Despite all the turbulence, one constant is certain about the Biel summer: the Biel International Chess Festival opened its doors for the 55th time in an uninterrupted series - the fact that Peter Bohnenblust, president of the organizing committee, proudly highlighted in his opening speech. A popular chess forum running from July 10-22 included several exciting competitions and was financially supported by the City of Biel-Bienne, ACCENTUS, VINETUM, and FIDE Open Aid Project.

The Grandmaster Triathlon was a centrepiece of the festival. The 8-player tournament combined three different time formats (blitz, rapid and classic), counting towards the final score. A win in a classical game was worth 4 points, with 1½ points for a draw. In the Rapid (15min+5s) segment, a victory was worth 2 points and a draw 1 point. The blitz (3+2) was played as a double round-robin with 1 point for a win and ½ points for a draw.

He couldn't be sure coming into the final round, but thanks to a draw against his first rival Andrey Esipenko, Lê Quang Liêm secured the title in the Grandmaster Triathlon. The Vietnamese GM, who was convincing throughout the tournament, proved to be the strongest player in classical and rapid chess and maintained his high level in blitz. He deservedly won Triathlon. Andrey Esipenko and India's Gukesh Dommaraju completed the podium.

Despite three wins in a row, Lê Quang Liêm had a tough test in the final round of the classical segment against his main rival Andrey Esipenko with Black. The Vietnamese was in trouble throughout an extremely complex game, but he found his way out to secure a draw and win the tournament. Gukesh D had a promising position with Black against Saleh Salem, but lost control over the proceedings and went down. Still, he retained third place in the final standings as fourth-placed Nodirbek Abdusattorov fell to Gata Kamsky, the Biel 2021 winner, who finished on a high note. Interestingly, the top 3 remained unchanged throughout the tournament, but the order was unclear until the very end.

Final standings:

As part of the Year of the Women in Chess proclaimed by FIDE, the Ladies ACCENTUS Quadriathlon took place at the Biel Chess Festival with eight invited young talents. The Swiss were ruthless in this last round stealing the show. Zhuang Yongzhe (Switzerland) managed to beat Iris Ciarletta (France) with the black pieces, leapfrogged her opponent and won the event. Another local player, Gohar Tamrazyan, moved up to third place after defeating her compatriot Yulia Avilova, taking advantage of Juliette Cornileau's loss to Laura Sumarriva. Margaux Moracchini needed a win to share third place but managed only a draw against Cecila Keymer.

Final standings:

The Master Tournament, a 9-round Swiss event, brought together 114 players and produced a major surprise. In the final round, Kirill Alekseenko playing with the white pieces, got an advantage against the co-leader Mahammad Muradli (Azerbaijan) on table 1 but let it slip away and had to settle for a draw. The two players finished on 7 points out of 9 and tied for first place as the games at tables 2 and 3 were drawn. It was then the Azeri GM who emerged victorious thanks to better tiebreaks. It was a breathtaking performance by Muradli, who, rated just 2523, was only 21st on the starting list, 200 rating points behind the favourites.

Out of six chasers who had 6½ points before the final round, Armenia's Shant Sargsyan claimed third place. The Indian players, who were on the top of the MTO standings for the most part, did not make it to the podium. Visakh, Sethuraman and Mendonca finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.

Final standings:

The Amateur Tournament (ATO) was dominated by the Indian players. In the final round the leaders Harisurya Bharadwaj overcame Gundepudi Majed Al Helao while Manmay Chopra bested Niels Stijve. The two above-mentioned winners, both Indians, scored an impressive 8/9, with Manmay Chopra coming out on top by dint of better tiebreaks. Al Helaoy (Syria) netted 7 points and took the last place on the podium, finishing a full point behind the winners.  

Final Ranking ATO: 
https://chess-results.com/tnr636483.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=9  

Text and photos: official website

Photos of the Biel International Chess Festival are available here: 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/143150736@N02/collections/72157720866132786/ 

Official website: www.bielchessfestival.ch