50th Biel: Round 5 - Hou Yifan chases Bacrot

50th Biel International Festival

Round 5

Today saw Etienne Bacrot win a convincing game against Noel Studer. In a Catalan, Bacrot took over the initiative soon after the opening. In the search for activity, Studer gave his opponent a strong passed d-pawn. Objectively that decision was all right in the moment but it later came back to bite him. He soon also needed to worry about the vulnerable position of his king! On the 30th move Black won a pawn and gained an overwhelming position. Studer resigned on move 46.

Hou Yifan also turned in a strong performance, defeating David Navara in an unusual Najdorf Sicilian. The main actor in this play was the White's queen's bishop, who flitted from c1 to e3, then to g5 back to c1 and then to b2. From there he silently attacked the black pawn center, whose apparent strength was fleeting. Hou resolutely demonstrated just how weak it was with a series of energetic moves. The increasing pressure on Navara's e- and d-pawns forced him to give up his a-pawn, which proved costly, as Yifan ran her own flank pawn right up the board. Navara tried to fish for a mistake, but Yifan served up only a tactically precise game.

Hou Yifan

Alexander Morozevich crossed swords with Rafael Vaganian only to emerge with an easy victory. Vaganian played the French once again, but like in round 2, he never reached even equality. As early as the 17th move, he lost a pawn, and his position became worse and worse. On the move 28 Morozevich also won the exchange and after just 43 moves it was all she wrote for the Armenian.

Alexander Morozevich

Peter Leko had strong winning chances against Pentala Harikrishna after a solid opening and guileful middlegame maneuvers. But, Leko misjudged his chances after a queen trade and let the advantage slip out of his hands. Harikrishna was able to save himself a half point by simplifying into a knight ending which White could not win.

Nico Giorgadis and Ruslan Ponomariov played an unspectacular draw. In an Accelerated Dragon Sicilian the duo followed 15 moves of well-trodded theoretical terrain. The rest of the game was fairly staid and the players found a move repetition before move 30.

Results of round 5

All games from rounds 1 to 5

Standings

Live commentary by GMs Danny King and Joe Gallagher

All Photos: Pascal Simon

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Links:

• Official site
• Round 1 - Hou and Leko score
• Round 2 - Wins for Bacrot, Ponomariov and Morozevich
• Round 3 - Five draws, two exciting games
• Round 4 - Four winners