Miraculous MVL

by Alejandro Ramirez
7/21/2014 – Two players can certainly be unhappy with today's results. Hou Yifan let go of a winning advantage against Radoslaw Wojtaszek and had to be content with only 50% of the points. Alexander Motylev played a crushing attack against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and obtained a winning position, but in time trouble the Russian not only failed to convert, but let things turn for the worse...
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International Chess Festival in Biel

Round Seven

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

Video Recap

The start of an exciting round

Hou Yifan certainly played a fantastic game against Radoslaw Wojtaszek, finding many important and unusual resources. Tactically sound and strategically backed White's position began steam-rolling her opponent's. Unfortunately for the Chinese she started slipping in time trouble and was unable to finish off the job, only getting half a point

Hou Yifan missed a chance to move to clear second

By the skin of his teeth: Radoslaw Wojtaszek salvaged a draw

Anish Giri had a queen sacrifice in the opening (!) against Pentala Harikrishna but somehow the game ended in an early repetition.

Anish Giri wonders why his preparation left him down a queen

At -1 Anish Giri certainly wants more than this from the tournament

The miracle of the day was certainly by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. In a very, very unpleasant position his opponent simply started making bad move after bad move, turning a position that was clearly better for White to a position that was simply lost. MVL will be thanking the chess goddess today!

With a gift from Caissa MVL moves to 5.0/7

MVL leads the tournament, but the race for second is very, very tight

Daniel King shows the highlights of round 7

Replay Round Seven Games

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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,168,43054%2421---
1.d4948,59355%2434---
1.Nf3282,13556%2441---
1.c4182,40456%2442---
1.g319,72456%2427---
1.b314,32154%2427---
1.f45,91348%2377---
1.Nc33,81451%2384---
1.b41,75948%2379---
1.a31,22154%2405---
1.e31,07349%2409---
1.d395450%2378---
1.g466646%2361---
1.h444953%2374---
1.c343551%2426---
1.h328356%2419---
1.a411259%2465---
1.f39346%2435---
1.Nh38966%2508---
1.Na34262%2482---
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c5 3.c4 d4 4.e3 Hou Yifan plays the Benoni as black, and now she has an extra tempo; but that doesn't mean she has any kind of advantage. Nc6 5.exd4 cxd4 6.Bg2 e5 7.0-0 Nf6 8.d3 Nd7 A solid approach, which makes sense consdering the tempo deficit. 9.Na3 Be7 10.Nc2 0-0 11.Rb1 a5 12.b3 Rb8 Somewhere around here Black must have gone wrong as White's a3-b4 pawn push was obvious and effective. 13.Re1 Re8 13...f6 14.a3 Nb6∞ 14.a3 Qc7 15.b4 axb4 16.axb4 b5 17.Nfxd4!? Hou Yifan plays a strong idea! This tactically works and puts Black in trouble. exd4 18.Bf4 Nce5 19.Nxd4 Black is very tied up. bxc4 19...g5 20.Bxe5 Nxe5 21.Nxb5 Rxb5 22.cxb5 gives Black good hope of stopping the pawns, but White is better. 20.Nc6! c3 21.Qa4 21.d4+- 21...Rb6 22.Bxe5 Nxe5 23.Rxe5 Be6 24.Rbe1 Bf6 25.R5e3 Rf8 26.b5 Qd6 27.d4 c2 28.Be4 Bd5 29.Qxc2? 29.Bxd5! Qxd5 30.Re8 is surprisingly hard to deal with. The backrank is too weak. 29...Bxe4 30.Rxe4 Rxb5 31.Re8 g6 32.Qc4 Qd5 33.Rxf8+ Kxf8 34.Rc1 Qxc4 35.Rxc4 The endgame is closer to a draw than a White win. h5 36.Kg2 Rb3 37.Nb4 Kg7 38.Nc2 h4 39.Kf1 Rb1+ 40.Kg2 Rd1 41.Kf3 Rd2 42.h3 Rd3+ 43.Kg4 Rd2 44.Kf3 Rd3+ 45.Kg2 hxg3 46.fxg3 Kg8 47.h4 Kg7 48.Kh3 Be7 49.Ne1 Rb3 50.Rc6 Bf6 51.Rd6 Re3 52.Nc2 Rd3 53.Kg4 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Hou,Y2629Wojtaszek,R2733½–½2014A07Hans Suri Mem 20147.1
Giri,A2750Harikrishna,P2726½–½2014E04Hans Suri Mem 20147.2
Motylev,A2698Vachier-Lagrave,M27660–12014B90Hans Suri Mem 20147.3

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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   Alexander Motylev 2698
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766   Hou Yifan 2629
Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733   Anish Giri 2750
Round 09 – July 23, 2014
Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733   Pentala Harikrishna 2726
Anish Giri 2750   Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766
Hou Yifan 2629   Alexander Motylev 2698
Round 10 – July 24, 2014
Pentala Harikrishna 2726   Hou Yifan 2629
Alexander Motylev 2698   Anish Giri 2750
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766   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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