Press release by the Biel Chess Festival
On 20 July, International Chess Day, the World Chess Federation FIDE announced a world record attempt - the most chess games played within 24 hours, at one of the more than 800 registered tournaments, or on the major online platforms.
FIDE's technical centre, where all the registered games from the various events were recorded, was located in Biel. As the day progressed, it became clear that a record number of games had been played. The representative of Guinness World Records was therefore able to officially announce the record at around 9 pm in the Biel Congress Centre and present IA Laurent Freyd, the FIDE Operational Director for this event, with the corresponding certificate.
At this point, 5.4 million games had been played worldwide, 361 of which were played on Saturday at the Biel Chess Festival. The count continued until midnight CEST.
Before blitz, the third of the Triathlon categories, starts on Sundat, the fifth round of classical chess was on the programme on Saturday.
Praggnanandhaa celebrated the only win of the day in the Masters, against Sam Shankland. This was desperately needed for the Indian to have a chance of making it into the top four who qualify for the final phase. To do so, he now needs a good result in the blitz to catch either Vincent Keymer, who is 1½ points ahead of him, or Haik Martirosyan, 2½ points ahead. In the event of a tie, Pragg will benefit from his victory in the ACCENTUS Chess960, which will be used as a tie-breaker.
The other games of the day in the Masters ended in draws: between Vincent Keymer and Abhimanyu Mishra, and between leader Le Quang Liem and Haik Martirosyan. The draw allowed the Vietnamese GM to defend his lead, but after a mistake by Martirosyan, a win was even possible for a short time - but Le was unable to find the winning idea.
Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Sam Shankland
All games: Classical | Rapid | Blitz
| Rank | Name | Classical | Rapid | Blitz | Total |
| 1 | Le Quang Liem | 12½ | 5 | 17½ | |
| 2 | Abhimanyu Mishra | 12½ | 4 | 16½ | |
| 3 | Haik Martirosyan | 7½ | 7 | 14½ | |
| 4 | Vincent Keymer | 8½ | 5 | 13½ | |
| 5 | Praggnanandhaa R | 7 | 5 | 12 | |
| 6 | Sam Shankland | 3 | 4 | 7 |
At best, there are still 10 points to be won in Sunday's blitz games. Nevertheless, after the fifth round of classical chess, it already seems clear which four players will qualify for the final phase of the Challengers. Thanks to victories against Marc'Andria Maurizzi and Ihor Samunenkov, Alexander Donchenko and Jonas Bjerre (the highest-rated players in the Challengers) have all but secured their spots in the final stage.
Saleh Salem and Vaishali, who drew their round-5 encounter, remain at the top. A result that should be doubly annoying for Vaishali. On the one hand, she had a clearly winning position and completely lost her advantage while in time trouble, with the 40th move granting 60 minutes of extra time. Secondly, she will probably play with the disadvantage of the black pieces twice in the three games of the final phase, which will make the path to victory in the Challengers doubly difficult.
Vaishali Rameshbabu and Saleh Salem
All games: Classical | Rapid | Blitz
| Rank | Name | Classical | Rapid | Blitz | Total |
| 1 | Saleh Salem | 15 | 6 | 21 | |
| 2 | Vaishali R | 15 | 5 | 20 | |
| 3 | Alexander Donchenko | 11 | 7 | 18 | |
| 4 | Jonas Bjerre | 9½ | 5 | 14½ | |
| 5 | Marc'Andria Maurizzi | 3 | 4 | 7 | |
| 6 | Ihor Samunenkov | 1½ | 3 | 4½ |
The two top seeded Indian favourites in the Master Tournament MTO are living up to their reputation so far: after six rounds, Leon Luke Mendonca leads with 5½ points, ahead of Aryan Chopra with 5 points. Both were able to win their round-6 games on boards 1 and 2 against Alexander Moiseenko and Yahli Sokolovsky, respectively.
On the next boards, the closest pursuers only managed to score draws, so that no fewer than thirteen players with 4½ points stand a half-point behind Aryan. Among them is, IM Bibisara Assaubayeva, the world's highest-rated female junior player.
Interview conducted by Arne Kaehler
| Rk. | Name | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Mendonca, Leon Luke | 2615 | 5,5 | 0 | |
| 2 | GM | Aryan, Chopra | 2632 | 5 | 0 | |
| 3 | GM | Jumabayev, Rinat | 2565 | 4,5 | 0 | |
| 4 | GM | Harsha, Bharathakoti | 2569 | 4,5 | 0 | |
| 5 | GM | Koustav, Chatterjee | 2525 | 4,5 | 0 | |
| 6 | Xue, Haowen | 2452 | 4,5 | 0 | ||
| 7 | GM | Sasikiran, Krishnan | 2581 | 4,5 | 0 | |
| 8 | IM | Gan-Erdene, Sugar | 2407 | 4,5 | 0 | |
| 9 | GM | Gavrilescu, David | 2540 | 4,5 | 0 | |
| 10 | Xiao, Tong(Qd) | 2518 | 4,5 | 0 | ||
| 11 | IM | Madaminov, Mukhiddin | 2512 | 4,5 | 0 | |
| 12 | IM | Assaubayeva, Bibisara | 2472 | 4,5 | 0 | |
| 13 | GM | Nesterov, Arseniy | 2602 | 4,5 | 0 | |
| 14 | IM | Materia, Marco | 2453 | 4,5 | 0 | |
| 15 | IM | Petkidis, Anthony | 2428 | 4,5 | 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.
