Biel: Advantage Aravindh – Theodorou wins Biel Challengers

by ChessBase
7/24/2025 – Aravindh Chithambaram has taken the lead of the GMT-Masters in the Biel Grandmaster Triathlon with a victory over the previous leader Saleh Salem. Aravindh has thus not only overtaken Salem, but also Fedoseev, who lost his game against Murzin after a rollercoaster ride and thus falls back to 3rd place. The final round on Thursday must now decide the outcome. The decision in the GMT-Challengers has already been made one round before the end: Nikolas Theodorou celebrated a start-to-finish victory over the entire tournament and can no longer be caught in the final round. | Photos: Biel Chess Festival
Your personal chess trainer. Your toughest opponent. Your strongest ally.
FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before. 

Media Bulletin

The Greek did not lose a single classical game and can truly be celebrated as the deserved winner.

The situation in the Master Tournament MTO is also open, with a quartet tied on points at the top before the final round.

GMT-Masters: Three are still in contention to win the tournament

The winner of the GMT-Masters in Biel is certain to come from the trio of Fedoseev, Aravindh and Salem. Before Wednesday's round, Salem and Fedoseev were 1 ½ points ahead of Aravindh. However, the two co-leaders both lost their games today: Salem against a flawlessly playing Aravindh, who was able to build up a steady advantage in the middlegame and forced Salem to resign after just 28 moves.

With this victory, Aravindh now has 27 points, takes the lead and underlines his ambitions to win the tournament.

The other co-leader before the round, Vladimir Fedoseev, had his chances to defend his lead in the game against Volodar Murzin, which lasted over five and a half hours.

However, the game between the two turned into a rollercoaster: Fedoseev gained clear advantages in the middlegame. But not only did he fail to capitalise on this, after an exchange of queens he even found himself on the defensive and in an endgame in which both were under time pressure, Murzin managed the more precise play. With two pawns down on the board, Fedoseev ultimately had to congratulate Murzin on his victory.

The final round on Thursday must decide the outcome and it promises to be an exciting one: the game will be between Fedoseev and Salem, who are tied on points: both must play to win if they are to have any chance of leaving Biel as festival winner. If one of them succeeds, Aravindh will be forced to win his game with Black against Murzin. A draw would not be enough for him in this case: He would finish the tournament level on points with the winner of the Fedoseev-Salem game – in this case the tie-break would be the result of the ACCENTUS Chess960 tournament, in which both Fedoseev and Salem did better than Aravindh.

Games

GMT-Masters: Interim Ranking

Rank

Name

Games

Classical

Rapid

Blitz

Total

1

GM ARAVINDH Chithambaram

22

14

7

6

27

2

GM Saleh SALEM

22

16 ½

2

6

24 ½

3

GM Vladimir FEDOSEEV

22

10

7

7 ½

24 ½

4

GM Volodar MURZIN

22

13

5

4

22

5

GM Radoslaw WOJTASZEK *

20

6

6

4

16

6

GM Frederik SVANE *

20

4 ½

3

2 ½

10

* not qualified for final phase

Theodorou wins the GMT-Challengers

What was already on the cards became a fact in the penultimate round: Nikolas Theodorou wins the GMT-Challengers tournament in Biel.

Nikolas Theodorou

The 24-year-old Greek, who had already travelled to Biel with the Challengers victory at the UzChess Cup in Tashkent in the previous month, thus underlines his current strong form. With his comfortable lead of 5 points, he didn't have to take risks today and was able to draw his game against Rinat Jumabayev after 37 moves.

Theodorou, who was celebrating his debut in Biel, put on a truly impressive tournament: although he was the worst of the six Challengers in the ACCENTUS Chess960 on the first day, by the start of the Grandmaster Triathlon he had moved straight to the top with excellent rapid games and 8 out of 10 possible points. He never relinquished this position for the rest of the tournament, meaning that he can already be celebrated as the deserved winner of the Biel Challenger 2025 before tomorrow's last game.

The other game also ended in a draw after a repetition of moves: Aram Hakobyan would have needed a win to have any chance of victory, but there was no chance of that against David Navara, so the two agreed a draw after 33 moves.

While first and second place on the Challengers podium have been decided after today, it remains to be seen who will take bronze: The final round on Thursday will see a direct duel for it between Jumabayev and Navara. Jumabayev has the advantage of a 1 ½ point lead, so Navara, with the white pieces, will have to play for victory if he still wants to secure his place on the podium. Hakobyan will be playing against Theodorou in a match that no longer has any influence on the outcome of the tournament.

Games

GMT-Challengers: Interim Ranking

Rank

Name

Games

Classical

Rapid

Blitz

Total

1

GM Nikolas THEODOROU

22

18

8

6

32

2

GM Aram HAKOBYAN

22

13

7

7

27

3

GM Rinat JUMABAYEV

22

11 ½

4

3

18 ½

4

GM David NAVARA

22

10

2

5

17

5

GM MA Qun *

20

6

5

4

15

6

GM Daniel DARDHA *

20

4 ½

4

5

13 ½

* not qualified for final phase

An open race in the Master Tournament MTO right to the end

There has been a consolidation at the top of the Master Tournament: Due to the draw in the match between the two leaders GM Karthikeyan Murali and GM Karthik Venkataraman, two more players were able to catch up with them on Wednesday: GM Pranesh M with a win against FM Soo Kai Jie, and GM Benjamin Bok, the tournament's No.2, who was a little behind at one point but is now back in the lead with his win against IM Dau Khuong Duy.

There are six other players behind them, half a point behind, but there is a good chance that the winner will come from the top quartet. They will face each other in direct duels tomorrow: Bok against Karthikeyan and Karthik against Pranesh.

Before the final round, IM Fabian Bänziger is the best Swiss player in 14th place with 6 points, followed by FM Colin Federer in 20th place with the same number of points, while the best woman is WGM Evegniya Doluhanova in 23rd place.

Games

Standings after 9 rounds

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Karthikeyan, Murali 7 0
2 Karthik, Venkataraman 7 0
3 Bok, Benjamin 7 0
4 Pranesh, M 7 0
5 Pranav, Anand 6,5 0
6 Yilmaz, Mustafa 6,5 0
7 Gloeckler, Christian 6,5 0
8 Panchanathan, Magesh Chandran 6,5 0
9 Adewumi, Tanitoluwa 6,5 0
10 Poh, Yu Tian 6,5 0
11 Sasikiran, Krishnan 6 0
12 Dau, Khuong Duy 6 0
13 Arfan, Aditya Bagus 6 0
14 Baenziger, Fabian 6 0
15 Soo, Kai Jie 6 0
16 Banh, Gia Huy 6 0
17 Otsuka, Shou 6 0
18 Sanket, Chakravarty 6 0
19 Lacan Rus, David 6 0
20 Federer, Colin 6 0
21 Mostertman, Milan 5,5 0
22 Chen, Yuan 5,5 0
23 Doluhanova, Evgeniya 5,5 0
24 Song, Ethan 5,5 0
25 Chen, Jun-Wei 5,5 0

...

Swiss duo leads in the Amateur Tournament ATO

Simon Künzli has caught up with Roman Tkhoruk at the top of the table with his win today against Blaise Ruchat. The latter drew against Ding Shirui, meaning that Künzli and Tkhoruk now both have 7 points. The women's duo Ding Shirui and Eliza Tereshchenko follow half a point behind. As Künzli and Tkhoruk have already played each other, the last round will see Tereshchenko against Künzli and Tkhoruk against Anthony Haas, which will decide who wins the tournament.

Interim Ranking ATO

Three rounds played in the week's tournaments

Half-time has passed and the favourites are in the lead in the week's tournament WT2 for the higher-rated players. WGM Evgeniya Doluhanova and GM Alexander Cherniaev are the leaders with 3 out of 3 points, ahead of FM Aurelio Colmenares with 2 ½ points. In fourth place, also with 2 ½ points, is Christina Jordan.

In the week's tournament WT1, five players are still unbeaten with 3 points after three rounds.

Interim Ranking WT2

Interim Ranking WT1   

Outlook

The majority of the remaining decisions will be made on Thursday: The final round of the Grand Master Triathlon will determine the winner of the GMT-Masters. Although the winner of the GMT-Challengers has been decided, the composition of the entire podium has not yet been finalised.

The two major open tournaments, the Master Tournament MTO and the Amateur Tournament ATO, are also entering the final round, which will decide the winners.

The fourth round of the week's tournaments continues – these are the only tournaments where chess will still be played on Friday at the Biel Chess Festival.

Announcement

The 58th edition of the Biel International Chess Festival will officially end with the closing ceremony and award ceremonies on Friday at 10.30 am. The event in the lobby of the Biel Congress Centre is open to the public and visitors are welcome.

Beauty Award

Every day, the best games of the open tournaments are voted for on social media.

Winner MTO RD8:
GM Karthik Venkataraman (2540) vs. GM Pranav Anand (2566) 1 – 0

(an amazing game! https://lichess.org/broadcast/58th-international-chess-festival-biel-open--master-tournament/round-8/BwtkEu3t/YyEZzEtm )

Winner ATO RD6:
Jonas Gion Perego (1792) vs. Stefan Zimmermann (1714) 1 – 0

Winner WT1 RD1:
Jonas Studer (1550) vs. Lenny Niederberger (1714) 1 – 0

Tournament page...

Reports about chess: tournaments, championships, portraits, interviews, World Championships, product launches and more.