Is chess – especially in its classical form with long thinking times – slow and boring? Today’s events at the Biel Chess Festival proved the opposite: both Erdogmus in his game against Blübaum and Vaishali in her match against Xiao found themselves in time trouble and had to make six precise moves within a minute. In Vaishali’s case, there were just six seconds left on the clock before the decisive move. Lê in the Masters and Kosteniuk in the Generations Challenge enjoyed less drama but more success today: they were the sole winners in their respective tournaments and were thus able to move up the rankings.
Swiss player Lena Georgescu caused a major upset at the Meister Open today by defeating Grandmaster Sasikiran Krishnan, who is rated almost 300 Elo points higher than her.
A day for Lê Quang Liêm at the Masters Triathlon
At the Biel Masters Triathlon, the flagship event of the Biel Chess Festival, things went well for Lê Quang Liêm today: as the day’s sole winner, the Vietnamese player has jumped up the table from second-last place to second. Against José Martínez Alcántara, Lê – playing with black – proved to be exceptionally well prepared and played his first 22 moves in under a quarter of an hour, whilst his opponent had already used up 80 of his initial 120 minutes. Lê was then able to convert the advantage he had built up – not only in terms of time but also in terms of position – into a win after 36 moves when his opponent resigned.
Levon Aronian remains ahead of Lê in the standings; in the clash between the top two players following the rapid games, he agreed to a quick draw by repetition of moves with Aydin Süleymanli. Aronian thus retains the lead with 10½ points, whilst Süleymanli slips to third place.
The third game of the day between Matthias Blübaum and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus also ended in a draw, which is unlikely to be particularly satisfying for the German. Erdogmus found himself in a position that was already not particularly favourable to him, and came under severe time pressure, having to play 17 moves in seven minutes, the last six of which in under a minute. He pulled this off with flying colours: not only did he play with great precision, but he even managed to force Blübaum into a triple repetition of moves, thereby securing a draw.
GMT-Masters: Interim Ranking
Drama in the Generations Challenge – Kosteniuk benefits
Today’s games in the Generations Challenge provided even more drama: the two youngest players in the Challenge, Marco Materia and Vaclav Finek, agreed to a draw after exchanging various pieces – after 27 moves. It was a satisfactory result for both of them, as it secured their places at the top of the table. However, it seems the two youngsters had forgotten the tournament rules: these stipulate that, in order to encourage the players’ competitive spirit, they may only agree to a draw after 40 moves at the earliest. So the two had to rearrange the pieces they had already set aside and continue playing – only to settle for a draw after 40 moves anyway.
The game between Xiao Tong and Vaishali Rameshbabu was also frantic: on move 29, Vaishali won her opponent’s bishop and gained an advantageous position – though with only six minutes left on the clock. The Indian player managed to hold on until move 40, after which the players are credited with a further half an hour’s thinking time. She, too, had to play her last six moves within a minute; by move 40, there were just six seconds left on the clock. However, in the time she had gained, she was unable to turn the position into a win, so this game also ended in a draw.
Alexandra Kosteniuk benefited from the two draws. The Swiss player managed to take control of the game against Carissa Yip in the middlegame and build up a steadily growing advantage. After 58 moves, Yip was eventually forced to resign. Thanks to this victory, Kosteniuk has made up ground in the standings and is closing in on the top three.
GMT-Generations Challenger: Interim Ranking
Masters Open: Favourites under pressure
As early as the second round of the Biel Masters Open, some of the top players were pushed to their limits by nominally weaker opponents: Indian GM Gopal G.N. had to settle for a draw against his compatriot WIM Ivana Maria Furtado; and German prodigy IM Christian Gloeckler also had to settle for a draw against CM Ling Chenxuan from the USA, who, born in 2014, is also a great prospect for the future. However, it was a local player who caused the biggest upset: WGM Lena Georgescu from Bern defeated Grandmaster Sasikiran Krishnan in 38 moves – a player with an Elo rating almost 300 points higher than her own.
There are currently 16 players still with a clean slate, having scored 2 points from two games, including two Swiss, IM Fabian Bänziger and Georgescu, who are set to face each other tomorrow in the third round.
Interim Ranking MTO: https://s1.chess-results.com/tnr1451903.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=2&turdet=YES&flag=30&SNode=S0
Kick-off to the Amateur Open Tournament
One day after the Masters Open, the second major open tournament – the Amateur Open ATO – also got underway in Biel; as such, it is played over nine rounds, one fewer than the Masters Open. Players with a maximum Elo rating of 2000 are eligible to enter the Amateur Open Tournament. This year, 109 participants have entered, the majority of whom are from Switzerland, but still 17 different nations are represented, including Greece, Singapore and Taiwan.
Interim Ranking ATO: https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1451908.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=1&turdet=YES&flag=30&SNode=S0
Free Style Chess: An unbeaten trio
The third round of the Free Style Chess tournament took place this morning. Following this round, three players are tied at the top of the standings with no losses: GM Alexander Cherniaev, FM Jonas Wyss and Nicolas Perréard.
Interim Ranking FSC: https://s2.chess-results.com/tnr1452009.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=2&turdet=YES&SNode=S0
Outlook:
FOLLOWS
Pictures of the Biel International Chess Festival are available under the following link:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/143150736@N02/collections/72157725129451868/
On the evening of each day of the Festival, the OC sends out a media report on the day's events.