Three draws in Biel

by Alejandro Ramirez
7/20/2014 – Despite the results, it is impossible to say that today's round in Biel was dull. Two games were very interesting: MVL found himself down the exchange before move 15 only to be up material a few moves later against Harikrishna! Hou Yifan survived by the skin of her teeth in a tough defense against Giri while the last game between Wojtaszek and Motylev was pretty solid.

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International Chess Festival in Biel

Round Six

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

Video Recap

Still solidly in first: French #1 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

This game was quite a spectacle as the evaluation and the material balance swung wildly!

Despite the three draw results today, it is clear that the day was far from peaceful. For starters the game between Pentala Harikrishna and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave had "sacrifice" as the name of the game. Black sacrificed an exchange for activity, only for the Indian player to counter-sacrifice a piece! At the end Black had to be winning at some point in the endgame, but with time pressure looming MVL could not convert.

Radoslaw Wojtaszek didn't find any entry points in Alexander Motylev's position and the game was relatively dull.

Radoslaw Wojtaszek hasn't had the most exciting games this tournament, but his results are good

The last game of the day was an intense fight. Anish Giri came up with an excellent preparation in a sharp variation of the Scheveningen Sicilian and it was clear that Hou Yifan was in trouble. Somehow or another the World Champion mustered resources and defenses and despite her clear disadvantage she was able to make a draw; albeit a very suffered one!

The "mini-match" favored Hou Yifan 1.5-0.5

You could say Anish Giri let Hou Yifan escape

But with such resourceful defense from the World Women's Champion it is unclear where Giri could have improved

Replay Round Six Games

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MoveNResultEloPlayers
Position not in LiveBook
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Qd3 For the second time in a row Harikrishna uses a very unusual method against the Najdorf. Nbd7 7.Bg5 e6 8.0-0-0 Be7 9.f4 Qc7 10.Be2 b5 11.Bf3 b4!? A valiant exchange sacrifice. 11...Bb7 seems more logical, but also here complications would begin. 12.Bxf6 Nc5!? 12...Nxf6 13.e5 13.Qe3 Bxf6 14.Ndxb5!? with a super messy position. 12.e5 dxe5 13.Bxa8 exd4 14.Ne2 h6 15.Bh4 0-0 White's up the exchange, but Black has some compensation. He has good piece activity and more obvious play. 16.Kb1 e5! 17.Qf3 exf4 18.Nxf4?! 18.Bxf6 Nxf6 19.Qxf4 Bd6 20.Qd2= 18...Ne5! 19.Qe2 g5! Black sees nothing wrong with going for the piece, and indeed there is nothing wrong with it. 20.Bg3 gxf4 21.Bxf4 Bd6 22.Rxd4 Re8 23.Rhd1? This move is hard to understand; it looks like it simply blunders an exchange. 23.Bxh6∞ 23...Bg4 24.Qxa6 Bxd1 25.Rxd1 Nc4 25...Rc8 was also good. 26.Bxd6 Qxd6 26...Nxd6 was better. Preserving the pieces on the board creates problems against White's king. 27.Qxd6 Nxd6 28.Bf3 The endgame should be technically winning, but maybe it is tricker then it seems at first? Nc4 29.b3 Ne5 30.Rd4 Nxf3 31.gxf3 Rb8 32.Kb2 Kf8 33.c3 bxc3+ 34.Kxc3 Ke7 35.b4 Ke6? This is too slow. 35...Rb5! Black needed to start attacking White's pawns. 36.a4 Nd5+ 37.Kb3 Rc8 38.Rc4 Rxc4 39.Kxc4 Kd6 40.a5 Ne3+ The endgame should be drawn with accurate play. ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Harikrishna,P2726Vachier-Lagrave,M2766½–½2014B90Hans Suri Mem 20146.1
Wojtaszek,R2733Motylev,A2698½–½2014D12Hans Suri Mem 20146.2
Giri,A2750Hou,Y2629½–½2014B85Hans Suri Mem 20146.3

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   Pentala Harikrishna 2726
Hou Yifan 2629   Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733
Alexander Motylev 2698   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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