Biel Chess Festival 2025 - WT1

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55 players participated in this 5-round tournament, held from 21 Jul 2025 to 25 Jul 2025 in Biel, Switzerland. 8 federations represented. Top 10 Elo average was 1758, and top seed was Denis Lupei (🇩🇪 GER, 1784).

Johan Thorens (🇨🇭 SUI, 1657) won with 4.5/5, ahead of Oliver Thornley (4.0) and Arsenii Filimonov (4.0). Thorens clinched sole first place in the final round.

The biggest upset came in round 4: Archit Saigal (1494) beat Naim Belmadani (1750), a +256-point gap.

Location

🇨🇭Biel, Switzerland

Dates

21 Jul 2025 → 25 Jul 2025

Time control

Standard: 60 minutes with 30 seconds increment from move 1

System

Swiss · 5 rounds

Top seed

🇩🇪Denis Lupei1784

Avg top 10

1,758

Participants

Federations · 8 represented

🇨🇭Switzerland×35

🇩🇪Germany×4

🇮🇱Israel×3

🇮🇳India×2

🇺🇸United States of America×2

🇵🇱Poland×2

FIDE (no federation)×1

🇿🇦South Africa×1

Top 3

🥇
Johan Thorens
🇨🇭SUI·1657
4.5pts·2043perf+70.0
🥈
Oliver Thornley
🇬🇧ENG·1714
4.0pts·1857perf+17.0
🥉
Arsenii Filimonov
🇨🇭SUI·1666
4.0pts·2428perf+54.4

How it unfolded

Top 6 · 5 rounds

Johan Thorens led from R5; +0.5-point edge over the runner-up.

Co-leaders

Thorens4.5Weber4Thornley4Filimonov4Dubel4Zumbrunn4— ex-leaders:Zumbrunnled R4, #15

R5 · LEADER CHANGE25 Jul

Johan Thorens takes the sole lead (4.5/5).

WIN STREAKS · 3 top finishers

Johan Thorens 3 wins (R1–R3)Jason Weber 4 wins (R2–R5)Oliver Thornley 3 wins (R1–R3)

R4 · FORMER LEADER FALL

Simon Zumbrunn held the sole lead at R4 but finished #15.

Key matchups · top 4

Head-to-head between the four finishers

Player	1	2	3	4
1Johan Thorens	*	—	—	—
2Jason Weber	—	*	—	—
3Oliver Thornley	—	—	*	0
4Arsenii Filimonov	—	—	1	*

Grille américaine

#	Player	Elo	Fed	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts	Bu C1	Bu	SB	Perf	Δ
1	Thorens, Johan	1657	SUI	+48B	+4N	+15B	=8N	+9B	4.5	14.0	15.0	13.25	2043	+70.0
2	Thornley, Oliver	1714	ENG	+47B	+16N	+7B	−3N	+14B	4.0	13.5	14.5	10.50	1857	+17.0
3	Filimonov, Arsenii	1666	SUI	+40N	+33B	F	+2B	+6N	4.0	12.0	14.0	12.00	2428	+54.4
4	Dubel, Nathan	1762	SUI	+31N	−1B	+45N	+23B	+17N	4.0	12.0	13.0	8.50	1861	+20.0
5	Weber, Jason	1769	SUI	−7B	+47N	+21B	+30N	+15B	4.0	11.5	12.5	9.00	1865	+21.6
6	Zumbrunn, Simon	1686	SUI	+46B	+52N	+12B	+14N	−3B	4.0	11.5	12.5	8.50	1865	+37.2
7	Ben-Avi, Dotan	1615	ISR	+5N	+18B	−2N	=11B	+23N	3.5	14.5	17.0	11.25	1873	+70.0
8	Ganeshram, Niranjana	1692	NED	+35N	+24B	=13N	=1B	=12B	3.5	14.0	16.0	10.25	1725	+5.6
9	Tellenbach, Benjamin	1645	SUI	=54B	+43N	+10N	+13B	−1N	3.5	13.0	13.5	8.75	1917	+57.2
10	Lupei, Denis	1784	GER	=28B	+20N	−9B	+27N	+16B	3.5	12.0	14.5	9.75	1714	-14.8
11	Yehuda, Beeri	1666	ISR	+19B	−14N	+46B	=7N	+24B	3.5	12.0	13.0	8.25	1628	-5.6
12	Delaquis, Gianluca	1746	SUI	+38N	+34B	−6N	+31B	=8N	3.5	11.5	13.5	7.75	1783	+8.8
13	Buntschu, Kurt	1762	SUI	+55B	+30N	=8B	−9N	+26B	3.5	11.5	11.5	6.25	1793	+8.0
14	Bachmann, Daniel	1766	SUI	+49N	+11B	+17N	−6B	−2N	3.0	14.5	15.5	7.50	1746	-2.4
15	Dzakula, Igor	1728	SUI	+25N	+32B	−1N	+40B	−5N	3.0	13.0	15.0	6.50	1701	-5.6
16	Archit Saigal	1494	IND	+36N	−2B	+34N	+18B	−10N	3.0	12.5	14.5	7.00	1783	+37.6
17	Trzcinska, Weronika	1712	POL	+42N	+45B	−14B	+19N	−4B	3.0	12.0	13.0	6.00	1565	-19.4
18	Belmadani, Naim	1750	SUI	+21B	−7N	+37B	−16N	+38B	3.0	11.5	13.5	7.00	1626	-30.4
19	Althaus, Peter	0	SUI	−11N	+49B	+32N	−17B	+34N	3.0	10.5	11.5	5.00	1673	0.0
20	Vassiliev, Jacob Brandon	1558	USA	=23N	−10B	+43B	=39N	+30B	3.0	10.0	11.5	5.75	1807	+52.8
21	Martin, Philippe	1584	SUI	−18N	+53B	−5N	+50B	+36N	3.0	10.0	11.0	4.00	1606	+3.2
22	Boesch, Roman	1780	SUI	−32N	+44B	−25N	+45B	+31N	3.0	8.0	9.0	4.50	1479	-23.6
23	Ragheb, Kaemel	1723	SUI	=20B	+54N	+27B	−4N	−7B	2.5	13.0	13.5	4.50	1521	-22.2
24	Beitz, Toralf	0	GER	+51B	−8N	=26B	+28N	−11N	2.5	12.0	13.0	4.75	1658	0.0
25	Cloete, Willem Francois	1567	RSA	−15B	+29N	+22B	−26N	=39B	2.5	11.0	13.0	6.50	1716	+15.8
26	Ben Avi, Adam	1643	ISR	−33N	+35B	=24N	+25B	−13N	2.5	10.5	12.5	5.75	1664	+2.0
27	Pan, Haoquan	1496	ESP	=43B	+28N	−23N	−10B	+51B	2.5	10.0	11.0	4.25	1697	+50.8
28	Bachvarov, Viktor	1631	SUI	=10N	−27B	+54N	−24B	+43B	2.5	10.0	10.5	3.75	1656	+4.0
29	Niederberger, Lenny	1714	SUI	−45N	−25B	=44N	+54B	+35N	2.5	7.0	7.5	3.25	765	-27.6
30	Guidi, Elia	1653	SUI	+53N	−13B	+33N	−5B	−20N	2.0	12.5	13.5	3.00	896	-52.8
31	Martin, Benoit	1585	SUI	−4B	+48N	+52B	−12N	−22B	2.0	11.5	12.5	2.00	965	-32.0
32	Ammeter, Nicolas	1621	SUI	+22B	−15N	−19B	+53N	−33B	2.0	11.0	12.0	4.00	1755	+10.0
33	Hank, Ulrich	0	GER	+26B	−3N	−30B	F	+32N	2.0	10.5	11.5	4.50	1657	0.0
34	Schlegel, Thomas	1632	SUI	+50B	−12N	−16B	+46N	−19B	2.0	10.5	11.5	2.00	1458	-14.0
35	Sadeh, David	0	SUI	−8B	−26N	+55B	+51N	−29B	2.0	9.5	9.5	1.00	1586	0.0
36	Saxer, Bruno	1674	SUI	−16B	−46N	+47B	+37N	−21B	2.0	9.0	10.0	3.00	1453	-29.8
37	Nuh Nizar Hilmi	1521	IND	+39N	−41B	−18N	−36B	+50N	2.0	9.0	10.0	3.00	919	-26.8
38	Zarri, Philippe	1576	SUI	−12B	−50N	+48B	+52N	−18N	2.0	8.5	9.5	2.00	951	-10.8
39	Bartlome, Dimitri	0	SUI	−37B	F	+50N	=20B	=25N	2.0	8.5	8.5	3.75	1416	0.0
40	Briechle, Dennnis	1485	SUI	−3B	+55N	+51B	−15N	F	2.0	8.0	8.0	1.00	1660	+36.4
41	Ulmann, Olivier	1733	SUI	+44B	+37N	F	F	F	2.0	7.5	7.5	3.50	2299	+4.2
42	Morgan, Jesus Alberto	1542	SUI	−17B	−51N	−49N	+55B	+48N	2.0	6.0	6.0	1.00	1445	-9.6
43	Khusainau, Dzmitry	1682	SUI	=27N	−9B	−20N	+44B	−28N	1.5	11.5	13.0	2.75	1261	-82.8
44	Trzcinska, Wiktoria	1568	POL	−41N	−22N	=29B	−43N	+54B	1.5	9.0	9.5	1.75	1405	0.0
45	Studer, Jonas	0	SUI	+29B	−17N	−4B	−22N	−53B	1.0	12.5	13.5	2.50	1545	0.0
46	Shahmammadli, Ramiz	1503	SUI	−6N	+36B	−11N	−34B	−52B	1.0	11.5	12.5	2.00	1471	-6.4
47	Robert-Grandpierre, Christian	1543	SUI	−2N	−5B	−36N	−48B	+55N	1.0	11.0	11.0	0.00	1493	-9.6
48	FIDE 1369270	0	—	−1N	−31B	−38N	+47N	−42B	1.0	10.5	11.5	1.00	1341	0.0
49	Ademi, Rexhe	1605	SUI	−14B	−19N	+42B	F	F	1.0	10.0	10.0	2.00	1654	+2.4
50	Turtschi, Dominik	0	SUI	−34N	+38B	−39B	−21N	−37B	1.0	9.0	11.0	2.00	1380	0.0
51	Kretschmer, Thomas	1659	GER	−24N	+42B	−40N	−35B	−27N	1.0	9.0	11.0	2.00	1383	-44.0
52	Vassiliev, Anton	0	USA	F	−6B	−31N	−38B	+46N	1.0	9.0	9.0	1.00	1395	0.0
53	FIDE 343466044	0	—	−30B	−21N	F	−32B	+45N	1.0	8.0	8.0	1.00	834	0.0
54	Germann, Elias Markus	0	FID	=9N	−23B	−28B	−29N	−44N	0.5	11.0	12.5	1.75	1355	0.0
55	Zhang, Zichen	1587	SUI	−13N	−40B	−35N	−42N	−47B	0.0	9.5	10.5	0.00	783	-81.2

Key insights

Biggest movers and upsets — the story behind the numbers.

Top rating gainers

1Thorens, JohanSUI
+70.0
4.5 pts · #6
2Ben-Avi, DotanISR
+70.0
3.5 pts · #7
3Tellenbach, BenjaminSUI
+57.2
3.5 pts · #13

Top rating losers

1Khusainau, DzmitrySUI
-82.8
1.5 pts · #46
2Zhang, ZichenSUI
-81.2
0.0 pts · #53
3Guidi, EliaSUI
-52.8
2.0 pts · #55

Biggest upsets

R4+256 Elo gap
Archit Saigal1494 beat Belmadani, Naim1750
R3+213 Elo gap
Cloete, Willem Francois1567 beat Boesch, Roman1780
R1+180 Elo gap
Archit Saigal1494 beat Saxer, Bruno1674