Lê Quang, Gukesh and Abdusattorov all win with Black!

Three of the four leaders in the Grandmaster Triathlon of the Biel Chess Festival had to play with the black pieces today – and yet they all won their games. Lê Quang thus defended his lead and Gukesh is again the first chaser, two points behind, as Esipenko only drew against last year's winner Kamsky and thus fell back on rank three. There was also a change in the lead in the ladies’ quadriathlon, as the Swiss Zhuang Yongzhe was able to defeat the former leader Moracchini in the top match. In the Masters Tournament, Kirill Alekseenko, last year a participant in the Grandmaster Tournament, was able to take the sole lead, half a point ahead of three pursuers.

In an even position, Keymer missed a heavy tactical tip at the end of the variation, which cost him the point and the game against Gukesh. Naiditsch did not optimise his advantage against Abdusattorov and then, once the position was equal, broke down completely and lost in a few moves. Lê Quang Liêm, in a game that resembled a rollercoaster and lasted almost seven hours, struck at the last moment to win against Salem. The top four came close to all winning, but Kamsky managed to hold the draw with one pawn less against Esipenko. The ranking has only slightly changed: Lê Quang Liêm is now alone in the lead with 30 points, Gukesh moves up to second place (28 points) and Esipenko moves back to third (27 points). These players are nevertheless closely followed by Abdusattorov (26½ points). Everything is still possible!

GMT: Interim Ranking

Rank	Name	Federation	Games	Classic	Rapid	Blitz	TOTAL
1	GM Quang Liêm LÊ	VIE	26	12	11	7	30
2	GM Dommaraju GUKESH	IND	26	13½	7	7½	28
3	GM Andrey ESIPENKO	FIDE	26	10	10	7	27
4	GM  Nodirbek ABDUSATTOROV	UZB	26	9½	9	8	26½
5	GM Saleh SALEM	UAE	26	5½	7	8	20½
6	GM Gata KAMSKY	USA	26	8½	1	8½	18
7	GM Vincent KEYMER	GER	26	4½	5	8	17½
8	GM Arkadij NAIDITSCH	AZE	26	8½	6	2	16½

 

DAQ: Zhuang beats Moracchini in the top match!

The leader, Margaux Moracchini, fell to one of her direct competitors, Yongzhe Zhuang, losing her first classical game of the tournament. The second, Juliette Cornileau, also stumbled and lost to Gohar Tamrazyan. Fourth in the ranking, Iris Carletta, wins and becomes again a serious candidate for the final victory. In this tournament too, anything is possible!

DAQ: Interim Ranking

Rank	Name	Federation	Classic	Chess960	Rapid	Blitz	TOTAL
1	Zhuang Yongzhe	SUI	13.5	3.5	10	6.5	33.5
2	Iris Ciarletta	FRA	5.5	5.5	9	12	32
3	Margaux Moracchini	FRA	16	1	5	9	31
4	Juliette Cornileau	FRA	9.5	5.5	10	5.5	30.5
5	Gohar Tamrazyan	SUI	13.5	2.5	8	5.5	29.5
6	Laura Sumarriva Paulin	FRA	7	3	7	8	25
7	Yulia Avilova	SUI	3	4	5	7.5	19.5
8	Cecilia Keymer	GER	7	3	2*	2	14

* scored by Veronika Kostina

MTO: Aryan blunders and Alekseenko takes the lead!

Aryan looked set to win over Alekseenko. Suddenly, a blunder allowed the Russian to completely turn the game around and finally win it. Once the draw was signed at table 2, it was official: the Russian is now the sole leader of the MTO with 6 points out of 7 and the Indians have, at least temporarily, lost control of the tournament. Alekseenko is being chased by a group of three players at 5½ points and eleven players at 5 points. Needless to say, it will be important not to stumble!

ATO: Harisurya Bharadwaj Gundepudi stops Matteo Sala!

After a flawless 6 wins in 6 games, young Frenchman Matteo Sala was stopped by India's Harisurya Bharadwaj Gundepudi. The latter takes the lead of the tournament with 6½/7 now, chased by a group of 5 players at 6 points. While the Indians were set to make a splash in all the tournaments of the festival, with two rounds to go, only the ATO is led by an Indian player! Mind you, in the ATO too, no one has said their last word...

Outlook: Will Abdusattorov continue his run?

Tomorrow, Thursday, the second last round in the GMT and DAQ will be decided. In the game of the chasers Abdusattorov plays with the white pieces against Esipenko. With a third win in a row, the Uzbek world No. 1 among the under-18s could suddenly be in contention for a place at the top after a slow start. The leaders Lê Quang and Gukesh, on the other hand, could – both with white – move further away at the top with wins against the not entirely convincing veterans Naiditsch and Kamsky.

The decisions in the MTO and ATO are also approaching with the penultimate round tomorrow. In the Master Tournament, current leader Alekseenko will tomorrow play with Black against the former leader Visakh, who is half a point behind.

The final decision will be made tomorrow in the Swiss Individual Youth Championship, where the title holders in the U16, U14, U12, U10 and U8 categories will be crowned.

Pictures of the Biel International Chess Festival are available under the following link:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/143150736@N02/collections/72157720866132786/