Some first decisions have fallen in the Biel Chess Triathlon: following Sunday’s blitz tournament – the third discipline – the lowest-ranked players are eliminated, and only the top four, or top three in the Generations Challenge, qualify for next week’s final stage. In the Masters, Aronian, Süleymanli, Erdogmus and Lê advanced; in the Generations Challenge, Finek, Xiao and Materia have qualified – Kosteniuk is in fourth place, but as she is so far behind that she no longer has any chance of winning, she is also out of the competition.
Bu Xiangzhi came out on top in the open blitz tournament, which was also held in Biel on Sunday. The Chinese player remained unbeaten and won by a one-point margin over his three closest rivals.
Alexander Cherniaev emerged victorious in the Free Style Chess tournament, which concluded on Sunday noon.
Masters Triathlon: the race remains open
The ten blitz games played today as the third discipline in the triathlon – each worth one point per win – did not result in any significant changes to the standings in the Masters. The two players who had already been in last place, Matthias Blübaum and José Martínez Alcántara, were unable to improve their positions; indeed, they proved to be the weakest players in the blitz as well. Consequently, the quartet, who were already in the lead going into today, have qualified for the final stage, where these four will each play one classical game against one another.
GM Lê Quang Liêm and IM Carissa Yip
As in the rapid event, Levon Aronian proved to be the strongest player in the blitz discipline too, winning 8½ out of a possible 10 points – a strong performance from the veteran! Already in the lead, he has managed to extend his lead slightly, taking his tally to 25 points and now sitting 4 points ahead of Aydin Süleymanli. Behind them is Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, who achieved the second-best result in the blitz and has thus drawn level with Lê Quang Liêm; both now have 19½ points. There are therefore only 5½ points separating first and fourth place; with a maximum of 12 points still up for grabs, the race for the 2026 Biel title remains wide open – with Levon Aronian holding the advantage.
GMT-Masters: Interim Ranking
A clear picture in the Generations Challenge
The younger generation comes out on top in the Generations Challenge: the three teenagers in the field have qualified for the final stage. Xiao Tong, Vaclav Finek and Marco Materia were also the three strongest players in the Blitz section of the Challenge and have further extended their lead in the overall standings. Whilst Finek and Xiao were the favourites for this tournament according to their Elo ratings, this was less clear-cut in the case of Marco Materia, at least on paper.
To qualify for the final stage in fourth place, either Kosteniuk or Yip had to ensure today that their deficit to the leader did not exceed 12 points – the rules stipulate that, in such a case – that is, if there is no longer any chance of catching the leader in the final stage – the player in fourth place is also eliminated. Former Women’s World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk rose to the challenge and scored 5½ points in the blitz, but this ultimately fell half a point short; trailing leader Finek by 12½ points, she was thus eliminated by the narrowest of margins.
Carissa Yip was less fortunate in the competition; she failed to get into her stride in the blitz and thus was no longer in contention for fourth place. Today also marked the end of the tournament for Vaishali Rameshbabu. The Indian player, who is set to challenge the reigning world champion Ju Wenjun for the Women’s World Championship title later this year, is likely already focusing her thoughts on that title match.
GMT-Generations Challenge: Interim Ranking
Bu clear winner of the blitz tournament
The open blitz tournament, which took place on Sunday at the Biel Chess Festival, was won by a clear margin by Chinese Grandmaster Bu Xiangzhi, who remained unbeaten and, with four draws after the 13 rounds played, finished on 11 points. One point behind in second place is GM Ghosh Diptayan from India, with Azerbaijani GM Eltaj Safarli in third. An outstanding result, also with 10 out of 13 points, was achieved by Swiss FM Johannes Rappazzo, who finished fourth, thereby finishing ahead of several players considered to be stronger than him. WGM Anna Shukhman was the highest-placed woman, finishing in 9th place, whilst the best player under 16 was IM Christian Glöckler, who came 12th. A total of 167 players from 34 nations took part in this year’s open blitz tournament, including seven grandmasters.
Final Ranking BTZ: https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1451917.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=13&fed=SUI&turdet=YES&flag=30&SNode=S0
Cherniaev the best freestyle chess player
On Sunday lunchtime, after seven rounds, the second edition of Free Style Chess, held as part of the Chess Festival, came to an end. This tournament, played in the Chess960 variant, was won by GM Alexander Cherniaev, representing England. He remained unbeaten throughout the tournament and conceded only two draws – against the runner-up, South African IM David Gluckman, and the third-placed player, FM Jonas Wyss from Switzerland.
Final Ranking FSC: https://s2.chess-results.com/tnr1452009.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=7&fed=SUI&turdet=YES&flag=30&SNode=S0
Shukman wins the problem-solving tournament
On Sunday lunchtime, the chess problem-solving tournament took place for the second time as part of the Biel Chess Festival. At this event, organised by the Swiss Association of the Friends of Artistic Chess, participants sit alone at a board and are given a sheet of problems featuring six particularly tricky chess positions. The aim is to identify the best possible sequence of moves for each problem within 90 minutes. Only two of the participants managed to solve all the problems correctly – the fastest, in 38 minutes, was WGM Anna Shukhman, who thus won the tournament, ahead of Roman Tkhoruk, who took 71 minutes. With 29 out of a possible 30 points, IM Christian Glöckler came third.
Final Ranking PLT: https://www.bielchessfestival.ch/Tournaments/Open-Tournaments-one-day/Problem-Solving_Tournament.html
Outlook: rest day on Monday
Before the two Biel Chess Triathlons enter their final phase on Tuesday, the participants will have another rest day on Monday. The action continues, however, with the seventh round of the Masters Open Tournament and the sixth round of the Amateur Tournament. In addition, three five-day tournaments will get underway in the second week, from Monday to Friday:
Firstly, the Biel Hospital Centre Total Chess, an open tournament in which anyone can play in the triathlon format! Each morning, the programme features one game each of Rapid, Blitz and Fast Standard.
The festival also features the Fast Standard tournaments WT1 and WT2. The former is for players with an Elo rating above 1700, the latter for those below that threshold. In these tournaments, participants can play a total of nine games – one in the morning and one in the afternoon on each day except the final day – all of which count towards their official rating.
Entries for these tournaments can be made on the day up to 45 minutes before the tournament starts.
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.