Fedoseev vs. Aravindh ends in a draw
No movement in the ranking of the GMT-Masters: in today's first round of classical chess of the Grandmaster Triathlon, the grandmasters neutralised each other on all three boards, so that the ranking according to the rapid games remains unchanged. In the top game of the day, Vladimir Fedoseev and Aravindh Chithambaram, the co-leaders and tournament favourites, faced each other. Fedoseev's slight advantage in the middlegame was cancelled out by the Indian. Nevertheless, the two played out the ensuing balanced position to the bitter end and to the last pawn – a sign to emphasise their own ambitions? The quickest game of the day was the game between Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Frederik Svane, who sealed their draw after just 34 moves by repeating moves. The best chance of a different outcome was in the game between Saleh Salem and Volodar Murzin, in which Salem was unable to capitalise on a mistake by Murzin and then later benefited himself from Murzin not finding the optimal move.
GMT-Masters: Interim Ranking
| Rank | Name | Games | Classical | Rapid | Blitz | Total |
| 1 | GM Vladimir FEDOSEEV | 6 | 1 ½ | 7 | 8 ½ | |
| 2 | GM ARAVINDH Chithambaram | 6 | 1 ½ | 7 | 8 ½ | |
| 3 | GM Radoslaw WOJTASZEK | 6 | 1 ½ | 6 | 7 ½ | |
| 4 | GM Volodar MURZIN | 6 | 1 ½ | 5 | 6 ½ | |
| 5 | GM Frederik SVANE | 6 | 1 ½ | 3 | 4 ½ | |
| 6 | GM Saleh SALEM | 6 | 1 ½ | 2 | 3 ½ |
Theodorou defends lead in Challengers
The Challengers Tournament of the Grandmaster Triathlon brought three decisions today: Nikolas Theodorou was able to defend his lead with a win against Rinat Jumabayev. He remains closely followed by Aram Hakobyan, who in turn beat Ma Qun in a strongly played but not easy to finish game. However, David Navara can feel like the winner of the day: after things didn't go his way in the Rapid, he played a commanding game against Daniel Dardha today and capitalised on a mistake by the Belgian to win the match. With this victory, Navara jumps from the bottom of the table to third place and is now on the chase to catch up with Theodorou and Hakobyan.
GMT-Challengers: Interim Ranking
| Rank | Name | Games | Classical | Rapid | Blitz | Total |
| 1 | GM Nikolas THEODOROU | 6 | 4 | 8 | 12 | |
| 2 | GM Aram HAKOBYAN | 6 | 4 | 7 | 11 | |
| 3 | GM David NAVARA | 6 | 4 | 2 | 6 | |
| 4 | GM MA Qun | 6 | 5 | 5 | ||
| 5 | GM Rinat JUMABAYEV | 6 | 4 | 4 | ||
| 6 | GM Daniel DARDHA | 6 | 4 | 4 |
MTO goes into second round
The second round of the Master Tournament MTO was played today. The duels played on 56 chessboards, in which stronger players usually meet inferior opponents at the start of a tournament, have so far largely gone according to plan. As the tournament progresses, the strength ratios crystallise and players increasingly meet opponents at their own level. Accordingly, seven of the nine participating grandmasters have so far held their own. One has already had to concede a draw, while GM Yehuda Gruenfeld made a veritable false start, winning only ½ of a possible 2 points.
ATO: Clear the stage for the amateurs!
The last of the long major tournaments at this year's Biel Chess Festival began today with the Amateur Tournament ATO. Over nine rounds, players with an Elo rating of less than 2000 will play in this tournament, which ultimately attracted 109 participants from 16 countries. Obviously, the best represented countries are Switzerland with 74 participants, followed by Germany with 12, but with players from countries such as Kazakhstan, South Africa and the USA, this tournament is also truly international.
Outlook: An opportunity for Wojtaszek?
Tomorrow, the current co-leaders of the GMT-Masters will both play with black: Fedoseev will face Murzin in the Eastern European duel, and Aravindh will play Svane. Their closest rival Radoslaw Wojtaszek, on the other hand, will play with white against Saleh Salem, who is currently bottom of the table. An opportunity for the Pole to make the leap to the top? Two winners from today will meet tomorrow in the Challengers: David Navara, playing with white, could make the leap from the bottom to the top of the table against Nikolas Theodorou with another win within two games. In the other games, Dardha faces Hakobyan and Ma Qun meets Jumabayev.
The third round of the freestyle tournament will take place tomorrow morning and the third round of the Master Tournament MTO and the second round of the Amateur Tournament ATO will be held in the afternoon from 2 pm, together with the GMT.
Pictures of the Biel International Chess Festival are available under the following link.
On the evening of each day of the Festival, the OC sends out a media report on the day's events.