At the Biel Chess Festival, the players in the Masters Triathlon continue to demonstrate that they are competing at the very highest level. The tournament favourites, Aronian and Lê, drew their game and thus continue to share the top spot in the table. Their closest rival, Süleymanli, also drew against Erdogmus, meaning there were no changes in the standings. In the Generations Challenge, Finek managed to extend his lead with a win over Vaishali, as Kosteniuk fought hard to secure a draw against Finek’s closest rival, Materia.
The grandmasters continue to eye each other up
In the Masters Triathlon at the Biel Chess Festival, the grandmasters once again cancelled each other out today, and waited in vain for a mistake from their opponents that they could have capitalised on. This was particularly true of today’s top match, in which Levon Aronian, the former world number two, faced Lê Quang Liêm, the three-time Biel champion. With the draw, which saw their game end after about an hour, they remain joint top of the table. With a 6½-point lead over fifth place, their chances of qualifying for the final stage of the tournament next week – where they will face each other once again – look very good.
GM Levon Aronian (left) and GM Lê Quang Liêm
Aydin Süleymanli also remains in a strong position; he drew for the fourth time in a row today and, thanks to the six points he has earned in the Rapid section of the tournament, remains in third place in the table. A strong performance from the Azerbaijani, who stepped in at short notice just before the tournament to replace Yakubboev, who was unable to take part, and was therefore unable to prepare for the tournament as thoroughly as his five opponents. For his opponent today, Erdogmus, the situation is less clear: currently in fourth place and as of now only just qualifying for the final stage, he is separated from fifth place by just half a point.
The two players who are currently not qualified, José Martínez Alcántara and Matthias Blübaum, were also unable to make up any ground in today’s head-to-head match – their game also ended in a draw. Tomorrow’s fifth round offers another chance to reach 4 points. But perhaps they – particularly ‘Jospem’, who has built up a reputation online as an outstanding blitz player – have already taken a look at the blitz chess event, in which the ‘triathletes’ will be competing on Sunday and where a maximum of 10 points are up for grabs.
GMT-Masters: Interim Ranking
Generations Challenge: Finek flawless, Kosteniuk shows fighting spirit
Who can stop Vaclav Finek? Well, not Vaishali Rameshbabu: the Indian player, who finished third in the Biel Challengers in 2024, continues to struggle this year and proved prone to errors against the young Czech, who continues to play strongly. Finek, has also won his second classical game played with white and, together with the draws achieved with black, remains unbeaten across all games – both classical and rapid. The 16-year-old Czech, who currently holds the title of International Master (IM) but has not yet been awarded the title of Grandmaster, now has 19 points in the standings and, provided he does not lose, can secure his place in the final stage as early as tomorrow in his match against Carissa Yip, before the blitz chess section.
Yip drew with Xiao Tong today in a very evenly matched game. Xiao therefore remains in third place, whilst Yip stays in fifth.
The third game of the Generations Challenge, between Marco Materia and Alexandra Kosteniuk, lasted over five and a half hours. Materia had already had to wait for over five hours yesterday before his opponent congratulated him on his victory, and today, too, it looked at times as though the same would happen. However, Kosteniuk defended tenaciously and managed to offset the slight advantages Materia had gained, turning the game into an even endgame that ended in a draw. Kosteniuk thus maintains a three-point gap behind Xiao, who is placed ahead of her, and could therefore take third place with a win in their head-to-head match tomorrow.
GMT-Generations Challenge: Interim Ranking
Masters Open: Acs draws, but remains sole leader
Against GM Gopal G.N., the leader of the Masters Open Tournament, GM Peter Acs, failed to secure the maximum number of points for the first time and drew the game. Nevertheless, the Hungarian remains the sole leader on 4½ points, half a point ahead of eleven players who each have 4 points after five rounds. Among them is IM Fabian Bänziger, currently the top-ranked Swiss player.
Interim Ranking MTO: https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1451903.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=5&fed=MEX&turdet=ALL&flag=30&SNode=S0
Four rounds are played in the Amateur Open
Thomas Jahn remains the only player in the Amateur Open Tournament with a record of 4 out of 4, although the German has also had a bit of luck with the draw so far. Tomorrow he will face Achim Schnuewly, who, along with seven other players, is half a point behind the leader.
Interim Ranking ATO: https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1451908.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=4&fed=MEX&turdet=ALL&flag=30&SNode=S0
Day five of the Free Style Chess Tournament
After the fifth round of the Free Style Chess tournament, two players are tied at the top. The previous leader, GM Alexander Cherniaev, agreed to a quick draw in the top-of-the-table clash against IM David Gluckman, allowing FM Levi Fogo Esquivel – who won his game today – to draw level with him. The young Mexican, born in 2011, now has 4 points, the same as Cherniaev.
Interim Ranking FSC: https://s1.chess-results.com/tnr1452009.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=5&fed=SUI&turdet=ALL&flag=30&SNode=S0
Outlook: Another classical round and the youth tournament are coming up
Tomorrow, Saturday, sees the final round of classical chess – for the time being – in the Biel Chess Triathlons, before the third discipline, blitz chess, takes centre stage on Sunday. The scores will then be tallied, and only the top four players (or, if there is a large gap of more than 12 points, just the top three) will progress to the final phase next week. In the Masters, Erdogmus and Martínez Alcántara – currently in fourth and sixth place respectively, separated by just half a point – are set to face each other. A win would allow both to reignite their hopes. The same applies to Blübaum, who is playing with the white pieces against Aronian; meanwhile, Lê and Süleymanli are also set to go head-to-head.
In the Generations Challenge, fourth-placed Kosteniuk faces third-placed Xiao; a win for the Swiss player would see her take the Chinese player’s place. Yip will face leader Finek, and Vaishali will take on Materia.
In addition, the VINETUM Youth Tournament is on the programme tomorrow – an open tournament comprising seven rounds for chess enthusiasts under the age of 18.
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.