Quang Liem won Biel Grandmaster for the second time
Not having the right to decide in the final game, Quang Liem also had difficulty holding the black piece against the number one Czech player David Navara on July 26. During the game, the Vietnamese representative never had the upper hand, and accepted a draw after 37 moves in a constant position. That result helped Quang Liem earn 1.5 more points, surpassing Vincent Keymer to take the top of the table. At that time, the German representative Keymer was inferior to Arjun Erigaisi.
Erigaisi held the white piece, gaining the advantage over Keymer in the endgame, when Quang Liem ended the game with Navara. The number one player in Germany only needed a draw to win the title, but could not complete the goal when holding the black piece against Erigaisi, so he shook his head many times. After more than 7 and a half hours of competition, Keymer decided to shake hands with Erigaisi and lose the championship to Quang Liem.
In the end, Quang Liem won 5 out of 14 fast chess points, 8.5 out of 14 blitz chess points, and 19 out of 28 standard chess points, totaling 32.5 points. The 32-year-old won the Biel Grandmaster for the second time in a row, after picking up 35.5 points last year as the number one seed. This year as the number two seed, Quang Liem defended the throne with one point more than Keymer, winning about 11,600 USD in prize money.
Quang Liem ranked sixth in fast chess, second in blitz chess and first in standard chess. He earned an extra 11.8 Elo of standard chess after this tournament, including winning the game against Yu Yangyi. His standard chess performance is similar to that of a player with Elo 2,853, the third highest achievement in his career after the 2015 Millionaires (2,876) and 2010 Aeroflot (2,871). Quang Liem's Elo in August 2023 will increase to 2,740, and he is ranked 16th in the world, the highest achievement in his career.
Biel Grandmaster became the first high-level invitational tournament that Quang Liem won more than once. He won another invitational tournament of similar level, Summer Classic 2019, with six players with an average Elo of 2,694.
Biel Grandmaster belongs to the annual Biel Chess Festival since 1968 in Switzerland. This year's tournament invites eight players with an average Elo of 2,699, competing in three types of score chess, with seven quick games, standard chess and 14 blitz games. Each game of standard chess wins four points, fast chess two points and blitz chess one point, standard draw 1.5 points, fast chess one point and blitz chess 0.5 points.
After this tournament, Quang Liem is expected to go to Baku, Azerbaijan to attend the Chess World Cup from July 30, but he will be exempted from the first round as the 15th seed.
