7/29/2021 – All four games of the Grandmaster Tournament in Biel ended with a draw, but Noel Studer and Alan Pichot played for almost eight hours and made 138 moves before they agreed to share the point. The young German Grandmaster Vincent Keymer had no easy task against Kirill Alekseenko, but solved it. In the Open, Salem Saleh and Surya Ganguly share the lead with 3.0/3 each. | Photos: Biel Chess Festival
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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.!
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Long games
In the first round of the classical part of the Grandmaster Tournament at the 54th Biel Chess Festival, Kirill Alekseenko and Nihal Sarin played the longest game of the round. Nihal Sarin tried desperately to defend an endgame with a pawn but after 91 moves he conceded defeat and resigned.
But in round 2 Noel Studer and Alan Pichot played an even longer game – they played for seven hours and 42 minutes before agreeing to a draw.
Studer, the local hero, tried to win a queen ending with two pawns against one but Pichot defended attentively and after 138 moves the game ended in a draw.
Vincent Keymer, born 2004 and Germany's youngest Grandmaster of all time, was up against World Championship Candidate Kirill Alekseenko, who seems to be very motivated in Biel. Keymer had White but ended up with a somewhat passive position after the opening, which he, however, was able to hold.
Vincent Keymer
Black has more space and an outpost on e4. However, White's position is rather solid.
26.Kh2 c4 27.Rd4 Nc5 Another try was 27...h4 28.gxh4 Qf6 White now best reacts with 29.f3. After (29.g3 Nxg3 30.fxg3 Qxd4) 29...Nc5 30.Rcd1 Nd3 31.Qd2 (31.R1xd3!? cxd3 32.Qxd3) 31...Rb6 32.b3 Rbe6 33.Bf2 Nxf2 34.Qxf2 chances are about equal.
28.Rcd1 Nd3 29.b3 Re4 30.Bc3 After 30.bxc4 Rxd4 31.exd4 dxc4 32.Bc3 Rf6 Black is better.
36... h4 36...Qf5!? is a winning attempt: 37.Kg1?! h4 38.Bd4 (Worse is 38.gxh4 c3 39.e4 Qb5 40.e5 (40.Bd4? Nc1 41.Qxb5 axb5 and Black wins.) 40...Qb1+ 41.Kh2 Nf4 42.Qxa6 Qe4 and White has to defend.) 38...hxg3 39.fxg3
Nihal Sarin and Boris Gelfand as did Gata Kamsky and Maxime Lagarde. But all received 1.5 points for this draw because in the Biel Grandmaster Triathlon 4 points are awarded for a win and 1.5 points for a draw.
Games
Live commentary of round 2
MTO
The Master Open also has an interesting field. To support women's chess, the festival has increased the prizes for female participants. This seems to be motivating and Vaishali Rameshbabu (Elo 2393), the elder sister of Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, drew against the Russian GM Maksim Chigaev (Elo 2630). Javiera Belen Gomez Barrera from Chile (Elo 2083) and Nikola Mayrhuber from Austria (Elo 2062) also caused a slight upset by drawing against their Grandmaster opponents GM Kantor Gergely (Elo 2527) and GM Andrei Shchekachev (Elo 2515).
After three rounds Salem Saleh and Surya Ganguly share the lead with 3.0/3 each.
In this course, you’ll learn how to take the initiative against the London and prevent White from comfortably playing their usual system by playing 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 Nh5.
London System Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains in all 11 285 games from Mega 2026 and the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 282 are annotated.
The London System Powerbook 2026 is based on more than 410 000 games or game fragments from different opening moves and ECO codes; what they all have in common is that White plays d4 and Bf4 but does not play c4.
In this course, Grandmaster Elisabeth Pähtz presents the London System, a structured and ambitious approach based on the immediate Bf4, leading to rich and dynamic positions.
Opening videos: Open Spanish (Sipke Ernst) and Classical Sicilian (Nico Zwirs). Endgame Special by Igor Stohl: ‘Short or long side’ – where should the defending king be placed in rook endgames? ‘Lucky bag’ with 35 master analyses.
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The Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation with 5.Bf4 has a great balance between positional play and sharp pawn pushes; and will be a surprise for your opponents while being easy to learn for you, as the key patterns are familiar.
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