As every year in midsummer, Biel is dominated by the small white and black pieces on the 64 squares. On Saturday morning, OC President Peter Bohnenblust was able to declare the 56th edition of the Biel International Chess Festival open. Guest speaker Hans Stöckli, member of the Council of States, emphasised the great importance of the chess festival for the city of Biel. With a view to his successors, the former Biel mayor expressed the hope that they would continue to be well-disposed towards the event in the future. The opening was accompanied musically by the Nivrozik Trio.
Yu Yangyi wins ACCENTUS Chess960
In the ACCENTUS Chess 960 tournament, held as Fischer Random Chess, the eight participants of the GMT Grandmaster tournament faced each other for the first time. The strongest player of the tournament according to Elo rating, Yu Yangyi, showed a convincing performance and won the competition without a single defeat and with 5 ½ out of 7 possible points. Bogdan-Daniel Deac and David Navara tied for second place. For Yu, the victory should be a special satisfaction: as a short-term substitute, he already played in the ACCENTUS Chess960 last year, but came in last then. The ACCENTUS Chess 960 will not count for the ranking of the GMT, but it would serve as a tie-breaker in the event of a points tie in the final ranking of the GMT.
Final Ranking ACCENTUS Chess960
|
Rank |
Name |
Games |
Points |
|
1 |
GM YU Yangyi |
7 |
5 ½ |
|
2 |
GM Bogdan-Daniel DEAC |
7 |
4 ½ |
|
2 |
GM David NAVARA |
7 |
4 ½ |
|
4 |
GM Vincent KEYMER |
7 |
4 |
|
5 |
GM LÊ Quang Liêm |
7 |
3 ½ |
|
6 |
GM Jules MOUSSARD |
7 |
3 |
|
7 |
GM Arjun Erigaisi |
7 |
2 |
|
8 |
GM Bassem AMIN |
7 |
1 |
Schweizer Swiss Rapid Fischer Random Chess Champion
At the same time as the ACCENTUS Chess960, the first open tournament, the Swiss Championship in Rapid Fischer Random Chess, was held in the hall of the Biel Congress Centre. The best players in the tournament, which was also open to international players, were Teimur Toktomushev from Ukraine and Eric Rosen (USA) with 6 out of a possible 7 points each, half a point ahead of Simon Schweizer, who has thus crowned himself the new Swiss champion.
Ranking Swiss Chess960 Championship:
https://chess-results.com/tnr777404.aspx?lan=0&art=1&rd=7&turdet=YES
Pictures of the Biel International Chess Festival are available under the following link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/143150736@N02/collections/72157721909678547/
On the evening of each day of the Festival, the OC sends out a media report on the day's events.