Biel Masters 2025 heads to the finals
The Biel Chess International Festival 2025 is taking place July 12 – July 25 in Switzerland. Biel Masters 2025 is one of the Top Events in The Chess Calendar For the next two weeks, the chess world will once again be looking to Biel: for the 58 th time in a row, the Biel International Chess Festival is welcoming players from all over the world. After the Chess960 and the rapid, now it is time for the classical event.
Chess960: Radoslaw Wojtaszek wins Accentus Chess960 Masters in Biel
Rapid: Biel Chess 2025 – Masters rapid / Biel Chess 2025 – Challengers rapid
Classical: Biel Chess 2025 – Masters classical / Biel Chess 2025 – Challengers classical
Calendar: Top Events / Chess Calendar
The qualification phase of the Biel GMT (Grandmaster Triathlon) concluded today with blitz matches. Svane and Wojtaszek could not recover in the standings and are now out of the Masters. In the Challengers, Navara overtook Ma Qun thanks to superior blitz performance, securing a spot in the final phase.
A highlight of the day: 14-year-old Tanitoluwa Adewumi who recently won the US Chess Cadet Championship 2025 triumphed in the open blitz tournament, surpassing 164 players! GM Raetsky won the inaugural Biel Freestyle Chess Tournament after a tense final day.
GMT-Masters: Salem and Fedoseev Lead
After ten blitz games, both GM Saleh Salem and GM Vladimir Fedoseev top the GMT-Masters standings with 23 points. Aravindh remains in contention, trailing by 1½ points. Murzin narrowly secured the final qualification spot by defeating Wojtaszek in a dramatic final-round duel.
Interim Ranking – GMT-Masters
| Rank | Name | Games | Classical | Rapid | Blitz | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM Saleh SALEM | 20 | 15 | 2 | 6 | 23 |
| 2 | GM Vladimir FEDOSEEV | 20 | 8½ | 7 | 7½ | 23 |
| 3 | GM ARAVINDH Chithambaram | 20 | 8½ | 7 | 6 | 21½ |
| 4 | GM Volodar MURZIN | 20 | 7½ | 5 | 4 | 16½ |
| 5 | GM Radoslaw WOJTASZEK * | 20 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 16 |
| 6 | GM Frederik SVANE * | 20 | 4½ | 3 | 2½ | 10 |
* not qualified for final phase
GMT-Challengers: Navara Qualifies by a Whisker
Navara edged out Ma Qun by half a point in the blitz games, earning a spot in the final phase alongside top scorers Theodorou and Hakobyan. The top two pulled away significantly, especially in blitz performance.
Interim Ranking – GMT-Challengers
| Rank | Name | Games | Classical | Rapid | Blitz | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM Nikolas THEODOROU | 20 | 12½ | 8 | 6 | 26½ |
| 2 | GM Aram HAKOBYAN | 20 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 24 |
| 3 | GM Rinat JUMABAYEV | 20 | 8½ | 4 | 3 | 15½ |
| 4 | GM David NAVARA | 20 | 8½ | 2 | 5 | 15½ |
| 5 | GM MA Qun * | 20 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 15 |
| 6 | GM Daniel DARDHA * | 20 | 4½ | 4 | 5 | 13½ |
* not qualified for final phase
Adewumi (14) Dominates Blitz Tournament
FM Tanitoluwa Adewumi won 11 of 13 games, defeating multiple grandmasters. GM Pranesh M and FM Christian Glöckler followed in second and third place. The event featured 165 players, including 7 grandmasters.
Freestyle Winner: GM Raetsky
After a close final round with draws among all leaders, GM Alexander Raetsky won the first Biel Freestyle Chess Tournament on tiebreaks. WGM Evgeniya Doluhanova and Evangelos Kostopoulos completed the podium.
- GM Alexander Raetsky (FID)
- WGM Evgeniya Doluhanova (UKR)
- Evangelos Kostopoulos (GRE)
Outlook
Monday is a rest day for GMT players. However, the Master Tournament MTO and Amateur ATO resume with Rounds 7 and 6. The two-week tournaments, split by rating (above/below 1800 Elo), also begin Monday morning.
The final phase of GMT resumes Tuesday with three classical rounds to crown the GMT-Masters and GMT-Challengers 2025 champions.
Beauty Award
Best Game: Alexandros Panagiotopoulos (2089) vs. GM Alexander Raetsky (2307) – 0 – 1
Photo Gallery
View daily photo collections from the Biel International Chess Festival here:
Biel Chess Festival Flickr Album