In the third round of the GM-T, Vincent Keymer showed himself to be well recovered from his defeat against Michael Adams the day before. After a rather calm opening with a fianchetto set-up against Arkadij Naiditsch’s beloved King’s Indian, the young German launched a furious attack. With the march of the g and h-pawns, the path to the black king opened up.
Naiditsch did not accept the sacrifice, but still could not keep the enemy attack in check. After only 28 moves, the black king wriggled in the mating net.
17.h5 f5? [Better was 17 ... Nc2 + 18.Kd2 Nxa1 19.hxg6 fxg6 20.Qxg6 Rf6 21.Qh7 + Kf7 22.Qh5 + Kg8 23.Rxa1 Qe8 24.Qh4 with an open exit.]
18.Qxg6 Rf6 19.Gg2 Kh7 [19...f4 20.h6] 20.exf5 Nc2 + 21.Kd2 Nxe3 22.fxe3 Qb6 23.Kc2 Rc8 [Qxe3 24.Rh3 Qh6 25.Rg1 Rc8 26. Rg3 Rc7 27.Kb1 and the intervention of the knight on e4 decides the game.]
24.Rag1 Bh6 25.Kb1 Qxe3 [25...Rxc3 26.Qg8#]
26.Ne4 Rff8 27.Qg6+ Kh8
28.Nf6 [28... Rc7 29.Qg8+ Rxg8 30.Rxg8#] 1–0
Keymer played energetically, and in the press conference that followed he said that “mating is still the best”. This refreshing mood could be the key to a successful performance. The light-heartedness of a 15-year-old!
In the next round the top favourite of the tournament, the Indian Pentala Harikrihna, with the white pieces, will face the youngster.
The stage
In another exciting and very aggressively played game, Spain’s David Anton Gujiarro finally beat France’s Romain Edouard.
40.Rb7 Rc8 [40 ... Rb4 was also OK: 41.f6 h5] 41.Kg4 [41.Rxb6 Ra8 42.Rb3 a4 43.Ra3 f6] 41 ... Ra8 42.g6 hxg6 43.fxg6 fxg6 44 .Rxb6 Kf7 45.Rb7 + Ke6 0–1
Radek Wojtaszek against Michael Adams, as well as Pentala Harikrishna against the Swiss Noel Studer, were drawn after long fights.
Thus the young German talent Vincent Keymer again took the lead in the overall ranking of the Grandmaster Triathlon.
| Rank | Name | Classical | Rapid | Blitz | Total |
| 1 | GM Vincent Keymer | 8 | 10 | 0 | 18 |
| 2 | GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek | 4½ | 12 | 0 | 16½ |
| 3 | GM Michael Adams | 7 | 8 | 0 | 15 |
| 4 | GM Pentala Harikrishna | 4½ | 10 | 0 | 14½ |
| 5 | GM Arkadij Naiditsch | 5½ | 5 | 0 | 10½ |
| 6 | GM David Antón Guijarro | 5½ | 4 | 0 | 9½ |
| 7 | GM Romain Édouard | 3 | 4 | 0 | 7 |
| 8 | GM Noël Studer | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
After tomorrow’s fourth round, the blitz, the third discipline of the triathlon in Biel, will take place on Saturday.
In the main corona tournament there are still four players with a clean slate after four rounds.
One German is among the leaders, IM Gerlef Meins from Bremen.
Gerlef Meins
The games of the first three rounds of the C-HTO are now available as a PGN download for replay.
A view of the Open
| Rg. | Name | Elo | Pkt. | Wtg1 | |
| 1 | IM | Meins Gerlef | 2415 | 4,0 | 9,0 |
| 2 | GM | Bauer Christian | 2623 | 4,0 | 9,0 |
| 3 | AGM | Rohrer Christophe | 2235 | 4,0 | 7,5 |
| 4 | Decker Nils | 2047 | 4,0 | 7,0 | |
| 5 | Jovanovic Sladjan | 2176 | 3,5 | 8,0 | |
| 6 | FM | Fecker Noah | 2346 | 3,5 | 7,5 |
| 7 | FM | Youssoupov Moisse | 2333 | 3,5 | 5,5 |
| 8 | IM | Contin Daniel | 2251 | 3,0 | 10,0 |
| 9 | FM | Karsay Pascal | 2304 | 3,0 | 10,0 |
| 10 | IM | Gschnitzer Adrian | 2404 | 3,0 | 9,0 |
| 11 | FM | Kamber Bruno | 2290 | 3,0 | 9,0 |
| 12 | GM | Bellahcene Bilel | 2502 | 3,0 | 9,0 |
| 13 | Moriniaux Colin | 1963 | 3,0 | 9,0 | |
| 14 | FM | Buchenau Frank | 2278 | 3,0 | 8,5 |
| 15 | Mathieu Phileas | 2214 | 3,0 | 8,0 | |
| Emmenecker Pierre-Antoine | 2172 | 3,0 | 8,0 | ||
| 17 | Pahud Cedric | 2225 | 3,0 | 8,0 | |
| 18 | AIM | Cahen Alexis | 2125 | 3,0 | 8,0 |
| 19 | IM | Adrian Claude | 2246 | 3,0 | 8,0 |
| 20 | IM | Baenziger Fabian | 2403 | 3,0 | 8,0 |
| 21 | Pham Khoi | 2048 | 3,0 | 7,5 | |
| 22 | Krivenko Dion | 2046 | 3,0 | 7,5 | |
| 23 | Saya Ethan | 2199 | 3,0 | 7,5 | |
| 24 | GM | Siebrecht Sebastian | 2429 | 3,0 | 7,0 |
| 25 | Ermitsch Magnus | 2000 | 3,0 | 7,0 | |
| 26 | Perestjuk Marko | 2116 | 3,0 | 7,0 | |
| 27 | Carre Sylvain | 2106 | 3,0 | 7,0 | |
| 28 | Ohler Julius | 2024 | 3,0 | 7,0 | |
| 29 | Perreard Nicolas | 1956 | 3,0 | 7,0 | |
| 30 | Jepsen Thomas Tange | 2116 | 3,0 | 6,5 |
...138 participants
Translation from German: Nick Murphy
