Biel: Vaishali wins again, now sole leader in Challengers

by ChessBase
7/19/2024 – All three games finished drawn in round 3 of the Masters Triathlon at the Biel Chess Festival, which means Abhimanyu Mishra remains as the sole leader in the 6-player event. In the Challengers section, the lowest-rated participant, Vaishali R, continues to perform flawlessly, as she won her third classical game in a row. Vaishali thus grabbed the sole lead in the tournament. | Photos: Biel Chess Festival

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Three draws in the Masters

Press release by the Biel Chess Festival

The top two in the Masters Triathlon faced each other in round 3 of classical chess – and decided not to fight for long. Abhimanyu Mishra and last year's winner Le Quang Liem agreed to a draw relatively quickly, after 22 moves, by repetition.

A draw by repetition was also seen a little later in the game between third-placed Haik Martirosyan and Praggnanandhaa.

Abhimanyu, Le and Martirosyan still occupy the top half in the standings. The duel between the players at the bottom of the table, Vinceny Keymer and Sam Shankland, which would have allowed the winner to catch up with the leaders, also resulted in a draw.


Interview with tournament leader Abhimanyu Mishra

Interview conducted by Arne Kaehler


Masters Triathlon - Standings

All games: Classical | Rapid | Blitz

Rank Name Classical Rapid Blitz Total
1 Abhimanyu Mishra 4 13½
2 Le Quang Liem 7 5 12
3 Haik Martirosyan 7 11½
4 Praggnanandhaa R 3 5 8
5 Vincent Keymer 3 5 8
6 Sam Shankland 3 4 7

All games - Masters (Classical)

Challengers: Vaishali comes from behind, leads

Vaishali Rameshbabu continued her excellent run in the Challengers Triathlon. While her brother Praggnanandhaa has yet to get going in the Masters, Vaishali is now the only player in both GMT tournaments to have won all three of her classical games – and she is the player with the lowest Elo rating!

In Thursday's game against Ihor Samunenkov, Vaishali benefited from the fact that her opponent first failed to capitalise on a mistake and then made several errors of his own.

In second and third place are Salem Saleh and Alexander Donchenko, respectively, who ultimately played out a draw in their direct duel after the Emirati got a slight advantage. Jonas Bjerre, the top seed in the Challengers, was able to make a leap forward, as he finally won his first points in classical chess after suffering two defeats. He beat Marc'Andria Maurizzi by gaining a steadily growing advantage in the middlegame and then converting it with aplomb.

Saleh Salem

Saleh Salem

Challengers Triathlon - Standings

All games: Classical | Rapid | Blitz

Rank Name Classical Rapid Blitz Total
1 Vaishali R 12 5 17
2 Saleh Salem 6 15½
3 Alexander Donchenko 7 12½
4 Jonas Bjerre 4 5 9
5 Marc'Andria Maurizzi 4
6 Ihor Samunenkov 3

All games - Challengers (Classical)

MTO: No more perfect scores, ten co-leaders

After four rounds are the Master Tournament MTO, there is still a lot to play for. Most of the favourites are still close together, with ten players leading the table with 3½/4 points each.

The best women are currently IM Bibisara Assaubayeva, WIM Alua Nurman and WIM Xeniya Balabayeva, all from Kazakhstan, with 3 points each.

The best Swiss players in the tournament are currently FM Moritz Collin and FM Teimur Toktomushev with 2 ½ points each.

Bibisara Assaubayev

Bibisara Assaubayeva

Standings after round 4

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Kobo, Ori 3,5 0
2 Moiseenko, Alexander 3,5 0
3 Jumabayev, Rinat 3,5 0
4 Koustav, Chatterjee 3,5 0
Sokolovsky, Yahli 3,5 0
6 Aryan, Chopra 3,5 0
Mendonca, Leon Luke 3,5 0
8 Madaminov, Mukhiddin 3,5 0
9 Sasikiran, Krishnan 3,5 0
10 Ganguly, Surya Shekhar 3 0
11 Xue, Haowen 3 0
12 Xiao, Tong(Qd) 3 0
13 Gan-Erdene, Sugar 3 0
14 Nesterov, Arseniy 3 0
15 Nurman, Alua 3 0

...128 players

All available games - Masters Open

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 will present their game on the live stream the following day and receive a small gift.

Replay the games that have so far won the awards below.


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