Gata Kamsky wins rapid section of the triathlon in Biel

by ChessBase
7/26/2021 – The main event at this year’s edition of the Biel Chess Festival is the Grandmaster Triathlon, in which eight participants play a mix of classical, rapid and blitz chess. The rapid section was played on Sunday, and saw Gata Kamsky getting clear first place with a 5½/7 performance. Nihal Sarin and Maxime Lagarde finished second and third respectively. | Photos: Official site

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Nihal in second place

Press release

Gata Kamsky, Vice World Champion in 1996 and World Cup winner in 2007, had a convincing start at the Grandmaster Tournament in Biel: with only one defeat in the seven rapid games of the triathlon, he leads the standings after the first day of action. Close on his heels are young Indian star Nihal Sarin and the French champion Maxime Lagarde, who also left good impressions.

The Swiss youngsters also went into action on Sunday: the country's best juniors will be competing at the Swiss Youth Championships in Biel over the next four days.

The Biel International Chess Festival commenced on Saturday — for the 54th year in a row, as Peter Bohnenblust, president of the organising committee, noted with pride at the opening ceremony. To kick things off, the ACCENTUS Chess960 competition took place on Saturday afternoon with the participants of the grandmaster tournament. Russian grandmaster Kirill Alekseenko had the best start, as he won that tournament with a 4½/7 score.

A good day for Gata Kamsky

The participants of the Grandmaster Triathlon started their tournament today with the rapid section (15 minutes per player + 5 seconds per move). With five wins in a row, five-time U.S. champion Gata Kamsky got off to a very good start. Only towards the end of the day did he sign a draw — against Nihal Sarin — and suffered a defeat.

In the tournament rankings, it is precisely this Nihal Sarin who follows him, as the young Indian talent also suffered only one defeat today — against Swiss GM Noël Studer, who otherwise had a rather underwhelming day.

Gata Kamsky, Nihal Sarin

Gata Kamsky (b. 1974) and Nihal Sarin (b. 2004)

Final standings (Win = 2 points; Draw = 1 point)

 

All games

 

Start of the Swiss Youth Chess Championship

The final tournament of the Swiss Youth Chess Championship will take place again this year as part of the Biel Chess Festival. The country’s 16 best players will compete in the five categories: U16, U14, U12, U10 and U8.

The Central President of the Swiss Chess Federation, André Vögtlin, wished the participants a lot of fun and a successful tournament at the opening of the event. Over the next four days, the Swiss champions in each age category will be crowned after seven rounds of play. The winners will then be honoured accordingly next Wednesday.

Biel Chess Festival 2021

Swiss Youth Chess Championships

Start of the open tournaments: top-class MTO!

Monday is the first rest day for the participants of the Grandmaster Triathlon. Meanwhile, the Master Tournament (MTO) and the Amateur Tournament (ATO) will begin. The MTO raises high expectations: with no less than 30 grandmasters, the field of participants is extremely high-calibre. Both tournaments are fully booked, as the number of people allowed to enter the playing hall is limited.

No spectators, but an expanded online offer

In addition to the opening of the Grandmaster tournament GMT with the seven Rapid games, the four-day final tournament of the Swiss Youth Championships will also begin in Biel tomorrow.

Due to the sanitary measures, unfortunately, no spectators are allowed in the entire building this year. Instead, the organisers have expanded their online offer: in addition to the grandmaster games, all games of the Masters Tournament and also some games from the Amateur Tournament can be followed live this year. Those interested can find all the corresponding streams at Discord.

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