The World Chess Federation FIDE was founded on 20 July 1924. To mark its 100th anniversary tomorrow, Saturday, FIDE is attempting to gain an entry in the Guinness Book of Records: The most chess games played in one day (between 0:00 and 23:59 CEST) – be it on site at a tournament, or on the popular online platforms. FIDE's Operational Director for this event, Laurent Freyd, is also acting as Chief Arbiter of the GMT at the Biel Chess Festival. For this reason, FIDE has decided to locate the technical centre for this day at the traditional Biel Chess Festival.
GMT-Masters: Last year's winner on the way to do it again?
After Lê Quang Liêm, who won the Biel Grandmaster Triathlon in 2022 and 2023, made do with relatively quick draws in the last two rounds and conserved thus his strengths, today he played the longest of the six GMT games against Sam Shankland. Playing with black, he defeated the American after 70 moves and thus overtook Mishra at the top of the GMT-Masters table. Former leader Abhimanyu Mishra, playing with black today, met Haik Martirosyan and ended his game with a draw. The two, as well as Lê Quang Liêm, are therefore in a good position to qualify for the final phase of the top four. Today's duel between the world numbers 3 and 4 of the juniors, Praggnanandhaa and Vincent Keymer, who have so far fallen short of expectations, may have had significance for the last of the four places. Keymer kept the upper hand with white and was able to defeat Praggnanandhaa, who was playing unusually incorrectly. Pragg now needs a win tomorrow against Shankland and a good blitz tournament to preserve his chances of reaching the final phase of the GMT-Masters.
GMT-Masters: Interim Ranking
|
Rank |
Name |
Games |
Classical |
Rapid |
Blitz |
Total |
|
1 |
GM Haik MARTIROSYAN |
5 |
|
7 |
|
|
|
2 |
GM PRAGGNANANDHAA R |
5 |
|
5 |
|
|
|
3 |
GM Vincent KEYMER |
5 |
|
5 |
|
|
|
4 |
GM LÊ Quang Liêm |
5 |
|
5 |
|
|
|
5 |
GM Abhimanyu MISHRA |
5 |
|
4 |
|
|
|
6 |
GM Sam SHANKLAND |
5 |
|
4 |
|
|
GMT-Challengers: Salem Saleh back in the lead
Vaishali's fantastic run in the GMT-Challengers came to a halt today: a draw against World Junior Champion Marc'Andria Maurizzi meant that Vaishali dropped back to second place in the rankings. Back at the top is Salem Saleh, who defeated Ihor Samunenkov today and, like Vaishali, now has three wins and a draw in the classical games. Thanks to one point more from the rapid chess games from the beginning of the tournament, Salem Saleh is now in the lead with this point. Both therefore have a very good chance of qualifying for the final phase of the top four in the GMT-Challengers. Less certain to qualify are Alexander Donchenko and Jonas Bjerre, who drew in their head-to-head match today and thus missed out on a leap forward.
GMT-Challengers: Interim Ranking
|
Rank |
Name |
Games |
Classical |
Rapid |
Blitz |
Total |
|
1 |
GM Alexander DONCHENKO |
5 |
|
7 |
|
|
|
2 |
GM Saleh Salam |
5 |
|
6 |
|
|
|
3 |
GM Jonas BJERRE |
5 |
|
5 |
|
|
|
4 |
GM VAISHALI Rameshbabu |
5 |
|
5 |
|
|
|
5 |
GM Marc'Andria MAURIZZI |
5 |
|
4 |
|
|
|
6 |
GM Ihor SAMUNENKOV |
5 |
|
3 |
|
|
Leon Luke Mendonca first sole leader of the Master Tournament MTO
After five rounds, the Master Tournament MTO has a sole leader: GM Leon Luke Mendonca from India defeated the Israeli GM Ori Kobo today and leads the tournament with 4 ½ points. He is followed by eight players with 4 points each. The best Swiss players with 3 points each are currently FM Moritz Collin, FM Teimur Toktomushev, Romain Gemelli and Johannes Rappazzo.
Amateur tournament ATO
After four rounds in the ATO, Anton Künzi (SUI) and WCM Anna Andrzejewska (POL) are in the lead in the general tournament with 4/4 points. They are followed by a field of nine participants with 3 ½ points each.
Outlook: Last round of classical chess at the GMT – for now
Tomorrow, Saturday, the last round of classical chess will be played at the GMT – for now! The last of the three triathlon categories will follow on Sunday with the blitz games. In the final phase in the second week, the top four players will then each play another classical game against each other to determine the 2024 winners.
In the GMT-Masters, Lê Quang Liêm will have to defend his lead against Martirosyan tomorrow, Praggnanandhaa and Shankland, the two last-ranked players, will face each other, both of whom have to play for victory, and finally Mishra will meet Keymer.
The GMT-Challengers will see a clash between the two top seeds Vaishali and Salem Saleh, Donchenko will play Maurizzi and Samunenkov will try to improve his tournament standing against Bjerre.
VINETUM Youth Tournament
In addition, the VINETUM Youth Tournament will take place tomorrow Saturday as part of the Biel Chess Festival. Thanks to the support of the Vinetum Foundation, children and young people born in 2006 and younger can get a taste of tournament action in Biel for free. Around 50 participants are currently registered, but late registration is possible on site between 9 and 10 a.m. for last-minute participants.
Information: https://www.bielchessfestival.ch/Tournaments/Open-Tournaments/VINETUM-Youth-Tournament.html
Week's Tournaments
There will be a new feature on the programme from next Monday: the two Week's Tournaments at different levels, with games being played in the mornings from Monday to Friday and with a time limit of 40 and 45 minutes respectively. This also allows players with less time to get a taste of the chess festival for a week. Registrations are still possible until 9.30 a.m. on Monday.
Information WT1: https://www.bielchessfestival.ch/Tournaments/Open-Tournaments/Week-s-Tournament.html
Information WT2: https://www.bielchessfestival.ch/Tournaments/Open-Tournaments/Week-s-Rapid-Tournament.html
Beauty Award MTO, ATO
Every day, the best games from MTO and ATO are voted for on social media.
Winner MTO RD4: Cristian Marc Arsenie (2131) vs. IM Eric Rosen (2374) 0-1
Winner ATO RD3: Danha Kim (1491) vs. Lucien Noel (1714) 0-1
Games of the winners:
https://www.bielchessfestival.ch/Tournaments/Open-Tournaments/ISF-Beauty-Awards.html
Pictures of the Biel International Chess Festival are available under the following link:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/143150736@N02/collections/72157722912417534/
On the evening of each day of the Festival, the OC sends out a media report on the day's events.