Under very strict regulations, the 53rd Biel Chess Festival, the first major chess festival to take place since the Covid-19 crisis, got underway July 17th with the Grandmaster Triathlon as the centerpiece event.
The eight competing players in the Triathlon are GMs Pentala Harikrishna (2719), Radoslaw Wojtaszek (2719), David Anton Guijarro (2703), Michael Adams (2701), Romain Edouard (2649), Arkadij Naiditsch (2626), Noel Studer (2580) and Vincent Keymer (2558). They play at three time controls to decide who wins the event – Classical (single round robin), Rapid (single round robin) and Blitz (double round robin).
The rapid phase just ended, with Wojtaszek emerging the convincing winner by a full point over Keymer and Harikrishna who shared 2nd-3rd places. Another side event of the Festival, the Chess960 or Fischer Random tournament but which does not count in the final tally, was won by Harikrishna.
The rapid final standings: 1. Wojtaszek, 6; 2-3. Harikrishna, Keymer, 5; 4. Adams, 4; 5. Naiditsch, 2½; 6-7. Anton Guijarro, Edouard, 2; 8. Studer, 1½.
Adams, M (2701)-Harikrishna, P (2719) [C84]
Biel (1) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a4 Bd7 9.c3 b4 10.Nbd2 0-0 11.Nc4 Rb8 12.h3 h6 13.Re1 Be6 14.a5 bxc3 15.bxc3 Qc8 16.Ba2 Re8 17.Bd2 Bf8 18.Ne3 Bxa2 19.Rxa2 Qe6 20.c4 Nb4 21.Ra3 c5 22.Rb3 Rb7 23.Bxb4 Reb8 24.Nc2 Be7 25.Qd2 Nh5 26.Reb1 Bd8 27.Kh2 Nf4 28.Ne3 cxb4 29.Ra1 Qg6 30.Ra4 Kh7 31.Qb2 Bg5 32.Nxg5+ Qxg5 33.g3 Ne6 34.Raxb4 Rxb4 35.Rxb4 Rxb4 36.Qxb4 Nc5 37.Qc3 Qh5 38.Ng4 f5 39.exf5 Qxf5 40.d4 exd4 0-1
Wojtaszek, R (2719)-Anton Guijarro, D (2703)
Biel (2) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.Bxc4 Bf5 6.Nf3 e6 7.Nc3 Nxc3 8.bxc3 Be7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 c5 11.Rb1 b6 12.0-0 Nc6 13.Qe4 Qd5 14.Qg4 Kf8 15.Bg5 cxd4 16.Bxe7+ Nxe7 17.cxd4 h6 18.Rb3 Rc8 19.Ra3 Rc7 20.h4 Kg8 21.Qf4 Nc6 22.Rd1 Kh7 23.Nh2 Rd8 24.Rad3 Rcd7 25.Kh1 Kh8 26.Ng4 Kh7 27.Ne3 Qb5 28.Qe4+ Kg8 29.d5 exd5 30.Nxd5 Nb8 31.a4 Qc5 32.f4 Kh8 33.f5 Qc6 34.e6 fxe6 35.fxe6 Rd6 36.e7 Re8 37.Rf1 Nd7 38.Rdf3 Nf6 39.Nxf6 gxf6 40.Qg6 Rxe7 41.Qxh6+ Kg8 42.Rg3+ Kf7 43.Qh8 Ke6 44.Rxf6+ Kd7 45.Rf8 Qc1+ 46.Kh2 Rd1 47.Rd8+ Ke6 48.Qg8+ Rf7 49.Qg4+ 1-0
Harikrishna, P (2719)-Naiditsch, A (2626) [C50]
Biel (2) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.0-0 d6 6.c3 h6 7.Re1 0-0 8.h3 a5 9.a4 Be6 10.Nbd2 Bxc4 11.Nxc4 Re8 12.Be3 Bxe3 13.Nxe3 Qd7 14.Qb3 b6 15.Qb5 Rad8 16.Nc4 Na7 17.Qxd7 Rxd7 18.b4 axb4 19.cxb4 b5 20.axb5 Nxb5 21.Na5 c5 22.bxc5 dxc5 23.Rac1 Nd4 24.Nxd4 cxd4 25.Nc4 Rde7 26.Ra1 Nd7 27.Ra5 g6 28.Rb1 Kf8 29.Rb7 h5 30.Kf1 Rd8 31.Raa7 Ke8 32.Ke2 Re6 33.Rc7 Ke7 34.Na5 Kd6 35.h4 Ree8 36.Nc4+ Ke6 37.Rc6+ Ke7 38.Nxe5 f6 39.Nxd7 1-0
Keymer, V (2558)-Adams, M (2701) [D37]
Biel (2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 Nbd7 7.c5 c6 8.Bd3 b6 9.b4 a5 10.a3 Ba6 11.b5 Bb7 12.cxb6 Nxb6 13.bxc6 Bxc6 14.Ne5 Bb7 15.0-0 Nfd7 16.Nxd7 Qxd7 17.Qb1 Nc4 18.Bxh7+ Kh8 19.Bd3 Nxa3 20.Qd1 Kg8 21.Qh5 f5 22.g4 Qe8 23.Qxe8 Raxe8 24.gxf5 exf5 25.Na4 Bb4 26.Rfc1 Nc4 27.Nc5 Bc6 28.Na6 Ra8 29.Nxb4 axb4 30.Rab1 Ra3 31.Bxc4 dxc4 32.Rxb4 Bd5 33.Rb5 Be4 34.Bd6 Rfa8 35.Bxa3 Rxa3 36.Rc5 Bd3 37.Kg2 Kf7 38.h4 Ra6 39.Rc7+ Kg6 40.Kg3 Kh6 41.Kf4 Ra2 42.Kg3 Ra6 43.R1xc4 Bxc4 44.Rxc4 Ra1 45.d5 Rg1+ 46.Kf3 Kg6 47.Rd4 Kf7 48.d6 Ke8 49.Kf4 g6 50.d7+ Kd8 51.Ke5 Rg2 52.Ke6 1-0
Wojtaszek, R (2719)-Keymer, V (2558) [A18]
Biel (6) 2020
1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.e4 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.e5 Ne4 6.Nf3 Bf5 7.d3 Nxc3 8.bxc3 c5 9.d4 c4 10.a4 Nc6 11.Be2 Be7 12.0-0 0-0 13.Ne1 f6 14.exf6 Bxf6 15.Nc2 Qd7 16.Ne3 Be6 17.Ba3 Rfe8 18.Ng4 Be7 19.Bxe7 Qxe7 20.Bf3 Bxg4 21.Bxg4 Qd6 22.Rb1 Rab8 23.Bf3 a6 24.Rb6 Re7 25.Qb1 Qd7 26.Qc1 Qd8 27.Qb2 Qd7 28.Qa3 Rd8 29.h3 Kf8 30.Rfb1 Na5 31.Re1 Nc6 32.Bxd5 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rf4! Black’s futile options are 1…Rxe6, e4 2.Q(x)e4#; 1…Kxe6 2.Qc6#; 1…exf4 2.Sgxf4#; 1…gxf4 2.Sdxf4#; 1…Sb5/c4 2.Q(x)c4#./PN
