7/26/2017 – The third round of the Grandmaster tournament in Biel ended with five draws, but two of them were exciting and varied. Once again it was Alexander Morozevich, with tactical and combative play who caused the most excitement, with an honorable mention to David Navara, who also impressed with many surprising ideas | Photos: Pascal Simon
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50th Biel International Festival
Round 3
Alexander Morozevich once again caused a stir. He played with White against Pentala Harikrishna and quickly turned a 4.Qc2 Nimzo Indian into a tactical minefield of hanging pieces. In a fantastically complicated position on move 27, Morozevich missed a chance to sieze an advantage, and Harikrishna didn't give him a second one. After a further tactical blows were exchanged, the game finally ended in a perpetual check draw, and quite a curious one at that!
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1.e4
1,183,387
54%
2421
---
1.d4
958,449
55%
2434
---
1.Nf3
286,131
56%
2441
---
1.c4
184,608
56%
2443
---
1.g3
19,877
56%
2427
---
1.b3
14,598
54%
2428
---
1.f4
5,953
48%
2377
---
1.Nc3
3,905
50%
2384
---
1.b4
1,790
48%
2378
---
1.a3
1,249
54%
2406
---
1.e3
1,081
49%
2409
---
1.d3
969
50%
2378
---
1.g4
670
46%
2361
---
1.h4
466
54%
2382
---
1.c3
439
51%
2425
---
1.h3
289
56%
2420
---
1.a4
118
60%
2461
---
1.f3
100
47%
2427
---
1.Nh3
92
67%
2511
---
1.Na3
47
62%
2476
---
Please, wait...
1.d4Nf62.c4e63.Nc3Bb44.Qc2d55.a3Bxc3+6.Qxc3Ne47.Qc2c58.dxc5Nc69.cxd5exd510.e3Qf611.f3Provoking the following complications. This position has actually been seen a few times including Carlsen 1-0 Polgar, Corus Chess, 2008Qh4+12.g3Nxg313.Qf2Nf514.Qxh4Nxh415.b4Material
is even, but White is not yet developed. If he manages to do so the queenside majority could become strong.a516.b5Ne517.Kf20-018.Bb2f619.Rd1Be620.Ne2!?White gives up the f3-pawn to gain time to bring his kingside pieces into the game.Nexf321.Nf4Bf7Black
gives the pawn right back.After21...Kf722.Nxe6But not22.Nxd5?Rfd823.e4Rac8with a clear advantage to Black22...Kxe623.Bh3+f524.e4!?dxe425.Rd6+Ke726.Rhd1White is down two pawns but has sufficient compensation.22.Nxd5Rfd823.e4Ng524.Bd3f5?!This
move the engines don't care for.Instead24...Bh5
and the position is approximately balanced, but one
example variation shows how complicated things remain:25.Bxf6!?Rf826.Kg3Bxd127.Rxd1gxf628.Kxh4Nf3+29.Kg4Ne5+30.Kf5Rae831.Nc7Re732.Nd5Ree8with a move repetition draw.25.Nb6and here25.Bc1and White comes out in front, e.g.Nxe4+26.Bxe4fxe427.Ne7+Kf828.Rxd8+Rxd829.Bg5Rd330.Bxh4e3+31.Kf3Rxa3with a clear White advantage.25...fxe426.Be2Rf827.Nxa8?!Here White misses an opportunity27.Kg3
with good chances, e.g.Nf5+28.Kg4h629.Nxa8Ne3+30.Kg3Nxd131.Rxd1Rxa832.c6and White is on top27...Bc4+28.Ke3Ng2+29.Kd2e3+30.Kc1Bxe231.Rd7Ne632.Nc7Bxb5!
with this tactical resource, Black maintains the balance.33.Nxb5e234.Kd2Rf135.Kxe2Rxh136.Rxb7Ngf4+37.Kf3Rf1+38.Ke3Re1+39.Kf3Rf1+40.Ke3Re1+41.Kf3½–½
Rustam Kasimdzhanov, the FIDE World Champion in 2004, has been extremely successful with the Nimzo-Indian with 4.Qc2 with White and with Black. In over 4 hours of video, Rustam Kasimdzhanov explains all the important ideas, strategies and tricks helped by sample games in which the white side is represented, e.g., by Kasparov, Anand, Kramnik and Ivanchuk as well as the author himself.
The exciting meeting between Noel Studer and David Navara saw Navara play energetically from the start. In the Fianchetto variation of the Benoni Defense, he dictated the pace right out of the opening, putting pressure on White with an exchange sacrifice. But objectively, the position was balanced and Studer always managed to keep it so. Thus, the game ended after a long tactical sequence of exchanges finally led to a rook ending which was theoretically drawn. Even so, Navara fought almost to bare kings, before finally shaking hands.
Noel Studer and David Navara Provided a thrilling strike exchange | Photo: Pascal Simon
On the other hand, the match between Peter Leko and Hou Yifan was not very spectacular. In a Petroff, neither side shied away from exchanges and so the position after 20 move was already fairly dead. After 30 moves it was agreed drawn.
Hou Yifan retains a share of the lead | Photos: Pascal Simon
There was little excitement in the match between Nico Georgiadis and Etienne Bacrot either. Bacrot defended with the Berlin and Georgiadis chose the variation with 5.Re1, but could not do anything against the solid black structure. Although White accepted an isolated d-pawn in a bid to get active play, after an exchange of rooks Bacrot took the wind from White's sails. Two moves later, the queens came off and the position flatlined. The game ended with a draw on move 37.
Ruslan Ponomariov, playing Black against Rafael Vaganian, seems to have had no qualms about a draw. The two followed 18 moves of theory, before Ponomariov sacrificed a pawn to simplify into and opposite colored bishops ending. Vaganian pressed on until his extra pawn became passed and advanced as far as e6, but with the last pair of rooks exchanged it was clear that there was no further way forward. The players shook hands on move 40.
Rafael Vaganian is still searching for his first win | Photo: Pascal Simon
Johannes FischerJohannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".
Alexander Morozevich will always be one of my favorite players. He always finds an interesting wrinkle in almost any opening. I wouldn't be surprised if he ended his chess career with at least one opening variation named after him.
Throughout the video course, Sasikran shows various examples from his career to explain sacrifices for initiative, an attack, a better pawn structure and much more.
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
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