Biel: Fedoseev regains the lead

Biel Media Bulletin

Vladimir Fedoseev has regained the lead in the GMT-Masters at the Biel Chess Festival. He beat the 2020 Biel winner Wojtaszek today, while leader Aravindh only drew against Murzin and thus falls back to second place, while Murzin moves up to third place. Also in third place, albeit in the Challengers tournament, is Jumabayev, who defeated Dardha today after a spectacular turnaround, while his opponents only drew.

Aravindh with a draw against Murzin in the GMT-Masters

With his victory today against Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Vladimir Fedoseev is once again waving from the top of the Biel Grandmaster Triathlon. In a game that was evenly balanced for a long time, Fedoseev managed to wrest a pawn from the Pole in the endgame and thus bring home the victory. With this victory, Fedoseev has caught up with Aravindh on points and is now back in first place in the table thanks to his better result in the ACCENTUS Chess960 tournament, which in this case serves as a tie-breaker. Aravindh, for his part, drew his game, in which he and Volodar Murzin were in each other’s sights but conceded nothing.

Volodar Murzin

This result helps Murzin more than the Indian. Thanks to the third draw in a row, Murzin was able to overtake today’s loser Wojtaszek and is now third in the standings of the Biel Masters. Finally, Saleh Salem defeated Frederik Svane in the third game of today. As yesterday, the German was unfortunate and made the wrong decision at a crucial moment, which Salem did not let slip.

Games

GMT-Masters: Interim Ranking

GMT-Challengers: Spectacular turnaround by Jumabayev

Today’s only game with a decisive outcome in the GMT-Challengers was a tough one. In the endgame of the duel between the bottom of the table, it looked as if Daniel Dardha had the trump cards in his hand: much more time on the clock, a more active king, a pawn up and pawns further advanced. However, Dardha was too impetuous and his opponent Rinat Jumabayev not only managed to stop his opponent, but also to gain an advantage, finally forcing Dardha to resign the game.

Rinat Jumabayev

For Jumabayev, last year’s winner of the open Biel Master Tournament MTO, who is clearly considered the outsider in the Challengers, this victory means a jump to third place in the table. The other two games were much more balanced: the two leaders, Nikolas Theodorou and Aram Hakobyan, were both allowed to play with white today and both drew against Ma Qun and David Navara.

Aram Hakobyan Aram vs. GM David Navara

Games

GMT-Challengers: Interim Ranking

Pranav Anand leads the Master Tournament MTO

It took four rounds for the Masters Tournament at the Biel Chess Festival to have a sole leader for the first time: GM Pranav Anand remains the only one to have won all his games.

Pranav Anand

In his game today, he beat GM Benjamin Bok, the winner of the one-day rapid tournament at the beginning of the festival. The Dutchman, seeded number 2 in the tournament, thus slips down to 25^th place. Pranav Anand is followed by seven players with 3 ½ points, including other tournament favourites such as GM Karthikeyan Murali and GM Mustafa Yilmaz.

Standings after four rounds

112 players…

Chess-results…

Games

Third round of the ATO

In the Amateur Tournament ATO for players ranked below 2000 Elo, seven of the 109 players are still unscathed after three rounds and lead the field with 3 points each.

Interim Ranking ATO: https://s1.chess-results.com/tnrWZ.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=3&tno=1215292

Round 4 of the Freestyle tournament FSC

With the fourth round, the freestyle tournament in Chess960 has passed the halfway point. GM Alexander Raetsky and WGM Evgeniya Doluhanova are still in the lead with 3 ½ points each – tomorrow the two will face each other at the board.

Interim Ranking FSC: https://s3.chess-results.com/tnrWZ.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=4&tno=1215326

Outlook

In round four of the GMT-Masters on Friday, the top three in the tournament all play with the black pieces: a chance for the lower-ranked players to take a step forward? Svane will meet Murzin, Wojtaszek Aravindh and Salem Fedoseev. In the GMT-Challengers, last-placed Dardha meets first-placed Theodorou. Today’s winner Jumabayev has to play Hakobyan with black and Navara meets Ma Qun.

Announcement

The VINETUM Youth Tournament of the Biel Chess Festival will take place on Saturday. This one-day tournament over seven rounds of rapid chess is open to all pupils born in 2007 or later, regardless of their level. Registrations can be made on the festival website up to and including 18 July and is free of charge.

Beauty Award MTO, ATO

Every day, the best games from MTO and ATO are voted for on social media.

Winner MTO RD3:  Carl Alexander von Burg (1878) vs. Simon Jakob (2157) 1 – 0

Winner ATO RD2: Vote is delayed.

Tournament page…