There was little action in the third round of classical chess at the Masters Triathlon during the Biel Chess Festival: all three games ended in draws. Erdogmus is thus the first player against whom Lê has failed to win in this year’s tournament; Blübaum’s attempt against Sülymanli came to nothing, whilst Aronian and Martínez Alcántara agreed to a particularly quick draw.
The games in the Generations Challenge were more closely contested, with Materia securing a victory over Yip. Kosteniuk, however, was unable to secure victory against Vaishali, nor could Finek against Xiao, meaning that these two games also ended in draws.
A standstill in the Masters Triathlon
All three matches at the Biel Masters Triathlon ended in draws today, though each unfolded in a different manner. Leader Levon Aronian could have tried to extend his lead against José Martínez Alcántara, who is bottom of the table – but very soon a completely symmetrical game developed – quite clearly, neither player was in the mood to take any risks today, so they agreed to a draw by repetition of moves in under an hour.
Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus and Lê Quang Liêm showed more fighting spirit; the latter had surely realised on the playing stage that a win would see him overtake his joint-leader, Aronian. However, the young Turkish player showed no weaknesses and once again played flawlessly whilst under considerable time pressure. Even in the endgame, after move 40 with an extra half-hour on the clock, he managed to identify all the risks, so that after the exchange of all the pieces, the game ended in a draw.
The third game also ended in a draw. Playing with the white pieces, Matthias Blübaum was unable to gain any advantage against Aydin Süleymanli that might have improved his position in the table.
GMT-Masters: Interim Ranking
Generations Challenge: Materia turns up the pressure
In the Generations Challenge, all three games were less evenly matched than in the Masters. However, only Marco Materia managed to capitalise on his advantageous position against Carissa Yip. The 17-year-old Frenchman went into the endgame with an extra pawn, and his remaining pawns were even connected, yet Yip put up a spirited fight. It was only after more than five hours that she made a crucial mistake, following which she had to concede the match immediately.
Alexandra Kosteniuk and Vaishali Rameshbabu also fought a hard-fought battle. The Indian player, who will be competing for the Women’s World Championship title later this year, captured an unprotected pawn on move 21, which, however, turned out to be a clear mistake. In the moves that followed, Kosteniuk – herself a former Women’s World Champion – managed to win back two pawns, whilst Vaishali’s efforts to limit the damage cost her a great deal of time. However, the attempt to turn her material advantage into a win proved time-consuming also for Kosteniuk, so that, with both players having just two minutes left on the clock and seeing no way to win, they had to agree to a draw by repetition of moves.
In the third game, leader Vaclav Finek missed the chance to add a further four points to his tally. He was up against Xiao Tong, the nominally strongest player in the Generations Challenge. It was quite clear that both players regarded the game as evenly matched, as they too agreed to a draw, even though Xiao had made a slight mistake shortly before, which, however, had no consequences for him. With the 1½ points he has won, Finek remains at the top of the table, but his lead over Materia has now been reduced to just one point.
GMT-Generations Challenge: Interim Ranking
MTO
FOLLOWS
Interim Ranking MTO: https://s2.chess-results.com/tnr1451903.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=4&fed=ESP&turdet=YES&flag=30&SNode=S0
ATO
FOLLOW
Interim Ranking ATO: https://s2.chess-results.com/tnr1451908.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=3&fed=ESP&turdet=YES&flag=30&SNode=S0
Change of leader in the Free Style tournament
In the Free Style Chess tournament, GM Alexander Cherniaev defeated the leader, Nicolas Perréard, in the fourth round, thereby taking the lead in the standings as the only player on 3½ points. Half a point behind him are his opponent from today, Perréard, IM David Gluckman and FM Levi Fogo Esquivel. In tomorrow’s round, Cherniaev will face Gluckman with the black pieces.
Interim Ranking FSC: https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1452009.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=4&fed=SUI&turdet=YES&flag=30&SNode=S0
Outlook: Top-of-the-table clash: Aronian v Lê
Friday will see one of the highlights of this year’s Biel Chess Festival: the showdown between the two most experienced players in the field, who, according to their ratings, are the two best players at this year’s Biel Masters and who are also currently joint leaders in the standings: Levon Aronian vs. Lê Quang Liêm. A win for either player could already be a decisive step towards tournament victory. The two players chasing them, Süleymanli and Erdogmus, face each other in the second match of the day, whilst in the clash between the bottom two in the table, Martínez Alcántara takes on Blübaum.
In the Generations Challenge, leader Finek faces the bottom-placed player, Vaishali; today’s winner, Materia, takes on Kosteniuk; and Xiao faces Yip.
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.