Biel Rd.9: Caruana beats Morozevich, Carlsen wins Biel 2011

by ChessBase
7/28/2011 – The games of the leaders were what the fans had hoped for: fascinating games, and lots of drama. Carlsen’s game against Vachier-Lagrave was a very exciting battle which started on the queenside, and then shifted to a full out pawn storm attempt against Carlsen, which he survived. Morozevich lost to Caruana in a tense Semi-Slav, giving Carlsen first prize a round in advance. 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: two 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 9: Thursday, July 28, 14:00h
Magnus Carlsen 
½-½
 Maxime Vachier
Alex. Morozevich 
0-1
 Fabiano Caruana
Alexei Shirov 
½-½
 Yannick Pelletier

Magnus Carlsen’s game against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was the most exciting of them all, and Vachier-Lagrave tried very hard to press any psychological edge he might have against Carlsen. They played a Fianchetto Gruenfeld, which unfolded to a blocked center with play focused on the queenside. Carlsen had a pleasant advantage until Qc1, after which he himself had to play accurately. However, for the first 45 moves the Frenchman had no counterchances and was just trying to hold. Finally Lagrave played f5, g5 and g4 as a form of active defence, since the alternative was to be run over on the kingside by White. Both players refocused their forces and again neither player managed to trip the other. In the end, the draw was well deserved.

[Event "Biel ACCENTUS GM"] [Site "Biel SUI"] [Date "2011.07.28"] [Round "9"] [White "Carlsen,M"] [Black "Vachier Lagrave,M"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "2821"] [BlackElo "2722"] [EventDate "2011.07.18"] [ECO "E60"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nf3 c6 6. Nc3 d5 7. cxd5 cxd5 8. Ne5 e6 9. O-O Nfd7 10. f4 Nc6 11. Be3 Nb6 12. Bf2 Bd7 13. e4 Ne7 14. Nxd7 Qxd7 15. e5 Rac8 16. Qe2 Rc4 17. Rfc1 Rfc8 18. Bf1 R4c7 19. Qe1 a6 20. b3 Bf8 21. Qd2 Nc6 22. a3 f5 23. Kg2 Qg7 24. Be3 Be7 25. Bd3 Na5 26. Qb2 g5 27. Ne2 g4 28. Rh1 h5 29. h3 Kf7 30. Rh2 h4 31. Bd2 Nc6 32. Rah1 Rh8 33. hxg4 Qxg4 34. Rh3 Rcc8 35. Ng1 Qg7 36. Nf3 hxg3 37. b4 Rxh3 38. Rxh3 Rh8 39. Rxh8 Qxh8 40. b5 axb5 41. Bxb5 Qc8 42. a4 Nc4 43. Bxc4 dxc4 44. Qc1 Nb4 45. Bxb4 Bxb4 46. d5 Qc5 47. dxe6+ Kxe6 48. Kxg3 Qd5 1/2-1/2

The question was also whether Alexander Morozevich would be able to challenge Magnus Carlsen for the top spot, as his opponents were theoretically easier on paper. Not so much via rating since Caruana is roughly the same rating as Vachier-Lagrave, but because Caruana had had a bad event so far and was most likely quite vulnerable. Reality turned out otherwise however, as Caruana played a very fine Semi-Slav, and handled the complex middlegame extremely well. His queenside pawns mobilized quicker than Morozevich was able to handle, and the endgame soon became untenable. With his loss, Carlsen became the de facto winner of Biel, one round in advance.

[Event "Biel ACCENTUS GM"] [Event "Biel ACCENTUS GM"] [Site "Biel SUI"] [Date "2011.07.28"] [Round "9"] [White "Morozevich,A"] [Black "Caruana,F"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "2694"] [BlackElo "2711"] [EventDate "2011.07.18"] [ECO "D43"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5 9. Ne5 Bb7 10. h4 g4 11. Nxg4 Nxg4 12. Qxg4 Qxd4 13. Qf4 Bb4 14. Rd1 Bxc3+ 15. Ke2 Qe5 16. Qxe5 Bxe5 17. Bxe5 Rh7 18. Ke3 Nd7 19. Bg3 O-O-O 20. Be2 f5 21. Rd6 fxe4 22. Rxe6 Nc5 23. Rg6 h5 24. Rg5 Rd5 25. Rd1 Nd3 26. b3 Ba6 27. bxc4 bxc4 28. Rd2 Kb7 29. Rg8 Kb6 30. Rc2 Ne1 31. Rc1 Nxg2+ 32. Kxe4 Re7+ 33. Kf3 Nxh4+ 34. Bxh4 Rf5+ 35. Kg2 Rxe2 36. a4 Rb2 37. Rb8+ Bb7 38. Rxc4 c5+ 39. Kh2 Rb1 40. f4 Rd5 41. Rd8 Rbd1 42. Rxd5 Bxd5 43. Rc3 c4 44. Bf6 Kc5 45. Kg3 Kb4 46. Rc2 a5 47. f5 Rf1 0-1

Alexei Shirov and Yannick Pelletier played a solid game, which ended in a draw, and was understandably overshadowed by the other two boards where the championship’s top prize was on the line.

[Event "Biel ACCENTUS GM"] [Site "Biel SUI"] [Date "2011.07.28"] [Round "9"] [White "Shirov,A"] [Black "Pelletier,Y"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "2714"] [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 Nb6 11. Be3 Nd5 12. Ne4 Nxe3 13. Nxf6+ Qxf6 14. fxe3 Qg5 15. Qd3 b6 16. a4 c5 17. a5 Bb7 18. Bxb7 Rxb7 19. axb6 axb6 20. Qe4 Rd7 21. c3 g6 22. Rf2 Rfd8 23. Ra6 cxd4 24. exd4 Qb5 25. Qe2 Qc6 26. Qe5 Ra8 27. Rxa8+ Qxa8 28. c4 Qa4 29. Qb8+ Kg7 30. Qe5+ Kg8 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.


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 
½-½
 Maxime Vachier
Alex. Morozevich 
0-1
 Fabiano Caruana
Alexei Shirov 
½-½
 Yannick Pelletier
Round 10: Friday, July 29, 11:00h
Maxime Vachier 
   Alexei Shirov
Yannick Pelletier 
   Alex. Morozevich
Fabiano Caruana 
   Magnus Carlsen 

Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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