadij Naiditsch |
25 |
5.5 |
5 |
6.5 |
17 |
|
7 |
GM Noël Studer |
25 |
7 |
3 |
5 |
15 |
|
8 |
GM Romain Édouard |
25 |
4.5 |
4 |
3.5 |
12 |
VINETUM youth tournament
Today the open VINETUM youth tournament took place in the three categories U10, U13 and U16. A total of 70 youngsters from all over Switzerland, as well as France, Germany, Liechtenstein and Spain competed in an exciting tournament.
Results:
Podium U16: 1st Phileas Mathieu (FRA) 7 Pt, 2nd Maximilian Wehrle (GER) 5½ Pt, 3rd Amaury Briand (FRA) 5 Pt
Podium U13: 1st Simon Schellenberg (SUI, SK Pfäffikon ZH) 6½ Pt, 2nd Cédric Hirzel (SUI, SG Winterthur) 6 Pt, 3rd Shir Shatil (ISR, CE Vevey) 5 Pt
Podium U10: 1st Colin Federer (SUI, Chess4Kids Zurich) 6½ Pt, 2nd Yinong Li (SUI, SK Markus Regez) 6 Pt, 3rd Pascal Schellenberg (SUI, SK Pfäffikon ZH) 5 Pt
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/albums