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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 conducted by Arne Kaehler
All games: Classical | Rapid | Blitz
| Rank | Name | Classical | Rapid | Blitz | Total |
| 1 | Abhimanyu Mishra | 9½ | 4 | 13½ | |
| 2 | Le Quang Liem | 7 | 5 | 12 | |
| 3 | Haik Martirosyan | 4½ | 7 | 11½ | |
| 4 | Praggnanandhaa R | 3 | 5 | 8 | |
| 5 | Vincent Keymer | 3 | 5 | 8 | |
| 6 | Sam Shankland | 3 | 4 | 7 |
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
All games: Classical | Rapid | Blitz
| Rank | Name | Classical | Rapid | Blitz | Total |
| 1 | Vaishali R | 12 | 5 | 17 | |
| 2 | Saleh Salem | 9½ | 6 | 15½ | |
| 3 | Alexander Donchenko | 5½ | 7 | 12½ | |
| 4 | Jonas Bjerre | 4 | 5 | 9 | |
| 5 | Marc'Andria Maurizzi | 1½ | 4 | 5½ | |
| 6 | Ihor Samunenkov | 1½ | 3 | 4½ |
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 Assaubayeva
| Rk. | Name | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Kobo, Ori | 2529 | 3,5 | 0 | |
| 2 | GM | Moiseenko, Alexander | 2570 | 3,5 | 0 | |
| 3 | GM | Jumabayev, Rinat | 2565 | 3,5 | 0 | |
| 4 | GM | Koustav, Chatterjee | 2525 | 3,5 | 0 | |
| GM | Sokolovsky, Yahli | 2516 | 3,5 | 0 | ||
| 6 | GM | Aryan, Chopra | 2632 | 3,5 | 0 | |
| GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | 2615 | 3,5 | 0 | ||
| 8 | IM | Madaminov, Mukhiddin | 2512 | 3,5 | 0 | |
| 9 | GM | Sasikiran, Krishnan | 2581 | 3,5 | 0 | |
| 10 | GM | Ganguly, Surya Shekhar | 2592 | 3 | 0 | |
| 11 | Xue, Haowen | 2452 | 3 | 0 | ||
| 12 | Xiao, Tong(Qd) | 2518 | 3 | 0 | ||
| 13 | IM | Gan-Erdene, Sugar | 2407 | 3 | 0 | |
| 14 | GM | Nesterov, Arseniy | 2602 | 3 | 0 | |
| 15 | WIM | Nurman, Alua | 2266 | 3 | 0 |
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.
