Keymer passes Lê again – decision on the last day!

Before the last day of play, a trio can still win the Biel Grandmaster Tournament: Keymer, Lê and Navara. After his win against Amin, Vincent Keymer is now back in the best position: The 18-year-old German has once again taken the lead in the rankings, half a point ahead of Lê and 2½ ahead of Navara. Apart from Keymer, the second last day of play produced no winners, the other three games ended in draws. In the Master Tournament, China's Bu Xiangzhi remains the narrow leader, but the chasing pack has grown again and the outcome of the tournament remains open.

On the occasion of his fourth participation in the Biel Grandmaster Triathlon, Vincent Keymer's chances of winning the tournament are better than ever: he goes into the last round as the leader with a half-point lead. What's more: his first two pursuers, Lê and Navara, meet directly tomorrow. To still win the tournament, Navara, who is allowed to play with white, has to play for a win, Lê could theoretically win the tournament with a draw, but he would do well to aim for victory too. Keymer can make everything clear with a win; he plays in the last round with Black against Erigaisi.

GMT Triathlon: Interim Ranking

Rank	Name	Games	Classical	Rapid	Blitz	Total
1	GM LÊ Quang Liêm	26	16	5	8½	29½
2	GM David NAVARA	26	10	10	7½	27½
3	GM Vincent KEYMER	26	12 ½	10	5	27½
4	GM YU Yangyi	26	4 ½	9	7½	21
5	GM Jules MOUSSARD	26	7 ½	6	7	20½
6	GM Arjun ERIGAISI	26	4 ½	5	10½	20
7	GM Bassem AMIN	26	7	8	3½	18½
8	GM Bogdan-Daniel DEAC	26	6	3	6½	15½

 

Master Tournament: Bu remains in the lead

The Master Tournament MTO remains a tight affair: As before, Bu Xiangzhi from China, who drew against Samant Aditya (IND) today, remains alone at the top of the table with a half-point lead. But the chasing pack has grown again today, to six players with 6 points. Four players who were one point behind Bu were able to win their games with Black today and thus reduce the gap to the top: the Indians Aryan Chopra, Rathanvel V S and Pranav Anand, as well as Peng Xiongjan (CHN). The best woman in the tournament in 10th place is Vantika Agrawal (IND), who continues to play strongly, and the best Swiss remains Oliver Sutter in 50th place. The MTO does not end tomorrow: there are still two more round to play on Wednesday and Thursday – so there are still some aspirants for the podium in play!

Other open tournaments: Khanabiev (HTO) and Mani (ATO) in pole position

Clear situation in the main tournament HTO: There was only one draw on the first nine boards, on the first four boards the players who were slightly favoured based on the course of the tournament so far won. Accordingly, the top of the table remains unchanged from yesterday: Alexey Khanabiev (BLR) half a point ahead of Shourya Vihan (GER); another half a point behind are Michal Mirski (POL) and Lukas Oestmann (SUI). In the last round Vihan and Oestmann will meet; Khanabiev and Mirski have already played against all the others of the top quartet and thus face nominally slightly weaker opponents.

In the Amateur Tournament ATO, the previous leader Athanasios Zafeiridis (SUI) suffered his first defeat, stumbling against Furkan Colak from Turkey. Thomas Mani (SUI) was able to benefit from this – in a spectacular way: He let a large part of the time pass before beating Alexis Rose with barely a quarter of an hour left on the clock. He now leads the ranking with 7 points, half a point ahead of Colak and a whole point ahead of Zafeiridis and South African Richard Marketos. Tomorrow, it comes to the face-off Mani against Colak.

In the week's tournament WTO, two players are in the lead after three rounds with 2½ points each: Nebosia Illijin (ROU) and Chase Knowles (USA).

Outlook: Wednesday last round in MTO, HTO and ATO!

On Wednesday, the Grandmaster Tournament enters its all-important final round: Keymer has the chance to clinch everything with a win against Erigaisi. Navara and Lê both have to play to win if they want to have a chance of snatching victory from Keymer. Amin will play against Yu and Moussard against Deac.

The Master Tournament MTO lasts one round longer: Tomorrow's ninth round is only the penultimate one and the winner of the tournament will only be decided by Thursday evening.

Important: The public award ceremony for the winner of the Grandmaster Triathlon will take place on Thursday, 27.7.2023 at 10:30 am in the Biel Congress Centre. An aperitif will be served following the closing ceremony.

Beauty Award Round 7 MTO, HTO, ATO

Winner MTO: IM Rathanvel V S vs. IM Lukasz Licznerski 1-0

Winner HTO: no proposal

Winner ATO: Poedjo Suwendo vs. Lucien Noel 0-1

Games of the winners: https://www.bielchessfestival.ch/Tournaments/Open-Tournaments/ISF-Beauty-Awards/Day-7.html

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.