Biel: Pragg beats Shankland to remain in contention

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.

The Keymer Variation - 1.Nf3 d5 2.e3

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.

Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Sam Shankland

Masters Triathlon - Standings

All games: Classical | Rapid | Blitz

All games - Masters (Classical)

Challengers: Donchenko and Bjerre score

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 40^th 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.

Attack like a Super Grandmaster

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.

Vaishali Rameshbabu and Saleh Salem

Challengers Triathlon - Standings

All games: Classical | Rapid | Blitz

All games - Challengers (Classical)

MTO: Mendonca ahead of Aryan

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 with WIM Svitlana Demchenko

The Leningrad Dutch Defence - A repertoire against 1.d4, 1.c4 and 1.Nf3

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.

Interview conducted by Arne Kaehler

Standings after round 6

...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.

Master Class Vol.17 - Boris Spassky

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.

Links

• Official site
• All ChessBase reports: Biel 2023 | Biel 2022 | Biel 2021 | Biel 2020 | Biel 2019
• Live commentary on site
• Recaps of the day
• Interviews post-mortem
• Tipeee to support the festival's livestream