Liem Le Beats Praggnanandhaa To Win 3rd Biel Chess Title In A Row
GM Liem Le has won the 2024 Biel Chess Festival with a round to spare after defeating GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu with the black pieces. The U.S.-based Vietnamese number-one has now won the title for three consecutive years.
It was a bad day for the Rameshbabu family, as GM Vaishali Rameshbabu also lost a long, difficult game against GM Alexander Donchenko, who clinched second place in the Challengers.
The final round starts Thursday, July 25, at 8 a.m. ET / 14:00 CEST / 5:30 p.m. IST.
Once again there were just three games played in the Triathlons, with two of them decisive and earning the winner four points.
Masters And Challengers Results: Finals Round 2
Le has clinched first place in the Masters, with the second to fourth spots still up for grabs, while in the Challengers it's all clear: Saleh takes first, Donchenko second, and Vaishali third.
Masters And Challengers Standings After Finals Round 2
Masters: Liem Le Wins Third Consecutive Title
Mishra 1.5-1.5 Martirosyan
GM Abhimanyu Mishra vs. GM Haik Martirosyan was an Italian Opening that followed their game from the earlier rapid segment, when Mishra emerged a pawn up but had no real winning chances in a 53-move draw. It was the same this time round, and although the game lasted until move 94, a decisive result never looked on the cards.
That was Mishra's fifth classical draw in a row, while Martirosyan has drawn all seven, though he must have thought he had an excellent chance of going into the final round with White vs. Le knowing a win would give him the title.
It wasn't to be, however, since Le snatched the chance to win the title with a round to spare.
Praggnanandhaa 0-4 Le
Le has an unusual career trajectory. In both 2010 and 2011 he won the Aeroflot Open to gain a spot in the Dortmund super-tournament, where he didn't look out of place against the world's elite. He hit 2700 and the world top-25 at age 20, and in 2013 he won the World Blitz Championship, but at around the same time he became one of the many strong grandmasters tempted to take up a scholarship to a U.S. university—he later pointed out that despite his chess success he got few invitations to elite events.
Le would ultimately not only graduate from but take over the chess program at Webster University in St. Louis, but that success came at the expense of the chess career that might have been. Nevertheless, Le's chess talent remains, as he's been demonstrating in Biel for the last three years.
Going into the penultimate round this year, Le was ahead of Praggnanandhaa by five points, which meant that, with four points for a win, the Indian star had to win on demand to maintain a chance of claiming the title. Instead everything went Le's way, and he commented afterward:
"I’m extremely happy with the game today. Before the game I would be happy with a draw as well, but to be able to win such a nice game, in a really technical manner... and also with this victory I win the Festival with one round to spare, so that’s a very nice thing, because in the last two years it was still very tense, so it’s really nice that I make it with one round to spare this time."
I’m extremely happy with the game today.
—Liem Le
Le had guessed the opening his opponent would play, and though he briefly worried he'd fallen into preparation he emerged with a very healthy position.
Liem Le castles long: "This is also a very strong message from the reigning champion — I'm not afraid of you! Come and get me, I'm right here!" (Neiksans)https://t.co/QKqEOE0lQv#BielChess pic.twitter.com/CYh00QPXuo
— chess24 (@chess24com) July 24, 2024
He got what he described as "a great version of the Berlin endgame" and later won a pawn. From there on it was a technical task, and that's where he noted he thrives:
"I think my strength is more in technical positions, like you see in the game today, and also the game against Keymer. These type of positions I really like to play and I feel like I see a lot of things, a lot of interesting lines there, so that’s probably my main strength, in technical positions."
Praggnanandhaa tried to find refuge in a fortress, but it seems none existed, and both players had calculated the final pawn endgame to a win for Black.
The final moments as Praggnanandhaa resigns and Liem Le wins #BielChess 2024, just as he did in 2022 and 2023! pic.twitter.com/rsghw8W3vc
— chess24 (@chess24com) July 24, 2024
The annotations below are based on Le's post-game interview.
That win took Le up to 2741.6 on the live rating list, surpassing the peak rating he set after last year's Biel of 2740. If he beats Martirosyan in the final round he'll climb above World Champion Ding Liren into the world number-15 spot, while his new rating of 2745.6 would curiously be identical to Praggnanandhaa's current live rating.
Praggnanandhaa's rating will change as well in the final round, however, when he can still finish second. For that to happen he needs to beat Mishra, while Le defeats Martirosyan. The battle for second place is very much still alive.
Challengers: Donchenko Beats Vaishali To Claim Second Place
Everything is now decided in the Challengers, after Donchenko took revenge for his spectacular loss to Vaishali earlier in the event and has now clinched second place, while Vaishali takes third.
Vaishali, like her brother, was in the position of needing to win on demand, in her case to have a chance of second place. This was her last game, but, with the black pieces, she had an even tougher task. The game was an ordeal, as she gained an Isolated Queen's Pawn position that was tantalizingly close to equal, but it was a death by a thousand cuts as Donchenko eventually won the pawn and ground out a 75-move win.
With that loss Vaishali dropped out of the Women's top-10, just as Praggnanandhaa dropped out of the overall top-10, but in both cases the suspicion is it won't be long before a triumphant return. Vaishali also remains above 2500, in the world number-11 spot.
Meanwhile, there's one game to go in the Challengers, with tournament winner GM Saleh Salem taking on second-place Donchenko, with pride and rating points at stake.
The live broadcast was hosted by GM Arturs Neiksans and Angelika Valkova.
The 2024 Biel Chess Festival runs July 13-26 in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland, and features over 20 individual events. The main ones are the six-player Masters and Challengers GM Triathlons where the players compete in five rounds of Rapid chess (2 points for a win/1 for a draw), five rounds of Classical (4/1.5), and 10 rounds of Blitz (1/0.5). The top four then play three more rounds of Classical against each other, with colors reversed. Ties are settled by the standings of the Chess960 tournament held on the opening day.
Previous coverage:
- Day 9: Salem Wins Biel Challengers, Mishra Misses Chance In Masters
- Day 8: Praggnanandhaa Survives As Salem Crushes Challengers In Blitz
- Day 7: Praggnanandhaa Bounces Back As Vaishali Misses Win In Last Seconds
- Day 6: Keymer Beats Praggnanandhaa As Le, Salem Snatch Lead
- Day 5: Vaishali Enters Top 10 With 3rd Win In A Row
- Day 4: Vaishali, Mishra Continue Giant-Killing In Biel
- Day 3: Vaishali Beats Top Seed As Praggnanandhaa Falls To Mishra
- Days 1-2: Praggnanandhaa, Martirosyan, Donchenko Star As Biel Chess Festival Begins
Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.
