Aronian wins, Suleymanli grabs second place

He was one of the very few chess players from the world's elite who had never previously competed at the Biel Chess Festival, and now he has triumphed at the first attempt: Levon Aronian. The former world number two has won the 2026 Masters Triathlon, thanks in particular to outstanding performances in the fast-paced rapid and blitz disciplines. Aydin Suleymanli finished second, ahead of Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus and Le Quang Liem.

The situation already looked good for Levon Aronian ahead of the final round: trailing by four points, his closest rival and Thursday's opponent, Aydin Suleymanli - playing with the black pieces - had to go for a win. That would have allowed him to overtake Aronian. However, the US representative played virtually flawlessly, leaving Suleymanli with no opportunities, and the game ended in a draw by repetition of moves.

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Free video sample: Introduction
Free video sample: King's Indian Setup

Aronian proved to be rock-solid in classical chess, drawing all eight of his classical games. Combined with his outstanding performances in rapid (9/10 points) and blitz (8½/10 points), he finished with a total of 29½ points, thereby winning the 2026 Biel Masters Triathlon.

With his victory in Biel, Levon Aronian - the 43-year-old Armenian-born GM who has been representing the USA since 2021 - adds yet another title to his impressive list of achievements. Once ranked number two in the world, he achieved the fourth-highest Elo rating of all time in 2014 with 2830. He has now been playing at the very highest international level for over 20 years. In Aronian, the Biel Chess Festival has a more than worthy winner for 2026.

Had Suleymanli won the final-round's game, he would have secured the tournament title. He would have been level on points with Aronian and would have beaten him thanks to his better performance in the ACCENTUS Chess960 tournament. However, second place is still a major success for him, given that, according to his Elo rating, he was only ranked fifth out of the six players - but, above all, Suleymanli was only called up at short notice to replace Nodirbek Yakubboev, who was unable to take part, and was therefore unable to prepare for the tournament as thoroughly as his rivals.

The two remaining players, Le Quang Liem and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, also still had a chance of finishing second: a win would have allowed either of them to overtake Suleymanli. Le could well have managed this: his b-pawn was able to advance all the way to his opponent's back rank, and with flawless play, he could have converted this advantage into a win. However, he did not succeed, as Erdogmus was able to force a draw. With this result, the two are tied on points in third and fourth place, with Erdogmus taking the podium place thanks to a better ACCENTUS Chess960 score.

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Free sample video: Introduction

Free sample video: Quiet Moves

Aydin Suleymanli in his final-round game against Levon Aronian | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Final standings

All games - Final stage

All classical games - Qualifying stage

Finek outright winner in Generations Challenge

Vaclav Finek celebrated a start-to-finish victory in the Generations Challenge. He took the lead on the very first day in the rapid discipline and never relinquished it. Hot on his heels was Xiao Tong, against whom he still had to defend his lead on the final day of action. As in the Masters, the closest challenger needed a win to catch the leader. But Xiao could only manage a draw, meaning that Finek - at 16, the youngest of the teenagers in the Generations Challenge - secured victory.

Finek performed strongly in all three disciplines of the triathlon, coming top in classical chess and rapid chess, and finishing just a half point behind Xiao - the best in this discipline - in blitz chess. The Czech rising star has not yet been awarded the title of grandmaster and is currently still ranked as an international master - though he is likely to be able to call himself a GM very soon.

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Xiao finished in second place behind Finek. The young Chinese player had already competed in the open Masters tournament in Biel two years ago, aged 15. On his return, he put in a strong performance and proved himself worthy of his status as the field's highest-ranked player. Behind him, Marco Materia completed the podium. Materia, too, has competed three times in the Biel Masters Open and has now had the chance to prove himself on the main stage.

Vaclav Finek facing Xiao Tong | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Marco Materia | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Final standings

All games - Final stage

All classical games - Qualifying stage

MTO: Kozak and Cao end on a high note

Christian Gloeckler secured victory in the Masters Open with a round to spare. The 14-year-old lost his final-round game with black against Adam Kozak to end the event with a 2597 tournament performance rating. Kozak thus finished tied for second place with Cao Qingfeng from China, who also scored a win in the final round - Cao defeated Peter Acs with black.

Six players finished a half point behind Kozak and Cao on 7/10. This group included 19-year-old Indian rising star Savitha Shri, who was, remarkably, the top woman performer in the strong 94-player field.

Understanding Material Imbalances

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Adam Kozak | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Cao Qingfeng | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Savitha Shri | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Final standings - MTO

Fritz 21

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All available games - MTO

Triathlons: Masters and Generations Challenge

Understanding Material Imbalances

This DVD focuses on several types of material imbalances, such as Rook vs 2 Pieces, Queen vs 2 Rooks, and Queen vs Pieces.

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