The triathlon at the Biel Chess Festival has begun, and the veteran participant in the Biel Masters, Levon Aronian, is in superb form. He is dominating the first discipline, rapid chess, with four wins and one draw, and has taken a commanding lead at the top of the standings. Things were less clear-cut in the Generations Challenge: Finek leads after the first day, but has two close challengers in Materia and Xiao.
The open rapid tournament, which took place at the same time, was well attended, with 168 participants. In the end, a trio were tied at the top of the tournament, with Grandmaster Adam Kozak having the best tie-break score.
Masters Triathlon: Aronian is the first leader
He is both a veteran and a debutant: Levon Aronian, former world number two, but one of the very few players in the chess elite who has never before been to Biel. On his debut in the Swiss watchmaking city, he is showing that he would like to add Biel to his impressive list of achievements. In the first event of the triathlon – the five rapid chess games – he remained unbeaten, drawing his opening game before going on to string together four consecutive wins. Aronian drew against Aydin Süleymanli, who finished the day in second place and is now his closest rival in the field – but already trailing by 3 points.
Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus got off to a poor start in the triathlon. The young Turkish rising star, whom various chess greats believe has what it takes to reach the very top, began with three consecutive defeats. Although he managed to limit the damage with a draw and a win in his last games, he still finds himself at the bottom of the table after day one.
GMT-Masters: Interim Ranking
Generations Challenge Triathlon: Two trios
After the first day, the field in the Generations Challenge is split into two: the three men, on 8 (Finek) and 7 (Materia, Xiao) points respectively, are well clear in the lead ahead of the women. Václav Finek, the youngest of the six players at 16, has taken the lead, thus living up to the name of the Generations Challenge. Like Xiao, the young Czech remained unbeaten throughout all his matches. Four points behind are the women’s trio, who had a difficult first day. Four points, however – that is what can be won with a victory in a classic match next week. So everything is still to play for.
GMT-Generations Challenge: Interim Ranking
Adam Kozak wins the Biel Rapid Open
The first major one-day tournament also took place in the Congress Centre’s hall. In the rapid chess event, 168 players competed over nine rounds. In the end, a trio of players were tied at the top on 7½ points: GM Adam Kozak (HUN), who was crowned the winner on the best tie-break score, ahead of GM Bu Xiangzhi (CHN) and GM Dimitris Alexakis (GRE). The top-placed woman was IM Lu Miaoyi, who on Friday played the Chess Festival’s simultaneous exhibition against 22 players, finishing in 9th place; the best Swiss player was FM Christophe Rohrer in 15th place.
Final Ranking RAP: https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1451910.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=9&turdet=YES&SNode=S0
Outlook: Kick-off of the Masters Open tournament
Before the classical matches begin on Tuesday, the participants in the Masters and Generations Challenge will have the first of two rest days on Monday. This is intended to allow them to prepare for the upcoming matches – and to offer a change of pace from chess: the players will visit Omega’s production facility and museum in Biel.
Meanwhile, two of the open multi-day tournaments will get underway at the Biel Congress Centre:
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The Masters Open tournament MTO, for players with a rating of at least 1900 Elo, is the festival’s most prestigious tournament alongside the invitational Masters and the Generations Challenge. About a hundred players, including two dozen title holders, are expected to take part in the tournament, which consists of ten rounds.
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The Free Style Chess tournament FSC begins on Monday morning, a novelty at this year’s festival. The tournament in Chess960 lasts seven days and seven rounds, with a time control of 60 minutes per player, plus 30 seconds per move.
Pictures of the Biel International Chess Festival are available under the following link:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/143150736@N02/collections/72157725129451868/