Aravindh holds Fedoseev, Navara wins @ Biel
GMs Fedoseev & Aravindh led the table with 8.5 points, even as their first round classical encounter ended in a draw at the 58th Biel Chess Festival, Biel, Switzerland. A draw with black pieces is a good start for Chithambaram as he fended off Fedoseev’s efforts to press for a win. Also, the games between Wojtaszek Radoslaw – Svane Frederik and Salem A R Saleh – Murzin Volodar ended in draws.
The Bogo-Indian Defense game saw top seed GM Fedoseev working from the word go for the initiative. But the Indian Grandmaster, sitting behind black pieces, had the right answers for all the questions posed across the board. In addition, GM Aravindh Chithambaram resorted to active play on either side, that saw periodical exchanges. The resultant minor pieces ending offered no big chances for both and peace arrived after five hours & 61 moves of play.
The Grandmaster triathlon (GMT) has multiple segments for the contestants to deal with. Hence it was no surprise to see a sedate start for the classical section. On the other hand, all the three games in Challengers section ended with results, with black calling the shots in two of the three games. GM Nikolas Theodorou moved into early lead with 12.0 points followed by GM Aram Hakobyan at 11.0 points.
Similar to Norway Chess, Biel has it’s own unique points system for the Grandmaster triathlon GMT viz., (a) Classical: 4 points for a win; 1.5 point for a draw; 0 point for a loss, (b) Rapid: 2 points for a win; 1 point for a draw; 0 point for a loss (c) Blitz: 1 point for a win; 0.5 point for a draw; 0 point for a loss.
Time Control: Classical: 120 minutes for the first 40 moves + 30 minutes for the rest of the game + 30 seconds increment as of move 41. Rapid: 15 minutes + 5 seconds increment per move & Blitz: 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment per move.
The second round of Biel Masters classical chess starts by Wednesday 16th July at 2 PM local time, 5:30 PM IST.
Round 1 Results (Biel GMT Masters Classical): Vladimir Fedoseev (8.5) drew with Aravindh Chithambaram (8.5), Radoslaw Wojtaszek (7.5) drew with Frederik Svane (4.5), Salem A R Saleh (3.5) drew with Volodar Murzin (6.5)
Round 1 Results (Biel GMT Challengers Classical): Rinat Jumabayev (4.0) lost to Nikolas Theodorou (12.0), Aram Hakobyan (11.0) beat Ma Qun (5.0), Daniel Dardha (4.0) lost to David Navara (6.0)
Fedoseev Vladimir (2739) – Aravindh Chithambaram V R (2724) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Qe7 5. e3 O-O 6. Bxb4 Qxb4+ 7. Qd2 Qe7 8. Nc3 d5 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Bd3 Nc6 11. h3 Rd8 12. a3 a6 13. Qc2 Rd6 14. O-O Be6 15. Ng5 g6 16. Rae1 Re8 17. f4 Bc8 18. Qf2 h6 19. e4 hxg5 20. e5 Rdd8 21. exf6 Qxf6 22. Nxd5 Qd6 23. Rxe8+ Rxe8 24. Bc4 gxf4 25. Qxf4 Qxf4 26. Rxf4 Re1+ 27. Kf2 Rc1 28. Bd3 g5 29. Re4 Kg7 30. Ne3 Kf8 31. g4 f6 32. h4 gxh4 33. Rf4 Kg7 34. Nd5 h3 35. Kg3 Rd1 36. Bf1 h2 37. Kxh2 Rxd4 38. Nxf6 Rxf4 39. Nh5+ Kf7 40. Nxf4 Ne5 41. Kg3 Bxg4 42. Nd5 c6 43. Kf4 Nd7 44. Nc3 Be6 45. b4 Ke7 46. Ke3 Kd6 47. Kd4 Bf5 48. Na4 Nf8 49. Nc5 b6 50. Nxa6 Bc8 51. a4 Ne6+ 52. Kc3 Nf4 53. Bc4 Ng6 54. a5 Ne7 55. axb6 Bxa6 56. Bxa6 Nd5+ 57. Kb3 Nxb6 58. Be2 Nd5 59. Bf3 Nxb4 60. Kxb4 Ke5 61. Bxc6 1/2-1/2
Dardha Daniel (2627) – Navara David (2662) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. a4 a6 7. b4 Ba7 8. O-O O-O 9. Nbd2 Ne7 10. Re1 Ng6 11. d4 exd4 12. cxd4 d5 13. exd5 Nxd5 14. Qb3 Be6 15. Ne4 Ndf4 16. Bxe6 Nxe6 17. d5 Nef4 18. Bxf4 Nxf4 19. Rad1 Re8 20. Qc4 Ng6 21. Nc5 Rxe1+ 22. Rxe1 b5 23. axb5 axb5 24. Qe4 Qf8 25. h4 Bxc5 26. bxc5 Qxc5 27. h5 Nf8 28. h6 gxh6 29. Ne5 Re8 30. Re3?? (30…Qf3 & white could possibly survive)
30…Ng6 31. Rg3 c6 32. Qf5 Qxd5 33. f4 b4 34. Kh2 b3 35. Qb1 Qd4 36. Nd3 Rb8 37. f5 b2 38. fxg6 hxg6 39. Rf3 c5 40. Rf1 c4 41. Ne1 c3 42. Nc2 Qd6+ 43. Kg1 Rb5 0-1
Complete Results
Pictures Courtesy: Biel Chess Festival 2025
Official Site: https://www.bielchessfestival.ch/Homepage.html
