Who's watching the Biel Chess Festival Tournament? Highlights of Round 1 & 2
Biel is one of the tournaments I've always wanted to play in, and hopefully, I'll get the chance to do so one day. This year's edition features an interesting lineup, balancing young talents with seasoned professionals. The tournament is split into different groups: - Grandmaster Triathlon (Round Robin) - Challenger Triathlon (Round Robin) - Masters Tournament (Swiss System) The Triathlon stands for three different time controls: Blitz, Rapid, and Classical. After three rounds, here are some highlights: Mishra's Win Over Pragg in Round 1 --------------------------------------------------------- Mishra started with a sensational win over Pragg with the black pieces. After a complex theoretical battle, the position became extremely unclear by move 20. Although Black's exposed king was supposed to give White more than enough compensation, Pragg wasn't able to navigate accurately and let the black king escape to safety. Mishra kept the extra material and converted masterfully. See the full game in GIF. Link to the game: https://www.chess.com/events/2024-biel-international-chess-festival-grandmaster-triathlon/06/Praggnanandhaa_R-Mishra_Abhimanyu Vincent Keymer vs. Le Quang Liem 0-1 -------------------------------------------------------- An interesting encounter between two tournament heavyweights. The tense strategic battle seemed headed for a draw until the dreaded 40th move for Vincent. (By the way, the 40th move is statistically where the most mistakes happen, as it is the last move to reach additional time control.) A simple 40.axb5 would have led to a slightly superior pawn structure for White in a seemingly equal rook endgame. However, Vincent played 40.g4?, allowing Black to get active after the trade of rooks with 40...bxc4. The black king became much more active than White's. Le Quang's technique for the rest of the game was highly instructive.