Before the last day of play, three players still have chances to win the Grandmaster Triathlon in Biel: Vincent Keymer, Le Quang Lieam and David Navara. Thanks to his win over Bassem Amin, Keymer is now back atop the tournament standings. The 18-year-old German stands half a point ahead of Le and 2½ points ahead of Navara. Keymer, was the only winner on the penultimate day of play, as the other three games ended in draws.
Keymer’s chances of winning the Triathlon are better than ever in his fourth participation in this unique event. The prodigy from Mainz goes into the last round with a half-point lead — and his closest pursuers, Le and Navara, face each other in the final round.
To win the tournament, Navara, who will get the white pieces, needs to play for a win. Le, on the other hand, could theoretically win the tournament with a draw, but he would do well to aim for victory too. Keymer can make everything clear with a win — he plays with black against Indian star Arjun Erigaisi.
Le Quang Liem and Jules Moussard played an 81-move game (½-½)
All games: Classical | Rapid | Blitz
| Rank | Name | Games | Classical | Rapid | Blitz | Total |
| 1 | Vincent Keymer | 27 | 16½ | 10 | 5 | 31½ |
| 2 | Le Quang Liem | 27 | 17½ | 5 | 8½ | 31 |
| 3 | David Navara | 27 | 11½ | 10 | 7½ | 29 |
| 4 | Yu Yangyi | 27 | 6 | 9 | 7½ | 22½ |
| 5 | Jules Moussard | 27 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 22 |
| 6 | Arjun Erigaisi | 27 | 6 | 5 | 10½ | 21½ |
| 7 | Bassem Amin | 27 | 7 | 8 | 3½ | 18½ |
| 8 | Bogdan-Daniel Deac | 27 | 7½ | 3 | 6½ | 17 |
The Master Tournament continues to be a hard-fought affair. Bu Xiangzhi from China, who drew against Samant Aditya (IND) in round 8, remains in the sole lead with a half-point lead, but the chasing pack has again increased in size, as six players stand with 6 points still with chances to claim tournament victory. Four players who were a full point behind Bu were able to win their games in round 8 and thus reduce the gap to the top: the Indians Aryan Chopra, Rathanvel V S and Pranav Anand, as well as Peng Xiongjan from China.
The best woman in the standings is Vantika Agrawal from India, who stands in tenth place and continues to show strong place. The best Swiss player is still Oliver Sutter, in 50th place.
The MTO does not end tomorrow: there are still two more rounds to go, on Wednesday and Thursday — so there is still plenty of time for the many aspirants!
Rathanvel V S beat Carlos Daniel Albornoz with the black pieces
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | |
| 1 | GM | Bu, Xiangzhi | 2676 | 6,5 | 37,5 |
| 2 | GM | Aryan, Chopra | 2626 | 6 | 38 |
| 3 | IM | Samant, Aditya S | 2510 | 6 | 37 |
| 4 | GM | Liu, Yan | 2542 | 6 | 36,5 |
| 5 | GM | Pranav, Anand | 2510 | 6 | 35,5 |
| 6 | IM | Rathanvel, V S | 2463 | 6 | 31,5 |
| 7 | Peng, Xiongjian | 2489 | 6 | 31 | |
| 8 | GM | Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son | 2645 | 5,5 | 36 |
| 9 | IM | Harikrishnan, A Ra | 2406 | 5,5 | 36 |
| 10 | WGM | Vantika, Agrawal | 2428 | 5,5 | 35 |
| 11 | GM | Quesada Perez, Luis Ernesto | 2553 | 5,5 | 34 |
| 12 | IM | Samadov, Read | 2482 | 5,5 | 33,5 |
| 13 | IM | Shlyakhtenko, Robert | 2401 | 5,5 | 29 |
| 14 | IM | Chasin, Nico | 2455 | 5 | 36 |
| 15 | Huang, Renjie | 2445 | 5 | 35,5 |
Replay games from all rounds at Live.ChessBase.com
When so many games are played daily, it is inevitable that a few particularly outstanding encounters take place. To highlight these games, the organisers of the Biel Chess Festival have created the Beauty Award.
Every evening after the rounds are over, the most attractive game from the MTO, HTO and ATO can be voted for on the festival’s social media channels. The winners have the opportunity to present their game on the live stream the following day and receive a small gift.
The winners are showcased on the official website. You can replay the winners from the first seven rounds below.
