The 49th International Chess Festival Biel is taking place from Saturday, July 23 until Wednesday, August 3 2016. The exact schedule and further information are published on the official website. Here are the main links:
Parallel to the Masters Challenge was the Juniors Challenge, following a similar format. Just as the elite players Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Peter Svidler faced off in four rapid games followed by four classical games, there were two matches involving two Swiss juniors against guest talented youths. In both cases they played four rapid games, and in the followup there were six classical games for a through workout and valuable experience gain in match play.
Although the foreign guests took the matches, these were all dynamic encounters with fighting opening choices and enjoyable chess to watch. In one match, GM Benjamin Bok, hailing from the Netherlands, dueled IM Nico Georgiadis. Bok enjoyed a significant ratings advantage of 143 Elo over Georgiadis and the final result ultimately reflected this quite accurately as he won by a 4.0-2.0 score in the classical games. It was far from lopsided though as the Swiss player struck hard in their 5th classical game (game nine of the overall match), threatening to level the entire classical match should he win the 6th as well.
Georgiadis - Bok, Game 10
Georgiadis fought hard but was outclassed by...
... Benjamin Bok who dominated affairs
Classical games
With the classical games worth twice a rapid, the final score was 10.5 - 5.5 for Bok.
The second match was certainly less obvious though not reflected in the score. On the surface, Francesco Rambaldi outrated his rival Noel Studer by 88 Elo, and the final classical score of 3.5-2.5 in favor of Rambaldi reflected this almost to the T. However, that was just on the surface. The games were mostly in favor of Studer, who achieved great positions that seemed destined to give him victory, but time and time again that win eluded him from both a lack of technique and from resourcefulness from the Italian.
Studer - Rambaldi, Game 10
Although Francesco Rambaldi emerged victorious...
... Noel Studer had more than his fair share of opportunities.
Classical Games
With two points per classical game, and one per rapid, the final match was win by Francesco Rambaldi by 9.0 - 7.0
GM Daniel King provides a quick wrap-up of the Junior matches with post-game comments by the players
Links
The games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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