Chess in the Last 24 Hours: Aronian Soars in Biel, Two Nations Crown New Champions
Levon Aronian played the Biel Chess Festival for the first time in his life and won four rapid games in a row to take a commanding lead. A young Turkish star lost his first three. Meanwhile Belgium and the Netherlands crowned new national champions, one of them with a perfect 9/9. Here is everything that happened in chess in the last 24 hours.
Levon Aronian has played chess for a very long time. He was once the number two player in the world. He has won almost everything. But until this weekend, he had never played in Biel.
Biel is a small Swiss city famous for making watches. Its chess festival is 59 years old. Many great players have won there. Aronian, at 43, came for the first time — and he did not come to enjoy the view.
A perfect start in the Swiss watch city
On Sunday, the Biel Masters began its "triathlon". This is a fun idea: the players play three kinds of chess — rapid, blitz, and classical — and the points are added together. Sunday was the rapid day. Five games, fast chess.
Aronian drew his first game. Then he won. And won. And won again. Four wins in a row. He did not lose once.
At the end of the day he was far ahead of everyone. Aydin Suleymanli of Azerbaijan is second, but three points behind. That is a big gap.
Not everyone had a happy day. Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, the young Turkish star that many people say will be a future champion, lost his first three games. Three losses, one after another. He fought back with a draw and a win, but he still ended the day at the bottom of the table.
Chess is like this. One day you fly. One day you fall. The good news for Erdogmus: the classical games start on Tuesday, and there are many points still to win.
| Biel Masters — after the rapid day |
|---|
| 1. Levon Aronian — clear leader |
| 2. Aydin Suleymanli — 3 points behind |
| 6. Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus — last, but not finished |
168 players, one winner
While the stars played, 168 ordinary players fought in the Biel Rapid Open. Nine rounds in one day. That is a lot of chess.
Three players finished together on 7½ points. The trophy went to Grandmaster Adam Kozak of Hungary, who won on tiebreak. Bu Xiangzhi of China and Dimitris Alexakis of Greece were just behind him.
This is one of the beautiful things about chess. A world-class grandmaster and a club player can walk into the same hall, on the same day, and play the same game.
Two countries, two new champions
Away from Switzerland, two national championships ended.
In Belgium, Daniel Dardha won his fourth national title. It was not easy. In round three he lost to Elias Ruzhansky, a player rated 164 points below him. Ruzhansky then took the lead. But he started drawing games, and Dardha caught him. In the last round, Ruzhansky drew again. Dardha won. That was the whole championship, decided in one afternoon.
In the women's section, Hanne Goossens did something rare: she won every single game. Nine games, nine wins. It is her fifth Belgian title.
In the Netherlands, Sergey Tiviakov became national champion for the fourth time. He beat young Liam Vrolijk in a blitz tiebreak after their two main games were drawn. Machteld van Foreest kept her women's title, winning both final games.
What to watch today
The Women's Speed Chess Championship reaches the quarterfinals. Hou Yifan, the strongest woman player in the world, is scheduled to play Dinara Wagner. Polina Shuvalova faces Anastasia Avramidou. Divya Deshmukh, Bibisara Assaubayeva, Ju Wenjun, Anna Muzychuk, Kateryna Lagno, and Alice Lee are already through.
In Biel, Monday is a rest day. The players will visit a watch factory. Then, on Tuesday, the slow games begin — and slow games are where reputations are really made.
Aronian is flying. Let us see if he can land.
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