7/24/2016 – The 49th International Chess Festival Biel has just started and will go from Saturday, July 23 until Wednesday, August 3 2016. Of great interest is the Masters Challenge, an eight-game Rapid and Classical match between Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, currently World number two, and Peter Svidler, number 14. Here is the illustrated report with video and games.
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The 49th International Chess Festival Biel is taking place from Saturday, July 23 until Wednesday, August 3 2016. The exact schedule and further information are now published on the official website. Here are the main links:
Friends and rivals MVL with the ever jovial Svidler
The organizers and participants of the Master Challenge (MVL and Peter Svidler) as well as the Juniors
Challenge (Benjamin Bok, Francesco Rambaldi, Nico Georgiadis, and Noel Studer)
ChessBase author, GM Daniel King is on-site to provide live commentary on video that is being
streamed directly through YouTube as well as PlayChess
Simul
IM Nico Giorgiadis gave a simul to local business men and politicians
Although it was a rout for the young master, his opponents clearly enjoyed the game
Chess 960
There was also a Chess 960 tournament, which drew amateurs and grandmasters alike
It is always a fun challenge to see opening theory thrown out the window from move one, hence the
popularity of the format.
It came down to Vitaly Kunin (left) and top-seed Ivan Saric, in which Kunin took gold with this key win
Masters Challenge
The Masters Challenge is an eight-game match between Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, currently World number two on the Live Rating list, against Peter Svidler, number 14. On the Rapid Chess lists they are number 6 and 29 respectively. The first four games in Biel, on Sunday, are rapid chess, then four games of classical chess. On Saturday, July 30, the two will participate in a Blitz tournament with all the challengers.
The rapid games were all one could hope for. Three decisive results out of four games!
Although Peter Svidler lost the first game, he struck back in game two to level the score
Round three saw Maxime win yet again to take the rapid phase of their
match. Remarkably all three wins were with black!
Black finds a strong resource to
maintain the balance.25...Ng4!3326.Rg21:00 White
avoids the exchanges hoping to exploit the open g-file.The point is that
after26.hxg4Rxe227.Qxe2Bxg5Black's strong bishop and control of the
dark squares gives him equality, especially thanks to White's very exposed
king.26...Bc3927.Qf427Ne35028.Bxe728Nxg2929.Qg526 The
straightforward idea is f6 and if g6 Qh6 would mate, but Black saw this and
one move further.Nf4!12 There is no time for f6 in view of
Nxh3+ winning the queen, therefore taking with Qxf4 was necessary. However,
short of time (this is a rapid game after all) White goes astray.30.Kh1??1:31Nxd53:0831.Rxd51f6!0 White's bishop is imprisoned and will fall.32.Qe3132.Bxd6fxg533.Bxc7Rxc732...Be5132...Re8also did
the job.33.Bxd65Qb7233...Bxd6
immediately was less precise.34.Qe6+Kh735.Rxd635.Qxd6Qxc235...Qxc2and the threats on White's king are decisive.34.Qe425Bxd6435.Qe6+3Kh7136.Qxd61Rxc2537.Qd717Qxd7038.Rxd71Rxa2239.Ra712a51040.Rb78b41441.h416Ra34642.Ra74Rxb300–1
Parallel to the Masters Challenge is the Juniors Challenge, following a similar format. Four talented juniors play each other in a rapid and classical chess event. The players are Benjamin Bok, Francesco Rambaldi, Nico Georgiadis, and Noel Studer. On the first day they played four rapid games among themselves, and on the next six days, in a double round-robin they will face each other in classical chess.
Benjamin Bok and Nico Giorgadzi begin the Juniors Challenge
Francesco Rombaldi takes on Noel Studer
Benjamin Bok was the only undefeated player in the Rapid phase,
finishing on plus one
The Master Tournament (MTO) will be played over nine rounds this year. You can find information on the other sections by clicking the links above. In it you will also find a wide swath of grandmasters and masters.
Video coverage
There will be full live coverage of the Biel Chess Festival 2016. You can watch Daniel King comment on the games, replaying the broadcasts of rounds that are over, or the ones that are running on the Google live stream.
The games will be 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 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
Albert SilverBorn in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications, and the content creator of the YouTube channel, Chess & Tech.
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