The 53rd edition of Switzerland’s internationally-renowned Biel Chess Festival ended July 29th, emerging as the first successful major chess event in the world to be played with games on-site again since the COVID-19 pandemic.
There were at least seven tournaments in the festival with the main event being the Grandmaster Triathlon where eight grandmasters played at three time controls to decide the final result.
The players were: 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 played a single round robin of classical and rapid chess each, and a double round robin blitz, with the player having the highest combined score determined as winner.
The eventual victor was Wojtaszek, who took the rapid and blitz phases, with Harikrishna taking the classical stage and came close to winning the event himself but settled for runner-up honors just half-a-point behind the Polish GM.
The final standings: 1. Wojtaszek, 37; 2. Harikrishna, 36½; 3. Adams, 35½; 4. Keymer, 28; 5. Naiditsch, 22½; 6. Anton Guijarro, 22; 7. Edouard, 17½; 8. Studer, 15.
Wojtaszek, R (2719)-Studer, N (2580) [E00]
Biel (7.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Be7 5.Bg2 d5 6.Nf3 0-0 7.0-0 Nbd7 8.a4 a5 9.Qc2 c6 10.Na3 Bd6 11.Rfd1 Ne4 12.Be3 f5 13.Qc1 h6 14.Ne1 g5 15.f3 Nef6 16.Nd3 Qe7 17.Bf2 Qg7 18.Re1 h5 19.cxd5 exd5 20.Nb1 Kh8 21.Nc3 h4 22.gxh4 gxh4 23.Kh1 h3 24.Bxh3 Qh7 25.Nf4 Nh5 26.Ne6 Re8 27.Ng5 Qg6 28.Nf7+ Qxf7 29.Qh6+ Qh7 30.Qxd6 Ndf6 31.Bh4 Qf7 32.Rg1 f4 33.Bxc8 Raxc8 34.Bxf6+ Qxf6 35.Qxf6+ Nxf6 36.Rg6 Nh7 37.Rag1 Rc7 38.R1g4 Rf7 39.Kg1 Nf8 40.Rh6+ Nh7 41.Kf2 Rg8 42.Rgh4 Rg5 43.Na2 Kg8 44.Nc1 Nf8 45.Nd3 Ng6 46.Rg4 Kg7 47.Rxg5 Kxh6 48.Rxg6+ Kxg6 49.Ne5+ Kf6 50.Nxf7 Kxf7 51.e4 fxe3+ 52.Kxe3 b6 53.h4 c5 54.f4 Kg7 55.Kf3 Kg6 56.Kg4 Kg7 57.h5 Kf6 58.f5 cxd4 59.h6 1-0
Edouard, R (2649)-Keymer, V (2558) [B51]
Biel (7.2) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.Ba4 Ngf6 5.0-0 e6 6.Re1 a6 7.c4 Be7 8.d4 cxd4 9.Nxd4 0-0 10.Nc3 Qc7 11.Qe2 Ne5 12.Bb3 Bd7 13.f4 Ng6 14.Kh1 e5 15.Nf5 Bd8 16.fxe5 Nxe5 17.Bf4 Re8 18.Rad1 Bxf5 19.exf5 Qc8 20.Qc2 Ba5 21.Ba4 Qxc4 22.Bg5 Bxc3 23.bxc3 b5 24.Bb3 Qg4 25.Bxf6 gxf6 26.Qf2 Kh8 27.Rxd6 Rad8 28.Rxd8 Rxd8 29.Qb6 Re8 30.Bxf7 Qh4 31.g3 Qh6 32.Bxe8 Ng4 33.Bh5 Qxh5 34.Qb8+ Kg7 35.Re7+ Kh6 36.Qf8+ Kg5 37.Rg7+ Kxf5 38.Qc8+ 1-0
Anton Guijarro, D (2703)-Harikrishna, P (2719) [D45]
Biel (7.3) 2020
1.c4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.d4 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.b3 0-0 8.Be2 b6 9.Bb2 Bb7 10.0-0 Qe7 11.Rfe1 Rfe8 12.Rad1 Rad8 13.Bf1 c5 14.cxd5 exd5 15.Nb5 Bb8 16.dxc5 bxc5 17.g3 Ng4 18.Bg2 Ndf6 19.Nc3 h5 20.Ba3 Qc7 21.h3 d4 22.hxg4 hxg4 23.Nb5 Qa5 24.Nfxd4 Bxg2 25.Qxc5 Bb7 26.Nf5 Rd5 27.Ne7+ Rxe7 28.Qxe7 Qxb5 29.e4 Rxd1 30.Rxd1 Bxe4 31.Re1 Ba8 0-1
Adams, M (2701)-Naiditsch, A (2626) [C55]
Biel (7.4) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Be7 5.0-0 0-0 6.Re1 d6 7.a4 Na5 8.Ba2 c5 9.c3 Nc6 10.Na3 h6 11.Bd2 a6 12.h3 Rb8 13.Nc2 Be6 14.Bxe6 fxe6 15.d4 Qe8 16.dxc5 dxc5 17.a5 Rd8 18.Qe2 Nh5 19.Be3 Qg6 20.Ra4 Nf4 21.Bxf4 Rxf4 22.Rd1 Rxd1+ 23.Qxd1 Rxe4 24.Qd3 Rg4 25.Qxg6 Rxg6 26.Ne3 Rf6 27.Nd2 Rf8 28.Ne4 Rd8 29.Kf1 Kf7 30.Ke2 Ke8 31.Nd2 h5 32.Nb3 g6 33.Re4 Kf7 34.Ra4 Kf6 35.Nc4 Kf7 36.Nb6 Bf8 37.Nd2 Be7 38.Ne4 Ke8 39.Ra3 Kf8 40.Ra1 Ke8 41.Nc4 Rd5 42.g3 Rd8 43.Nb6 Kf7 44.Ra3 Ke8 45.h4 Kf7 46.Nc4 Rd7 47.Rb3 Kf8 48.Ke3 Kg7 49.Kf3 Kf8 50.Ke3 Kg7 51.Ng5 Kf6 52.Rb6 Kf5 53.Ne4 g5 54.g4+ hxg4 55.h5 Nd8 56.Ncd6+ Bxd6 57.Nxd6+ Kf6 58.Ne4+ Kg7 59.Nxc5 Rc7 60.Nxe6+ Nxe6 61.Rxe6 Rc5 62.Rg6+ Kh7 63.Rxg5 Rxa5 64.Rxg4 b5 65.Rg6 b4 66.cxb4 Rb5 67.Rg4 Kh6 68.Kd3 Kxh5 69.f3 Rb8 70.Kc4 Rc8+ 71.Kb3 Rf8 72.Ka4 Rxf3 73.Re4 Kg6 74.Rxe5 Kf6 75.Re8 Kf7 76.Ra8 Ke7 77.Ka5 Rb3 78.Rb8 Kd7 79.Kxa6 Kc7 80.Rb7+ Kc8 81.b5 Rxb2 82.Rh7 Rb1 83.Kb6 Rb2 84.Rh8+ Kd7 85.Rb8 Rb1 86.Ka7 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nxh7! Black’s futile options are 1…Bb3, Rf5 2.Sg6#; 1…Bf5, Sf4 2.Bg5#; 1…Rf6 2.Qxf6#./PN
