Biel Rd.8: Carlsen-Morozevich drawn, Vachier, Shirov win

by ChessBase
7/27/2011 – The game between the leaders, Carlsen and Morozevich failed to live up to expectations and ended in a draw – though they did play it out. Vachier-Lagrave beat Pelletier with a spectacular rook sac, but almost squandered the win (the Swiss returned the favor). Shirov kept up with the French player after squeezing Caruana for 50 moves in an endgame with superb technique. Express report.

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The 2011 Biel Chess Festival is taking place from July 16 to 29, in a number of groups: the Master Tournament (eleven rounds Swiss); the Main Tournament (nine rounds Swiss); a Rapid and a Blitz tournament; Chess960; Youth, Simultaneous, Chess Tennis, ChessBase training seminars. Of greatest interest is of course the Accentus Grandmaster Tournament with six very strong grandmasters playing a double round robin: Magnus Carlsen, Maximee Vachier-Lagrave, Alexei Shirov, Fabiano Caruana, Alexander Morozevich and Yannick Pelletier.


The participants: Caruana, Pelletier, Shirov, Carlsen, Morozevich, Vachier-Lagrave

The rate of play: 2 hours for 40 moves, then one hour for 20 and 15 min for the rest of the game, with 30 sec increment per move. The scoring system is three points for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss. No draw offers are permitted before move 30.

Round 8: Wednesday, July 27, 14:00h
Maxime Vachier  
1-0
 Yannick Pelletier
Fabiano Caruana 
0-1
 Alexei Shirov
Magnus Carlsen 
½-½
 Alex. Morozevich

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave hasn’t quite had the tournament he had hoped for. The young Frenchman saw a winning position against Alexander Morozevich blow up in his face after he hallucinated badly, managed to beat Magnus Carlsen in a clean game which he milked to perfection, but then lost to Morozevich two rounds later. Today’s game against Yannick Pelletier was symptomatic of his tournament overall. He played an excellent game, culminating in a very nice rook sacrifice which should have ended it, then played an absolutely atrocious 31.Rxc6 which gave the Swiss player a chance to escape with his skin and a draw. Pelletier actually remained in the drawing area for a number of moves, no doubt causing enormous anguish inside the French player who had to be wondering whether he had screwed up (he had) or simply misjudged (he had not). Luckily for his sanity, Yannick finally slipped with 38…Rg7? (38…Qe8 was correct) and the win was back on the board, allowing Maxime to sleep a little lighter tonight.

[Event "Biel ACCENTUS GM"] [Site "Biel SUI"] [Date "2011.07.27"] [Round "8"] [White "Vachier Lagrave,M"] [Black "Pelletier,Y"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2722"] [BlackElo "2590"] [EventDate "2011.07.18"] [ECO "C10"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. g3 Be7 6. Bg2 Ngf6 7. Nxf6+ Bxf6 8. Ne2 O-O 9. O-O Rb8 10. Nc3 b5 11. Qd3 a6 12. a4 b4 13. Ne4 a5 14. Nxf6+ Nxf6 15. Bg5 Bb7 16. Bxb7 Rxb7 17. Rfe1 c6 18. Re5 Rd7 19. c3 bxc3 20. bxc3 Rd5 21. Rae1 h6 22. Bxf6 gxf6 23. Rxe6 fxe6 24. Qg6+ Kh8 25. Qxh6+ Kg8 26. Qg6+ Kh8 27. Re4 f5 28. Qh6+ Kg8 29. Rxe6 Rd7 30. Rg6+ Kf7 31. Rxc6 Ke8 32. d5 Re7 33. c4 f4 34. Qh5+ Rff7 35. Kg2 f3+ 36. Kh3 Qd7+ 37. g4 Kd8 38. Qg5 Rg7 39. Qf4 Ke8 40. Kg3 Qb7 41. Qf5 Rc7 42. Rh6 Rh7 43. Re6+ 1-0

Fabiano Caruana and Alexei Shirov finished last, but it was not in vain. Shirov won a pawn in the middlegame skirmish and Caruana chose to simplify into an endgame, perhaps feeling that was where his best chances lay. However, Shirov made no mistake and milked the endgame for all it had, forcing Caruana to throw in the towel 50 moves later. With it, he moves to 4.0/8, tied with Vachier-Lagrave for 3rd-4th, though contrary to the French player, does not have a Carlsen or Morozevich in the way.

[Event "Biel ACCENTUS GM"] [Event "Biel ACCENTUS GM"] [Site "Biel SUI"] [Date "2011.07.27"] [Round "8"] [White "Caruana,F"] [Black "Shirov,A"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "2711"] [BlackElo "2714"] [EventDate "2011.07.18"] [ECO "C07"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 cxd4 5. exd5 Qxd5 6. Bc4 Qd7 7. O-O Nc6 8. Nb3 Nf6 9. Nbxd4 Bc5 10. Nxc6 Qxc6 11. Ne5 Qb6 12. Qe2 O-O 13. Bd3 Nd5 14. Qe4 f5 15. Qe2 Qc7 16. Bc4 Bd6 17. Nf3 Bd7 18. Bxd5 exd5 19. Be3 f4 20. Bd4 Bf5 21. Bc3 Rae8 22. Qd2 Be4 23. Rad1 h6 24. Rfe1 Qf7 25. Qd4 b6 26. Bb4 Bxb4 27. Qxb4 Bxc2 28. Rxe8 Rxe8 29. Re1 Rxe1+ 30. Qxe1 Be4 31. Nd4 f3 32. gxf3 Bxf3 33. Qe6 Qxe6 34. Nxe6 Kf7 35. Nd4 Bg4 36. f3 Bd7 37. Kf2 g5 38. Ke3 h5 39. Ne2 Kf6 40. Nd4 a5 41. a3 a4 42. Nc2 Ke5 43. Nd4 Be8 44. Ne2 Bg6 45. Nd4 Kd6 46. Kd2 Bh7 47. Ne2 Kc5 48. Kc3 h4 49. Nd4 Kd6 50. Kd2 Bg6 51. b3 axb3 52. Nxb3 Ke5 53. Ke3 Be8 54. Nd4 Bd7 55. Ne2 Bc8 56. Nd4 Kd6 57. Kd3 Ba6+ 58. Kd2 Bf1 59. Nb3 Bh3 60. Nd4 Bd7 61. Kd3 g4 62. fxg4 Bxg4 63. Kd2 Ke5 64. Ke3 Bh5 65. Nc6+ Kd6 66. Nd4 Kc5 67. Kd3 Bg6+ 68. Kc3 Kd6 69. Kd2 Be4 70. Ne2 Ke5 71. Ke3 Kf5 72. Nd4+ Kg4 73. Kf2 Kh3 74. Kg1 Bg2 75. Nf5 Bf3 76. Nd4 Be4 77. Ne6 Kg4 78. Kf2 Bf5 79. h3+ Kxh3 80. Nf4+ Kg4 81. Nxd5 Be4 82. Nc3 Bf3 0-1

The game between the leaders, Carlsen and Morozevich failed to live up to expectations though in all fairness they played it out. The game was a QGD Ragozin, but due to the way it unfolded, there was never any genuine tension in the position and few chances for either to generate anything beyond extra moves. It ended in a repetition after 35 moves. Perhaps more relevant is how they stand two rounds before the end. Neither is in any danger of not taking first and second, and while Carlsen has a half-point lead, his final two opponents are Vachier-Lagrave, who not only beat him in round five but also won today, and Caruana, who has had a forgettable tournament. Morozevich on the other hand also has Caruana, but his second opponent is Pelletier, which gives him reasonable theoretical chances to catch up with Carlsen by the end.

[Event "Biel ACCENTUS GM"] [Site "Biel SUI"] [Date "2011.07.27"] [Round "8"] [White "Carlsen,M"] [Black "Morozevich,A"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "2821"] [BlackElo "2694"] [EventDate "2011.07.18"] [ECO "D37"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e4 Bb4 6. Bg5 c5 7. Bxc4 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 Qa5 10. Bxf6 Qxc3+ 11. Kf1 gxf6 12. Rc1 Qa5 13. g3 Bd7 14. Kg2 Nc6 15. Bb5 Rd8 16. Bxc6 Bxc6 17. Nxc6 bxc6 18. Qf3 Qe5 19. Rxc6 O-O 20. Re1 Rd7 21. Qe3 Rb8 22. Rec1 Rd4 23. R1c4 Rb4 24. Qxd4 Qxd4 25. Rxd4 Rxd4 26. Ra6 Rxe4 27. Rxa7 f5 28. a4 Kg7 29. Kf3 e5 30. a5 Ra4 31. a6 Ra3+ 32. Ke2 Ra2+ 33. Ke3 Ra3+ 34. Kd2 Ra2+ 35. Ke3 Ra3+ 1/2-1/2

Standings

Scoring system: a win counts as three points, a draw as one and a loss zero


Live GM commentary on Playchess

There is live audio and video commentary on the chess server Playchess. The English commentary starts at 3:30 p.m., and German commentary directly from the playing site begins at 4:00 p.m.


GM Jan Gustafsson doing live audio commentary on Playchess in English


Directly from the playing venue: GM Miso Cebalo with live commentary in German

As a special treat the multimedia commentary live from Biel is also available in our live browser coverage. This also includes the players analysing after their games.

Remaining commentary schedule

Thursday 28/07/2011 Miso Cebalo Daniel King
Friday 29/07/2011 Miso Cebalo to be announced

Overview: schedule and results

Round 1: Monday, July 18, 14:00h
Fabiano Caruana 
½-½
 Maxime Vachier
Yannick Pelletier 
0-1
 Magnus Carlsen
Alexei Shirov 
½-½
 Alex. Morozevich 
Round 2: Tuesday, July 19, 14:00h
Maxime Vachier 
0-1
 Alex. Morozevich
Magnus Carlsen 
1-0
 Alexei Shirov
Yannick Pelletier 
½-½
 Fabiano Caruana
Round 3: Wednesday, July 20, 14:00h
Yannick Pelletier 
½-½
 Maxime Vachier
Alexei Shirov 
1-0
 Fabiano Caruana
Alex. Morozevich 
½-½
 Magnus Carlsen 
Round 4: Friday, July 22, 14:00h
Alexei Shirov 
½-½
 Maxime Vachier
Alex. Morozevich 
½-½
 Yannick Pelletier
Magnus Carlsen 
1-0
 Fabiano Caruana
Round 5: Saturday, July 23, 14:00h
Maxime Vachier 
1-0
 Magnus Carlsen 
Fabiano Caruana 
½-½
 Alex. Morozevich
Yannick Pelletier 
0-1
 Alexei Shirov
Round 6: Monday, July 25, 14:00h
Maxime Vachier 
½-½
 Fabiano Caruana
Magnus Carlsen 
1-0
 Yannick Pelletier
Alex. Morozevich 
½-½
 Alexei Shirov
Round 7: Tuesday, July 26, 14:00h
Alex. Morozevich 
1-0
 Maxime Vachier
Alexei Shirov 
0-1
 Magnus Carlsen 
Yannick Pelletier 
0-1
 Fabiano Caruana
Round 8: Wednesday, July 27, 14:00h
Maxime Vachier  
1-0
 Yannick Pelletier
Fabiano Caruana 
0-1
 Alexei Shirov
Magnus Carlsen 
½-½
 Alex. Morozevich
Round 9: Thursday, July 28, 14:00h
Magnus Carlsen 
   Maxime Vachier
Alex. Morozevich 
   Fabiano Caruana
Alexei Shirov 
   Yannick Pelletier
Round 10: Friday, July 29, 11:00h
Maxime Vachier 
   Alexei Shirov
Yannick Pelletier 
   Alex. Morozevich
Fabiano Caruana 
   Magnus Carlsen 

Links

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