Rest day and start of the Master Tournament MTO
While the grandmasters took their first rest day on Monday, the Master Tournament MTO got underway at the Biel Congress Centre. This open tournament brings together 112 strong chess players from all over the world. On the one hand, experienced players with grandmaster titles, and on the other, many young talents who are striving to give their idols a run for their money. None of the big names have yet faltered in the first round, but two grandmasters had to settle for a draw.
As every year, the organisers provided a supporting programme for the grandmaster tournament participants on the rest day: They had to find their way out of an escape room!
Before the grandmaster triathlon starts tomorrow with the classical games, a rest day was on the programme for the participants. The majority of them took the opportunity to put their combinatorial skills to the test away from the chessboard. In the escape room, they had to break out of the legendary Alcatraz prison, summon the ghost of Aladdin or free themselves from the school of magic. Fortunately for the tournament, all the grandmasters managed to escape so that it can continue tomorrow as planned!
Players from 27 nations compete in the Master tournament MTO
Even without the grandmaster triathlon, the Biel Chess Festival today featured high-quality chess matches. The Master Tournament MTO entered the first of ten rounds. This year’s tournament brings together 112 players in Biel, including nine grandmasters and 37 others with a title. The participants come from Europe, Asia, America and Oceania, with a total of 27 nations represented in this tournament.
Switzerland is the most numerous with 32 players, followed by Germany with 15, India with 13 and the USA with 10. The tournament favourite is the Indian GM Karthikeyan Murali (Elo 2650), followed by GM Benjamin Bok (NED; Elo 2593) and GM Pranesh M (Elo 2592), also from India. IM Fabian BĂ€nziger (Elo 2450), the strongest Swiss player, will start in 11th place on the seeding list.
| Rank | Snr | Name | Country | Elo | Pts | Â Tb1Â | Â Tb2Â | Â Tb3Â | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 112 | Schultze, Joerg-Martin Dr. | GER | 1865 | 1 | 0 | 1,00 | 0 | |
| 2 | 1 | GM | Karthikeyan, Murali | IND | 2650 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 3 | 2 | GM | Bok, Benjamin | NED | 2593 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 4 | 4 | GM | Yilmaz, Mustafa | TUR | 2586 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 5 | 5 | GM | Pranav, Anand | IND | 2566 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 6 | 6 | GM | Karthik, Venkataraman | IND | 2540 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 7 | 7 | GM | Sasikiran, Krishnan | IND | 2531 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 8 | 8 | IM | Poh, Yu Tian | MAS | 2458 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 9 | 9 | IM | Dau, Khuong Duy | VIE | 2456 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 10 | 10 | GM | Panchanathan, Magesh Chandran | IND | 2454 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 11 | 13 | FM | Gloeckler, Christian | GER | 2439 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 12 | 14 | FM | Adewumi, Tanitoluwa | USA | 2397 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 13 | 15 | IM | Arfan, Aditya Bagus | INA | 2385 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 14 | 16 | IM | Tahay, Alexis | FRA | 2375 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 15 | 17 | FM | Lacan Rus, David | FRA | 2369 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 16 | 19 | FM | Otsuka, Shou | JPN | 2362 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 17 | 20 | FM | Latorre, Vincent | CAN | 2326 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 18 | 23 | IM | Sanket, Chakravarty | IND | 2301 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 19 | 24 | FM | Kueppers, Timo | GER | 2292 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 20 | 25 | FM | Song, Ethan | CAN | 2288 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 21 | 26 | Chen, Yuan | CHN | 2286 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 | |
| 22 | 27 | FM | Schlegel, Igor | SUI | 2275 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 23 | 28 | CM | Vincenti, Leonardo | ITA | 2265 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 24 | 29 | FM | Deshpande, Aniruddha | IND | 2263 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 25 | 31 | CM | Wuebker, Paul-Luca | GER | 2250 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 26 | 32 | Chen, Zhi | CHN | 2246 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 | |
| 27 | 33 | FM | Soo, Kai Jie | AUS | 2240 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
| 28 | 35 | Saminskij, Jan | SUI | 2230 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 | |
| 29 | 36 | Chen, Muxi | CHN | 2224 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 | |
| 30 | 37 | FM | Rappazzo, Johannes | SUI | 2213 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 |
112 players…
Games
Outlook: the first classic games in triathlon
From tomorrow, the Biel Congress Centre will be a hive of activity: the first round of the Grandmaster Triathlon GMT in classical chess marks the start of the supreme discipline, followed by the second round of the Masters Tournament MTO and, with the start of the Amateur Tournament ATO, the other half of the large hall will also be filled with chess players.
The first round of classical chess in the GMT-Masters begins with a bang: Fedoseev meets Aravindh with white. The tournament’s No. 1 seed against the No. 2, the two players who have already taken the lead after rapid chess. Their first rival, Wojtaszek, will face Svane and Salem will meet Murzin.
In the GMT-Challengers, the nominally lowest-ranked player, Jumabayev, plays against the current leader Theodorou, Hakobyan meets Ma Qun and Dardha plays against Navara.
The Masters Tournament MTO, which started on Monday, will enter its second round at 2 p.m., while the Amateur Tournament ATO, which is one round shorter, will begin its first round tomorrow in Biel. The freestyle tournament FSC will start its second round at 10am.
