49th Biel Festival starts with rapid action

by Albert Silver
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:

All photos by Pascal Simon

Opening

Beatrice Simon opens the festival

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!

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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,186,70654%2421---
1.d4960,56055%2434---
1.Nf3286,91356%2440---
1.c4185,11556%2442---
1.g319,90256%2427---
1.b314,60954%2428---
1.f45,95948%2376---
1.Nc33,91950%2383---
1.b41,79148%2379---
1.a31,25254%2406---
1.e31,08149%2409---
1.d396950%2378---
1.g467046%2361---
1.h446654%2382---
1.c343951%2425---
1.h328956%2420---
1.a411860%2461---
1.f310047%2427---
1.Nh39366%2506---
1.Na34762%2476---
1.e4 0 c5 2 2.Nf3 0 d6 0 3.d4 1 cxd4 1 4.Nxd4 2 Nf6 1 5.Nc3 2 a6 1 6.h3 3 e6 22 7.g4 4 h6 1 8.Bg2 58 Be7 2 9.Be3 40 Nc6 1 10.f4 1:21 Nd7 2 11.0-0 0 0-0 2 12.Nce2 31 Nxd4 2 13.Nxd4 7 e5 14 14.Nf5 16 exf4 2 15.Bxf4 15 Ne5 1 16.Qd2 3:34 Bxf5 5 17.exf5 5 Rc8 0 18.b3 1:23 b5 39 19.Rad1 56 Re8 40 20.Rfe1 46 Qb6+ 2:05 21.Be3 14 Qc7 2 22.Re2 2 Bf6 0 23.Bd5 52 Re7 2:15 24.g5 39 hxg5 1:14 25.Bxg5 2
Black finds a strong resource to maintain the balance. 25...Ng4! 33 26.Rg2 1:00 White avoids the exchanges hoping to exploit the open g-file. The point is that after 26.hxg4 Rxe2 27.Qxe2 Bxg5 Black's strong bishop and control of the dark squares gives him equality, especially thanks to White's very exposed king. 26...Bc3 9 27.Qf4 27 Ne3 50 28.Bxe7 28 Nxg2 9 29.Qg5 26 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?? 1:31 Nxd5 3:08 31.Rxd5 1 f6! 0 White's bishop is imprisoned and will fall. 32.Qe3 1 32.Bxd6 fxg5 33.Bxc7 Rxc7 32...Be5 1 32...Re8 also did the job. 33.Bxd6 5 Qb7 2 33...Bxd6 immediately was less precise. 34.Qe6+ Kh7 35.Rxd6 35.Qxd6 Qxc2 35...Qxc2 and the threats on White's king are decisive. 34.Qe4 25 Bxd6 4 35.Qe6+ 3 Kh7 1 36.Qxd6 1 Rxc2 5 37.Qd7 17 Qxd7 0 38.Rxd7 1 Rxa2 2 39.Ra7 12 a5 10 40.Rb7 8 b4 14 41.h4 16 Ra3 46 42.Ra7 4 Rxb3 0 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Svidler,P2759Vachier-Lagrave,M27980–12016B9049th Biel Masters Challenge1
Vachier-Lagrave,M2798Svidler,P27590–12016B4249th Biel Masters Challenge2
Svidler,P2759Vachier-Lagrave,M27980–12016D8549th Biel Masters Challenge3
Vachier-Lagrave,M2798Svidler,P2759½–½2016C8449th Biel Masters Challenge4

Select games from the list below the board

Juniors Challenge

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

Replay all games

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Replay and check the LiveBook here
1.e4 0 e5 0 2.Nf3 0 Nc6 0 3.Bc4 0 Bc5 9 4.0-0 0 Nf6 2 5.d3 2 0-0 34 6.c3 1 d5 31 7.exd5 3 Nxd5 0 8.a4 1 Nb6 1:05 9.Bb5 50 Ne7 1 10.a5 14 c6 59 11.axb6 0 cxb5 1 12.Rxa7 35 Rxa7 2 13.bxa7 1 Bxa7 2 14.Nxe5 1:04 Bb8 1:24 15.d4 3:58 Nd5 3:46 16.Nd2 0 f6 2:29 17.Nef3 3:36 Bf5 15 18.Re1 13 Re8 1:54 19.Nf1 1:05 Bg6 1:06 20.Ng3 1:12 Qd7 30 21.Rxe8+ 6 Qxe8 16 22.Bd2 5 Qd7 0 23.Qa1 42 Bxg3 21 24.hxg3 6 h6 15 25.Qf1 36 Qc6 5 26.Qe2 7 Bf7 12 27.Nh4 11 Qe8 0 28.Qxe8+ 6 Bxe8 1 29.Kf1 10 Bd7 7 30.f3 5 g5 5 31.Ke2 10 gxh4 2 32.gxh4 1 Kg7 0 33.g4 11 f5 6 34.g5 4 hxg5 6 35.Bxg5 3 f4 10 36.Kd2 7 Bf5 4 37.b3 2 Kg6 0 38.c4 1 bxc4 1 39.bxc4 0 Ne3 1 40.Kc3 10 Ng2 4 41.d5 5 Bd7 5 42.Kd4 11 Kf5 0 43.Kc5 3 Ne3 15 44.Kd6 10 Be8 4 45.Ke7 5 Ba4 8 46.d6 0 Nxc4 5 47.d7 1 Ne5 7 48.d8Q 7 Nc6+ 1 49.Kd6 10 Nxd8 2 50.Bxd8 0 Bc6 2 51.h5 0 Bxf3 9 52.h6 1 Kg6 7 53.Bg5 4 Bc6 5 54.Bxf4 ½–½
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Bok,B2613Georgiadis,N2470½–½2016C5049th Biel Juniors Challenge1
Rambaldi,F2544Studer,N24621–02016A4049th Biel Juniors Challenge1
Georgiadis,N2470Bok,B2613½–½2016A4549th Biel Juniors Challenge2
Studer,N2462Rambaldi,F25441–02016A4049th Biel Juniors Challenge2
Bok,B2613Georgiadis,N24701–02016A8149th Biel Juniors Challenge3
Rambaldi,F2544Studer,N2462½–½2016A0149th Biel Juniors Challenge3
Georgiadis,N2470Bok,B2613½–½2016A4549th Biel Juniors Challenge4
Studer,N2462Rambaldi,F2544½–½2016E0049th Biel Juniors Challenge4

Select games from the list below the board

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.

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.
Born 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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