Biel: MVL clinches, Wojtaszek second

by Alejandro Ramirez
7/25/2014 – It's all said and done. Despite a before-last round scare against Giri, MVL was able to play solid chess against Wojtaszek, who finished second, and hoping Hou Yifan didn't win so as to not split first. Hou Yifan indeed did not win and actually lost to Harikrishna. Meanwhile Giri and Motylev made a quick draw as they had little to play for. Last round report.

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International Chess Festival in Biel

Round Ten

Round 10 – July 24, 2014
Pentala Harikrishna 2726
1-0
Hou Yifan 2629
Alexander Motylev 2698
½-½
Anish Giri 2750
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766
½-½
Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733

Video Recap

The last round of Biel was, as usual, hard fought. Pentala Harikrishna continued his use of unusual set-ups against the Najdorf and again got no advantage from the opening. However, he managed to outplay Hou Yifan in a very long game. The Chinese player missed a couple of important moments to equalize, and once these were gone she had to sacrifice an exchange and that was sufficient advantage for the Indian player to take home the full point and tie for third with Hou Yifan herself and Anish Giri.

The Women's World Champion can be happy despite her last round loss; she raked a full 15 rating points!

Pentala Harikrishna shared third with his last round win

Speaking of Giri, he played a Classical Sicilian against Alexander Motylev who used the Rauzer Attack against it. Despite the fancy sounding name of this opening somehow it petered out to a quick repetition.

Anish Giri made a comeback to tie for third in the last few games

Final round and final analysis!

Last but not least Maxime Vachier-Lagrave had to draw to secure at least a share of first (in case that Hou Yifan won) and he had almost no problems doing so after he traded off all the pieces in a Najdorf and, despite losing a pawn, his good knight against bad bishop allowed him to draw the endgame comfortably.

Replay Round Ten Games

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games

Standings

Schedule

Round 01 – July 14, 2014
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766
½-½
Pentala Harikrishna 2726
Alexander Motylev 2698
0-1
Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733
Hou Yifan 2629
1-0
Anish Giri 2750
Round 02 – July 15, 2014
Pentala Harikrishna 2726
1-0
Anish Giri 2750
Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733
½-½
Hou Yifan 2629
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766
½-½
Alexander Motylev 2698
Round 03 – July 16, 2014
Alexander Motylev 2698
1-0
Pentala Harikrishna 2726
Hou Yifan 2629
0-1
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766
Anish Giri 2750
1-0
Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733
Round 04 –July 17, 2014
Hou Yifan 2629
½-½
Pentala Harikrishna 2726
Anish Giri 2750
1-0
Alexander Motylev 2698
Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733
½-½
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766
Round 05 – July 18, 2014
Pentala Harikrishna 2726
½-½
Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766
1-0
Anish Giri 2750
Alexander Motylev 2698
½-½
Hou Yifan 2629
Round 06 – July 19, 2014
Pentala Harikrishna 2726
½-½
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766
Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733
½-½
Alexander Motylev 2698
Anish Giri 2750
½-½
Hou Yifan 2629
Round 07 – July 21, 2014
Anish Giri 2750
½-½
Pentala Harikrishna 2726
Hou Yifan 2629
½-½
Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733
Alexander Motylev 2698
0-1
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766
Round 08 – July 22, 2014
Pentala Harikrishna 2726
½-½
Alexander Motylev 2698
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766
½-½
Hou Yifan 2629
Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733
½-½
Anish Giri 2750
Round 09 – July 23, 2014
Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733
1-0
Pentala Harikrishna 2726
Anish Giri 2750
1-0
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766
Hou Yifan 2629
1-0
Alexander Motylev 2698
Round 10 – July 24, 2014
Pentala Harikrishna 2726
1-0
Hou Yifan 2629
Alexander Motylev 2698
½-½
Anish Giri 2750
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766
½-½
Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733

Links

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.


Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

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