Biel: Le successfully defends title, Keymer falls just short

Two consecutive successes, one year apart

A full year after his victory at the 2022 Grandmaster Triathlon, Le Quang Liem successfully defended his title in the very next rated tournament he participated in — Le did not play a single rated game, in any category, since his 2022 outing in Biel. Throughout the ten days of competition, the Vietnamese star showed that he continues to be a top-notch grandmaster, as he has now climbed to the 16^th spot in the live ratings list.

In the final round of the Triathlon, a draw with David Navara — who finished the tournament in third place — was enough for Le to claim his second title in a row. Le benefited from Vincent Keymer losing his game against Arjun Erigaisi after a long struggle.

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It was a heartbreaking final day for Keymer, who only needed a draw to win the event. Nonetheless, in his fourth participation at the main tournament of the Biel festival, he achieved his best standing ever — the German prodigy finished in second place. Keymer’s defeat against Arjun Erigaisi was his first in classical chess at the Triathlin. Thanks to his final-round win, Arjun fought his way up to fourth place.

By the time Le agreed to a draw after 37 moves, the outcome of Keymer’s game was still unknown. The chess coach at Webster University obtained a remarkable 5/7 score in the classical section of the festival’s top competition.

Arjun Erigaisi beat Vincent Keymer in a hard-fought, 87-move game

The podium

Grandmaster Triathlon - Final standings

All games: Classical | Rapid | Blitz

All games - Classical

Master Open: Bu and Aryan grab crucial wins

Unlike the Grandmaster Triathlon, which came to an end on Wednesday, a round remains to be played at the Master Open.

Top seed Bu Xiangzhi continues to lead the standings after beating Pranav Anand in the penultimate round. The chasing pack has shrunk significantly, though, as out of all the former pursuers, only Aryan Chopra managed to win his game on Wednesday — the Indian defeated his compatriot Aditya Samant.

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In Thursday’s final round, Bu will get the black pieces against untitled Peng Xiongjian, while Aryan will marshal the white pieces against IM Rathanvel V S.

The impressive playing hall

Standings - Round 9

...99 players

All available games - Round 9

Replay games from all rounds at Live.ChessBase.com

The Beauty Awards

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 eight rounds below.

Links

• Official site
• All ChessBase reports: Biel 2022 | Biel 2021 | Biel 2020 | Biel 2019