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The 41st Biel International Chess Festival is taking place from July 20th - 31st, 2008. The Grandmaster Tournament is a category 18 event with an average rating of 2686. Biel is located in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland, on the north eastern shore of Lake Biel. It is a thoroughly bilingual town – called Biel in German, Bienne in French. Since 2005 the official name is "Biel/Bienne". About two thirds of the population of 52,000 speak German, one third French.
| Round 5: Friday, July 25, 2008 | ||
| Evgeny Alekseev |
½-½ |
Alexander Onischuk |
Magnus Carlsen |
½-½ |
Leinier Dominguez |
Etienne Bacrot |
1-0 |
Yannick Pelletier |
During the game Carlsen vs Dominguez Perez
The games Magnus Carlsen-Leinier Dominguez and Evgeny Alekseev-Alexander Onischuk ended in draws, the first in 24 and the second in 34 moves. Relatively uneventful, leaving the leaders and the yellow tricot unchanged (as in today's stage 19 in the Tour de France). Only the game between the tail-enders, Etienne Bacrot-Yannick Pelletier, reached a decision, in favour of the French GM, in 34 moves.
Bacrot,E (2691) - Pelletier,Y (2569) [C41]
41st Festival GM Biel SUI (5), 25.07.2008
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.Bc4 Be7 6.0-0 c6 7.a4 0-0 8.Re1
a5 9.h3 Nb6 10.Ba2 Nfd7 11.Be3 exd4 12.Bxd4 Nc5 13.Bxc5 dxc5 14.Qe2 Qd6 15.Rad1
Qh6 16.Nd2 Be6 17.Bxe6 Qxe6 18.f4 f5 19.exf5 Qxe2 20.Rxe2 Bf6 21.Nde4 Bd4+ 22.Kh2
Rxf5 23.g3 Rff8 24.b3 Bxc3 25.Nxc3 c4 26.Re7 Rab8 27.bxc4 Rfd8 28.Rxb7 Nxc4
29.Ne4 h6 30.f5 Ne3 31.Rxd8+ Rxd8 32.g4 Nxc2 33.Ra7 Re8 34.Ng3
With his a-pawn under attack and unable to prevent Nh5 Pelletier had had enough. 1-0.
Carlsen and Alekseev lead, with plus two each and performances of 2816 and 2829 respectively. Dominguez Perez and Onischuk are half a point behind them at plus one and performances of 2753 and 2760. At the end of the table Bacrot has climbed to minus two with a 2539 performance, while Pelletier's minus four was a dismal 2329. We hope the charming young Swiss GM recovers quickly from this unprecedented slump.
Fourth loss for Yannik Pelletier (right) against France's Etienne Bacrot
The leader: Magnus Carlsen from Lommedalen near Oslo, Norway
Second on the table: Evgeny Alekseev
In third place: Leinier Dominguez Perez from Cuba
Fourth: US grandmaster Alexander Onischuk
Photos by Pascal Simon in Biel
Etienne Bacrot
France, 25 years old Date and place of birth: 22.01.1983 in Lille, France The Return of the Little PrinceOld-timers of the Biel Festival still remember the little 12-year-old prodigy who finished first of his tournament (a team competition among young swiss talents and an international team). This happened in 1995, when Etienne Bacrot first came to Biel. It was only the beginning for the little prince of chess. What a career he’s had: world champion in U10 and U12, international master at age 12, grandmaster at age 14 and 2 months (at the time, the youngest in history), France champion for five consecutive years (1999-2003) and places regularly in the top-15 world ratings. In 2004, Etienne Bacrot passed the threshold of 2700 Elo points for the first time, while participating in more top tournaments and beating the best grandmasters, such as then world champion, Vladimir Kramnik (2005). Born in Lille in January 1983, Etienne grew up in the Picardie region and lived in the village of Méricourt-sur-Somme. He is now married, has two children, and lives on the French Riviera. For a few years, he has been writing a column in the weekly “Paris Match.” In the last few months, he has developed an excellent personal website (in English and French). On www.chess22.fr he writes about his career and tournaments, as well as about international current events and tactical innovations. Etienne Bracot talks about the most important variations in his eyes. His candidness is appreciate, especially in regards to other grandmasters who prefer to keep their analyses private, by fear of benefiting their rivals. With his usual candidness, the French player admits that he has not been in great shape recently. He had his ups and downs during some tournaments, especially at the Baku Grand Prix, which explains the loss of some Elo points (he stood at 2691 in July 2008), and his current 33rd place. But there is no law of series. Etienne Bacrot remembers that it was at the Biel Congress Hall, in 2003, when he achieved one of the best results of his young career when he won the 2nd place of the grandmasters tournament, behind Alexander Morozevich. It was also in Switzerland, in 1999, that he won the Lausanne Young Masters (unofficial junior world championship); he was then 16. After 2003 and 2004, he will compete for the third time in the grandmasters tournament of Biel, with the determination of an ambitious outsider. Simon Kümin, Olivier Breisacher |
These reports are provided by Echecs.com, which is doing extensive coverage of the Biel Tournament
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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 the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse the PGN games. |
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