Le Quang Liem is the winner in the Grandmaster Triathlon at the Biel Chess Festival. The Vietnamese player, who was convincing throughout the tournament, proved to be the strongest player in both classical and rapid chess and did not really drop back in blitz chess either, so he truly deserves the overall victory in the Triathlon! The podium is completed by Russia’s Andrey Esipenko and India’s Gukesh Dommaraju. Replay games

In the ladies’ quadriathlon there was a “home victory”: Swiss Yongzhe Zhuang beat former leader Iris Ciarletta (FRA) in the final round to secure victory. Gohar Tamrazyan, another Swiss, came in third.

The high-class Masters tournament in Biel was surprisingly won by Mahammad Muradli from Azerbaijan, ahead of Kirill Alekseenko (RUS) and Shant Sargsyan (ARM). In the Amateur Tournament, India’s Manmay Chopra and Harisurya
Bharadwaj Gundepudi won ahead of Majed Al Helaoy from Syria.

More: GM Maxime Lagarde wins Biel Rapid 2022

Despite three wins in a row, Lê Quang Liêm was still unsure whether to win Biel 2022 going into today’s game. Indeed, he was facing his first opponent Andrey Esipenko and had to play with the Blacks, and in case of victory, it would have been the Russian who would win! The Vietnamese was in trouble throughout an extremely complex game, but he
found the resources to draw and thus win the tournament. Gukesh had a good position with Black against Salem, but lost control of the events and then finally the game. He nevertheless retained third place as fourth-placed Abdusattorov fell to Kamsky, the Biel 2022 winner, who after a difficult tournament finished on a high note. Naiditsch had also saved the best for last as he relinquished his last place to Vincent Keymer, beating him convincingly with White. The podium remained unchanged throughout the tournament, but the order was uncertain until the end!

Final Ranking
Rank Name Federation Games Classic Rapid Blitz TOTAL
1 GM Quang Liêm LÊ VIE 28 17.5 11 7 35½
2 GM Andrey ESIPENKO FIDE 28 15.5 10 7 32½
3 GM Dommaraju GUKESH IND 28 15 7 7½ 29½
4 GM Nodirbek ABDUSATTOROV UZB 28 9½ 9 8 26½
5 GM Saleh SALEM UAE 28 11 7 8 26
6 GM Gata KAMSKY USA 28 14 1 8½ 23½
7 GM Arkadij NAIDITSCH AZE 28 12½ 6 2 20½
8 GM Vincent KEYMER GER 28 6 5 8 19


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! Zhuang managed to beat Ciarletta with the blacks, and moreover to pass her in the ranking and win the tournament! Tamrazyan moved up to third place by beating Avilova, taking advantage of Cornileau’s loss to Sumarriva. Moracchini only got a draw against Cecila Keymer, when a win would have been needed
to share third place.

Final Ranking
Rank Name Federation Classic Chess960 Rapid Blitz TOTAL
1 Zhuang Yongzhe SUI 19 3.5 10 6.5 39
2 Iris Ciarletta FRA 9.5 5.5 9 12 36
3 Gohar Tamrazyan SUI 19 2.5 8 5.5 35
4 Juliette Cornileau FRA 13.5 5.5 10 5.5 34.5
5 Margaux Moracchini FRA 17.5 1 5 9 32.5
6 Laura Sumarriva Paulin FRA 12.5 3 7 8 30.5
7 Yulia Avilova SUI 3 4 5 7.5 19.5
8 Cecilia Keymer GER 10 3 2* 2 17

Master Tournament MTO: Muradli surprise winner

Kirill Alekseenko playing with the white pieces had the advantages on his side against
Muradli at table 1, but missed out in zeitnot and had to settle for a draw. The two players
finished thus alone on 7 points out of 9 thanks to two draws at tables 2 and 3, and it was
then the Azeri who emerged victorious! A breathtaking performance from Mahammad
Muradli who, rated at 2523 ELO, was only 21st on the MTO starting list, 200 ELO points
behind the favorites! Of the 6 chasers at 6½ points, it was finally Armenia’s Shant
Sargsyan who moved up to third place. The Indians, who had been in control of the MTO
throughout the ten days, finally did not reach the podium! Visakh, Sethuraman and
Mendonca finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively in this tournament with 114
participants.

Of the 21 Swiss players taking part, Gabriel Gähweiler and Igor Schlegel finished the
tournament most successfully with 5 out of a possible 9 points each.

ATO: Manmay Chopra wins with 8 points out of 9

In the Amateur Tournament ATO, the Indians did finish in style. Harisurya Bharadwaj Gundepudi won at table 1 against Majed Al Helaoy, and Manmay Chopra won table 2 against Niels Stijve. The two above-mentioned winners, both Indians, each finished with an impressive 8 out of 9 points, but Manmay Chopra won ont the tie-breaking criteria. The
podium is completed by Al Helaoy at 7 points, 1 full point behind the winners! The Swiss were also well represented at the ATO: almost one hundred of the 143 ranked players came from the country of the organizer. Niels Stijve, Dominique Wiesmann and Simon Schnell were the best finishers at 6.5 points.