Following today’s victories by Süleymanli, currently in third place, and Erdogmus, in fourth, the top of the standings in the Biel Masters Triathlon has tightened. Aronian leads, now ahead of Süleymanli and Lê, but Erdogmus – who today celebrated a superbly played victory over Martínez Alcántara – is also just 3½ points behind the leader.
In the Generations Challenge, Xiao Tong today secured the day’s only victory against Kosteniuk. With Finek, Materia and Xiao, a trio has now pulled well clear at the top of the table, and Sunday’s blitz games will decide whether Kosteniuk or Yip will join them in the final stage.
There have also been some interesting developments in the Masters Open Tournament: despite there being eight Grandmasters in the tournament, after six rounds two young International Masters – Christian Glöckler and Savitha Shri B – are leading the table!
On Saturday, the Chess Festival also provided a platform for young people: a total of 58 children and teenagers took part in the Vinetum Youth Tournament, competing against each other on the 64-square boards.
Biel Masters Triathlon: Erdogmus shows his class
After four draws in a row, Turkish prodigy Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus showed his class on Saturday in his match against José Martínez Alcántara: he recognised the opportunity that arose in the middlegame and skilfully converted it into a victory. Admittedly, Erdogmus – who, at 14 years and 10 months, became the youngest chess player ever to reach an Elo rating of 2700 – once again let a lot of time slip away today and had around 40 minutes less on the clock than his opponent in the endgame. However, it became clear that he had anticipated every eventuality, enabling him to make his final moves within a short space of time. With this victory, Erdogmus has taken a major step towards qualifying for the final stage. Martínez, on the other hand, needs an outstanding result in the blitz games to still stand a chance – though, as we know, the Mexican is always a force to be reckoned with in blitz!
There has been a changes at the top of the table: Aydin Süleymanli, previously in third place, has moved up to second place thanks to his victory in the head-to-head match against Lê Quang Liêm. After two wins and two draws, Lê showed signs of weakness in a classical game for the first time today and made a clear mistake with Knight a4 on move 15. Although the Vietnamese player tried to salvage the match, Süleymanli – who was signed as a last-minute replacement – lived up to the strong impression he has made in Biel and did not let the victory slip from his grasp – and, with a six-point lead over fifth place, he has a good chance of progressing to the final stage.
Following Lê’s defeat, Levon Aronian has regained sole leadership in the Master Triathlon. Although his opponent today, Matthias Blübaum – who, sitting fifth in the table, is fighting for a place in the final stage – entered the middlegame with an extra pawn on the board, Aronian remained unfazed, regained the pawn after exchanging various pieces and reached a drawn position. With the 1½ points he has earned, Aronian now leads the standings ahead of the blitz section with a total of 16½ points, half a point ahead of the remarkable Süleymanli.
In Sunday’s blitz tournament, all players will play each other twice, giving them the chance to win a maximum of ten points across ten games. The scores will then be tallied, and only the top four – or, if the fourth-placed player is more than 12 points behind the leader, the top three – will progress to the final stage next week.
GMT-Masters: Interim Ranking
Generations Challenge: A trio pulls ahead
The day’s winner in the Biel Generations Challenge is Xiao Tong. After four consecutive draws, he managed to win his classical game against Alexandra Kosteniuk today. Patiently, he built on his advantageous position step by step until Kosteniuk was forced to resign after 53 moves. As the other two games – between Carissa Yip and Vaclav Finek, and between Vaishali Rameshbabu and Marco Materia – ended in draws, Xiao drew level with Marco Materia with the 4 points won today. Both are now 3½ points behind Vaclav Finek, who remains unbeaten. The women in the tournament trail some way behind; Yip drew level with Kosteniuk today, with both now on 10 points. They will therefore be locked in a long-distance battle in tomorrow’s blitz chess matches for a place in the final stage, which only the top four will reach – provided their gap behind the leader does not widen to more than 12 points.
GMT-Generations Challenge: Interim Ranking
Masters Open Tournament: Glöckler and Savitha take on the grandmasters
The younger generation is really putting the seasoned grandmasters under pressure in the Masters Open tournament: after the sixth round, two International Masters (IMs) – Christian Glöckler and Savitha Shri B – are at the top of the table, whilst the grandmasters competing in the tournament – nominally the strongest players in the event – are trailing behind. Glöckler, born in 2011, defeated the former leader, GM Peter Acs, on board 1 today, proving once again that he is well on his way to the Grandmaster title. 19-year-old Savitha prevailed in the all-Indian junior clash against WFM Yasawi Krishna Bommi and, like Glöckler, now has 5 points after six rounds. Nine players are trailing by half a point, including IM Fabian Bänizger, the top Swiss player in the tournament, who drew with WGM Xeniya Balabayeva today. GM Sasikiran Krishnan suffered another defeat today against the American prodigy CM Ling Chenxuan, born in 2014. On Sunday, the Masters Open takes a day off.
Interim Ranking MTO: https://s1.chess-results.com/tnr1451903.aspx?lan=0&art=1&rd=6&turdet=YES&flag=30&SNode=S0
A stage for the little ones: the Vinetum Youth Tournament
Saturday, halfway through the festival, was dedicated to young folks: at the VINETUM Youth Tournament, 58 children and teenagers born in 2008 or later played seven rounds of chess against one another. Divided into three different age and ability groups, they were able to get a taste of tournament life at the Biel Congress Centre as part of the festival and watch their idols in action. Among the participants who already have a chess rating, Pham Nguyen Thai An from Vietnam won with a perfect score of 7 points from seven games, ahead of Loïc Carnevale-Arella and Martin Benoît. In the U18 category, Alexis Rossé won on equal points with Dunhe Ted Yuan, with Moritz Eschbach in third place. Among the under-11s, Nikil Asokan dominated with 7 out of 7, ahead of Leonidas Pfyffer and Lucas Weichselbraun.
Final Ranking JTO rated: https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1458582.aspx?lan=1&art=1&fed=SUI&turdet=ALL&flag=30&SNode=S0
Final Ranking JTO U18: https://s2.chess-results.com/tnr1458587.aspx?lan=1&art=1&fed=SUI&turdet=ALL&flag=30&SNode=S0
Final Ranking JTO U11: https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1458586.aspx?lan=1&art=1&fed=SUI&turdet=ALL&flag=30&SNode=S0
ATO
FOLLOWS
Interim Ranking ATO: https://s2.chess-results.com/tnr1451908.aspx?lan=0&art=1&rd=5&turdet=YES&flag=30&SNode=S0
Free Style tournament: the final decision is imminent
In the penultimate round of the Free Style Chess tournament, GM Alexander Cherniaev won the top-of-the-table clash against FM Levi Fogo Esquivel and is thus back at the top of the table on his own. IM David Gluckman and FM Jonas Wyss follow half a point behind.
Interim Ranking FSC: https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1452009.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=6&fed=MEX&turdet=ALL&flag=30&SNode=S0
Outlook: Blitz chess on Sunday
In the triathlons, the blitz chess will on Sunday bring preliminary decisions. Over ten rounds, it will be decided which players progress to the final stage, where the winners will be determined next week in three further rounds of classical chess. For the bottom two players in both the Masters and Generations Challenge, the tournament ends on Sunday; this may also apply to the player in fourth place if they are more than 12 points behind and no longer have any chance of winning the tournament.
In addition, an open blitz tournament will take place in the playing hall in the afternoon, consisting of 13 rounds and expected to attract around 150 participants, ranging from grandmasters to novices. In addition, the problem-solving tournament will take place at 11 am, where participants can try their hand at solving complex chess problems.
The winner will be decided in the Free Style Chess Tournament, which concludes on Sunday morning with the seventh round.
Meanwhile, the Masters Open Tournament and the Amateur Tournament will have a rest day.
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.