Two Triathlons
With an Elo average of over 2700, this year’s Grandmasters Tournament is even stronger than last year! It is also giving birth to its little brother, the Challenger Tournament. These two major events will be held in the Biel now traditional Triathlon format. Six players will take part in each of these tournaments, including the two siblings who have qualified for the Candidates Tournaments, Vaishali and Praggnaandhaa.
The biggest innovation in the Triathlon is that after the round robins in classical, rapid, and blitz games, the four best players will face each other again in classical time control with reversed colours, which guarantees even more spectacle without sacrificing sportiness. The winner will undoubtedly be the most deserving player, as his immediate rivals can’t complain that they played against him with black or that they came up against the players at the bottom of the rankings too early in the tournament.
In this course, we will learn how to identify passively placed pieces in any given situation and how to improve their health by bringing them into active squares.Paul Kohler, initiator of the Chess Triathlon and Festival Director for seven years, continues to
fine-tune his system after doubling the number of invited players by putting forth both a GMT Masters and a GMT Challengers:
I think that by introducing a final phase without players who have nothing more to expect in the tournament, and giving the finalists the opportunity for a rematch with reversed colours in the 4-point matches, we are reaching the pinnacle of sporting fairness in chess.
Le Quang Liem has won the last two editions of the Triathlon
The GMT Masters will feature a top-class line-up:
- Praggnanandhaa R (18 years old, 2747 Elo, India)
- Vincent Keymer (19 years old, 2738 Elo, Germany)
- Liem Quang Le (32 years old, 2731 Elo, Vietnam)
- Jakhovir Sindarov (18 years old, 2701 Elo, Uzbekistan)
- Haik Martirosyan (23 years old, 2681 Elo, Armenia)
- Abhimanyu Mishra (15 years old, 2627 Elo, United States)
Amateurs will have the opportunity to play against Abhimanyu Mishra in a simultaneous exhibition on July 12. Register as soon as possible — the number of places is limited!
The GMT Challengers also promises to be very exciting as it will feature the following players:
- Jonas Bjerre (19 years old, 2644 Elo, Denmark)
- Alexander Donchenko (25 years old, 2631 Elo, Germany)
- Saleh Salem (31 years old, 2629 Elo, United Arab Emirates)
- Marc’Andria Maurizzi (16 years old, 2602 Elo, France)
- Ihor Samunenkov (14 years old, 2544 Elo, Ukraine)
- Vaishali Rameshbabu (22 years old, 2481 Elo, India)
Following Abhimanyu Mishra’s simultaneous exhibition on Friday, July 12, the official opening ceremony will take place on Saturday, July 13. It will be followed by the ACCENTUS 960 tournament, whose results will serve as tiebreaker at the end of the Triathlon.
Find more information on the festival’s official website...
In this Video-Course we deal with different dynamic decisions involving pawns. The aim of this Course is to arm club/tournament players with fresh ideas which they can use in their own practice.
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