THE main event of the 54th Biel Chess Festival in Switzerland, dubbed the Grandmaster Triathlon, ended on Aug. 4 with a clear victory for American GM Gata Kamsky. The Triathlon was made up of three tournaments – standard, rapid, and blitz – and the combined scores of each player determine their final rankings.
The all-GM participants, in the order of their rankings, are Kirill Alekseenko (2699), Boris Gelfand (2675), Gata Kamsky (2658), Maxime Lagarde (2648), Alan Pichot (2630), Sarin Nihal (2620), Vincent Keymer (2591), and Noel Studer (2581). Kamsky, the third seed, emerged the clear winner with 36 points total in the combined standings – five points clear of top seed Alekseenko. The 47-year old Kamsky won the classic and the rapid phases.
The classic tournament, a Category 16 (average Elo: 2638) event, has a time control of 100 minutes for the first 40 moves plus 50 minutes for the next 20 moves plus 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus a 30-second increment per move starting from move one.
The final standings: 1. Kamsky, 35; 2. Alekseenko, 31; 3. Nihal, 28½; 4-5. Lagarde, Gelfand, 26; 6. Keymer, 25½; 7. Pichot, 21½; 8. Studer,15½.
Gelfand, B (2675)-
Lagarde, M (2648) [A40]
Biel (5.2) 2021
1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.e4 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Bxd2+ 5.Qxd2 d5 6.Bd3 Ba6 7.Na3 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Bxc4 9.Nxc4 Nf6 10.f3 Qe7 11.Ne2 0-0 12.0-0 c5 13.dxc5 Qxc5+ 14.Qd4 Nfd7 15.Rfd1 Nc6 16.Qxc5 Nxc5 17.Nd4 Nxd4 18.Rxd4 Rfd8 19.Rad1 Rxd4 20.Rxd4 b5 21.Nd6 a6 22.b4 Na4 23.Rd2 Rd8 24.Rc2 Kf8 25.Rc6 Nc3 26.Rxa6 Nxa2 27.Rxa2 Rxd6 28.Ra8+ Ke7 29.Rb8 Rd1+ 30.Kf2 Rd2+ 31.Kg3 Rb2 32.Rxb5 Kf6 33.h4 h5 34.Rb7 Rb3 35.b5 Rb2 36.b6 e5 37.Rb8 g6 38.Kh2 Kg7 39.b7 Rb1 40.g3 f6 41.f4 Rb2+ 42.Kg1 Rb1+ 43.Kf2 Rb2+ 44.Kf3 Rb3+ 45.Ke2 Rb2+ 46.Kd3 exf4 47.gxf4 g5 48.fxg5 fxg5 49.e5 gxh4 50.e6 h3 51.e7 h2 52.Rg8+ Kxg8 53.e8Q+ Kg7 54.Qe5+ Kg6 55.Qxb2 h1Q 56.b8Q Qf3+ 57.Kd4 Qg4+ 58.Kc5 Qg1+ 59.Qd4 Qc1+ 60.Kd5 Qg5+ 61.Qbe5 1-0
Pichot, A (2630)-
Kamsky, G (2658) [B12]
Biel (5.3) 2021
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.h4 Qb6 5.g4 Bd7 6.h5 c5 7.dxc5 Qxc5 8.c3 Nh6 9.Be2 Nc6 10.Be3 Qa5 11.f4 f6 12.b4 Qc7 13.b5 Nd8 14.Qxd5 Nxg4 15.Bd4 Nh6 16.Qc4 Qa5 17.Nd2 Rc8 18.Qd5 e6 19.Qb3 Nf5 20.h6 g6 21.exf6 Nxd4 22.cxd4 Bb4 23.Rd1 0-0 24.Ngf3 Rc3 25.Qb1 Bxb5 26.Qe4 Bc6 27.Qe5 Rxf3 0-1
Alekseenko, K (2699)-
Gelfand, B (2675) [B30]
Biel (6.4) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.Bxc6 bxc6 5.b3 f6 6.d3 e5 7.Nh4 g6 8.f4 exf4 9.Bxf4 Nh6 10.0-0 Nf7 11.Qe1 Bg7 12.Nd2 0-0 13.Qg3 d6 14.Nhf3 Be6 15.Rae1 Qd7 16.h3 Rae8 17.Kh1 Kh8 18.Nc4 Ne5 19.Ncxe5 fxe5 20.Be3 Rf7 21.Rf2 Ref8 22.Ref1 Kg8 23.Kg1 Qe7 24.Bg5 Bf6 25.Be3 Bg7 26.a3 a6 27.Kh2 Rf4 28.Re2 R4f7 29.Qe1 h6 30.Ref2 Qd7 31.Qa5 Qc8 32.Qc3 Kh7 33.b4 cxb4 34.axb4 Kg8 35.Qa3 Kh7 36.b5 c5 37.Qxa6 Qxa6 38.bxa6 Ra8 39.Ng5+ hxg5 40.Rxf7 Bxf7 41.Rxf7 Kg8 42.Rd7 Rxa6 43.Kg3 c4 44.Kg4 Ra2 45.dxc4 Rxc2 46.Rxd6 Rxc4 47.Rxg6 Rxe4+ 48.Kf3 Ra4 49.Rxg5 Kf7 50.Rg4 Ra3 51.Ke4 Bf6 52.Rg3 Bh4 53.Rg4 Bf6 54.Bg5 Ke6 55.Bxf6 Kxf6 56.Rg8 Ra4+ 57.Kf3 Ra3+ 58.Ke4 Ra4+ 59.Kf3 Ra3+ 60.Kg4 Ra4+ 61.Kg3 Ra3+ 62.Kh4 e4 63.Re8 Kf5 64.g4+ Kf4 65.g5 Ra1 66.Rf8+ Ke5 67.Kh5 Rg1 68.h4 e3 69.Re8+ Kf4 70.g6 Kf3 71.Kh6 e2 72.g7 Kf2 73.h5 1-0
Keymer, V (2591)-
Kamsky, G (2658) [A80]
Biel (7.4) 2021
1.d4 f5 2.Bg5 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e3 Nh6 5.Bxh6 Bxh6 6.f4 d6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.h4 Nf6 9.h5 e6 10.hxg6 hxg6 11.Bb5+ c6 12.Bd3 Qb6 13.Nh4 Bg7 14.Na4 Qa5+ 15.Nc3 Ng4 16.Ke2 Bd7 17.Nxg6 Rg8 18.Rh7 Bf6 19.Qh1 0-0-0 20.Ne7+ Bxe7 21.Rxe7 c5 22.Qg1 d5 23.Kd2 Nf6 24.Rf7 Rg6 25.Rxf6 Rxf6 26.a3 Qb6 27.Rb1 Rg8 28.Be2 Rh6 29.Bf3 cxd4 30.exd4 Be8 31.Qe3 Bd7 32.b3 Qd6 33.a4 Rh4 34.Ne2 Bc6 35.Kc3 Kb8 36.Kb2 Rc8 37.Rd1 Be8 38.Qf2 Rh7 39.Rd2 Bxa4 40.g3 Bb5 41.Nc1 a5 42.Be2 Be8 43.Bd3 a4 44.Re2 Qb4 45.Rxe6 Qc3+ 46.Ka2 Rh1 47.Qe3 axb3+ 48.Nxb3 Ba4 49.Nc1 Bxc2 50.Qe5+ Ka7 0-1
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rxd6!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Nxd6+ 2.Ne4#; 1…Nd4+ 2.Rg6#; 1…Ne7+/g7+/h6+/h4+/xe3+/g3Rd3#; 1…Qxd6 2.Ra5#./PN
