7/21/2024 – After five rounds of classical chess at the GM Triathlons, the final phase is quickly approaching. Le Quang Liem defended his lead in the Masters with a draw against Haik Martirosyan, while Praggnanandhaa kept his chances of qualifying for the final phase by beating Sam Shankland. In the Challengers, it seems clear who will progress to the final phase: Saleh Salem, Vaishali, Alexander Donchenko and Jonas Bjerre. | Photos: Biel Chess Festival
new: ChessBase Magazine 225
Chess Festival Prague 2025 with analyses by Aravindh, Giri, Gurel, Navara and others. ‘Special’: 27 highly entertaining miniatures. Opening videos by Werle, King and Ris. 10 opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more. ChessBase Magazine offers first-class training material for club players and professionals! World-class players analyse their brilliant games and explain the ideas behind the moves. Opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in tactics, strategy and endgames show you the tricks and techniques you need to be a successful tournament player! Available as a direct download (incl. booklet as pdf file) or booklet with download key by post. Included in delivery: ChessBase Magazine #225 as “ChessBase Book” for iPad, tablet, Mac etc.!
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before. FRITZ is more than just a chess engine – it’s a training revolution! Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
In this course, you will learn the foundations and key ideas of the Vienna Game and discover a variety of systems that make you extremely difficult to prepare for.
€39.90
A memorable world record
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.
This video course features the ins-and-outs of the possible setups Black can choose. You’ll learn the key concepts and strategies needed to add this fantastic opening to your repertoire. An easy-to-learn and yet venomous weapon.
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.
Masters: Pragg defeats Shankland to stay in the race
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.
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.
In this Fritztrainer: “Attack like a Super GM” with Gukesh we touch upon all aspects of his play, with special emphasis on how you can become a better attacking player.
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.
The Leningrad Dutch Defence is a dynamic and aggressive opening choice for Black, perfect for players who want to add some adventure and spice to their repertoire.
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.
In this video course, experts including Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Karsten Müller and Oliver Reeh, examine the games of Boris Spassky. Let them show you which openings Spassky chose to play, where his strength in middlegames were and much more.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
How grandmasters win without fireworks: GM Jan Markos shows you 11 very practical tips from "How to play in a lost position" to "Be patient like Carlsen" that will improve your tournament chess.
The Nimzo-Indian has stood the test of time for over a century: Still a top choice for elite players today, from Magnus Carlsen to Praggnanandhaa, it remains one of Black's most reliable ways to fight for real chances against 1.d4 2.c4 3.Nc3.
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Bb4!? is an opening idea well worth considering. Black immediately threatens to double the pawns on c3 in the style of the Trompowski or Sicilian Grand Prix attack.
Italian Game Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains 8571 top class games from Mega 2026 and the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 479 are annotated.
Videos: Nico Zwirs discusses the Sicilian with 2…e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Qe3 Nf6 6.Nc3. Mihail Marin examines Sindarov’s 6.Ne5 in the Queen’s Pawn Defence. Plus the ‘Lucky bag’ featuring 41 analyses by Berg, Ftacnik, Gupta and many others.
€14.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.
