50th Biel: Round 5 - Hou Yifan chases Bacrot

by Johannes Fischer
7/28/2017 – Etienne Bacrot has had a convincing performance in Biel. In round 5, he won with Black against the Swiss IM Noel Studer and is now at the top of the field with 4.0 / 5. A half point behind is Hou Yifan, who won with White against David Navara. Alexander Morozevich, who overpowered Rafael Vaganian in yet another French, was the third winner of the round. | Photos: Pascal Simon
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50th Biel International Festival

Round 5

Today saw Etienne Bacrot win a convincing game against Noel Studer. In a Catalan, Bacrot took over the initiative soon after the opening. In the search for activity, Studer gave his opponent a strong passed d-pawn. Objectively that decision was all right in the moment but it later came back to bite him. He soon also needed to worry about the vulnerable position of his king! On the 30th move Black won a pawn and gained an overwhelming position. Studer resigned on move 46.

Hou Yifan also turned in a strong performance, defeating David Navara in an unusual Najdorf Sicilian. The main actor in this play was the White's queen's bishop, who flitted from c1 to e3, then to g5 back to c1 and then to b2. From there he silently attacked the black pawn center, whose apparent strength was fleeting. Hou resolutely demonstrated just how weak it was with a series of energetic moves. The increasing pressure on Navara's e- and d-pawns forced him to give up his a-pawn, which proved costly, as Yifan ran her own flank pawn right up the board. Navara tried to fish for a mistake, but Yifan served up only a tactically precise game.

 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,181,69354%2421---
1.d4957,43255%2434---
1.Nf3285,72056%2441---
1.c4184,37556%2442---
1.g319,85956%2427---
1.b314,57754%2428---
1.f45,94748%2377---
1.Nc33,89950%2383---
1.b41,79048%2378---
1.a31,24854%2406---
1.e31,08049%2409---
1.d396650%2379---
1.g467046%2361---
1.h446654%2382---
1.c343951%2425---
1.h328956%2420---
1.a411860%2461---
1.f310047%2427---
1.Nh39267%2511---
1.Na34762%2476---
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Ng4 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bc1 Nc6 9.Nxc6 bxc6 10.Bc4 e5 11.b3 Be7 12.Bb2 0-0 13.Qe2 As unusual as White's opening appears, the first new move is actually only Black's next. Nf6 In the recent game Adams-Saleh played in the Geneva Grand Prix Black tried 13...Qb6 - and also lost. 14.0-0-0 Be6 15.Bxe6 fxe6 16.f4!? A very energetic move, going after Black's center in concert with the dark-squared bishop on b2. Nd7 Black rejects the offered pawn. Also possible was 16...exf4 e.g. 17.e5 Nd5 18.exd6 Qxd6 19.Kb1 Rad8 20.Qg4 and White has compensation in the form of active play for the pawn. 17.f5!? White continues to play forcefully. This time however the advance is not really a sacrifice. Nb6 After 17...exf5 18.Qc4+ Rf7 19.Qxc6 White wins back the pawn with a pleasant position 18.Rhf1 Qd7?! Black has problems. Better was 18...exf5 19.exf5 Qd7 20.Ne4 with a slight edge to White. 19.g4 a5 20.a4 Rab8 21.Kb1 d5 Black has a hard time keeping his pawns together, but even after the following sequence, the resulting hanging pawns remain vulnerable. 22.fxe6 Qxe6 23.Rxf8+ Bxf8 24.exd5 cxd5 25.Nb5 e4 26.Qe3 Rb7 27.h3 Rf7 28.Nd4 Bc5 29.Qd2 Bxd4 30.Bxd4 Nd7 31.Qxa5 White has won a pawn and the a-pawn proves to be much stronger than the Black central pawn duo. Rf3 32.Qb5 e3 33.Re1 Rxh3 34.a5 Qxg4 35.Qxd5+ Kh7 36.a6 Rh5 37.Qd6 e2 38.a7 Ra5 39.Kb2 Qh4 Perhaps an oversight in time pressure. But even after 39...h5 40.b4 Ra4 41.Kb3! White wins material and stands better. 40.Qxd7 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Hou Yifan2666Navara,D27371–02017B9050th Biel GM 20175

Hou Yifan

Alexander Morozevich crossed swords with Rafael Vaganian only to emerge with an easy victory. Vaganian played the French once again, but like in round 2, he never reached even equality. As early as the 17th move, he lost a pawn, and his position became worse and worse. On the move 28 Morozevich also won the exchange and after just 43 moves it was all she wrote for the Armenian.

Alexander Morozevich

Peter Leko had strong winning chances against Pentala Harikrishna after a solid opening and guileful middlegame maneuvers. But, Leko misjudged his chances after a queen trade and let the advantage slip out of his hands. Harikrishna was able to save himself a half point by simplifying into a knight ending which White could not win.

Nico Giorgadis and Ruslan Ponomariov played an unspectacular draw. In an Accelerated Dragon Sicilian the duo followed 15 moves of well-trodded theoretical terrain. The rest of the game was fairly staid and the players found a move repetition before move 30.

Results of round 5

Br. Title Name Fed. Elo Res. Title Name Fed. Elo
1 IM Nico Georgiadis
 
 2496 ½ - ½ GM Ruslan Ponomariov
 
 2699
2 GM Alexander Morozevich
 
 2675 1 - 0 GM Rafael A Vaganian
 
 2562
3 IM Noel Studer
 
 2493 0 - 1 GM Etienne Bacrot
 
 2715
4 GM Peter Leko
 
 2678 ½ - ½ GM Pentala Harikrishna
 
 2737
5 GM Hou Yifan
 
 2666 1 - 0 GM David Navara
 
 2737

All games from rounds 1 to 5

 
New ...
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Settings
MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,181,69354%2421---
1.d4957,43255%2434---
1.Nf3285,72056%2441---
1.c4184,37556%2442---
1.g319,85956%2427---
1.b314,57754%2428---
1.f45,94748%2377---
1.Nc33,89950%2383---
1.b41,79048%2378---
1.a31,24854%2406---
1.e31,08049%2409---
1.d396650%2379---
1.g467046%2361---
1.h446654%2382---
1.c343951%2425---
1.h328956%2420---
1.a411860%2461---
1.f310047%2427---
1.Nh39267%2511---
1.Na34762%2476---
1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3 Bg4 4.d4 Nf6 5.h3 Bxf3 6.Qxf3 dxe4 7.Qe3 Nbd7 8.Nxe4 Nxe4 9.Qxe4 g6 10.Be2 Bg7 11.0-0 0-0 12.Rd1 Re8 13.c3 Qc7 14.d5 c5 15.Bf4 Be5 16.Be3 Rac8 17.a4 Red8 18.a5 Nf6 19.Qf3 Kg7 20.a6 Rb8 21.axb7 Rxb7 22.Ra2 Rdb8 23.Bc1 Ne8 24.Qe3 Bf6 25.Ra6 Qe5 26.Qxe5 Bxe5 27.Ra5 Rxb2 28.Bxb2 Rxb2 29.Bd3 Bxc3 30.Rxc5 Bb4 31.Rc2 Rxc2 32.Bxc2 a5 33.f4 h5 34.Kf2 Kf6 35.Kf3 Nd6 36.Ba4 Nf5 37.Bd7 Nh4+ 38.Kf2 Bc5+ 39.Kf1 Nf5 40.Ke2 Bd6 41.Kf3 Nh4+ 42.Kf2 Bc5+ 43.Kf1 Nf5 44.Ke2 Bd6 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Bacrot,E2715Ponomariov,R2699½–½2017B1150th Biel GM 20171
Vaganian,R2562Harikrishna,P2737½–½2017D3950th Biel GM 20171
Georgiadis,N2496Navara,D2737½–½2017B8450th Biel GM 20171
Morozevich,A2675Hou Yifan26660–12017A0850th Biel GM 20171
Studer,N2493Leko,P26780–12017A6250th Biel GM 20171
Bacrot,E2715Vaganian,R25621–02017C1750th Biel GM 20172
Harikrishna,P2737Georgiadis,N2496½–½2017A0550th Biel GM 20172
Navara,D2737Morozevich,A26750–12017A6250th Biel GM 20172
Hou Yifan2666Studer,N2493½–½2017C1150th Biel GM 20172
Ponomariov,R2699Leko,P26781–02017C5350th Biel GM 20172
Vaganian,R2562Ponomariov,R2699½–½2017D7350th Biel GM 20173
Georgiadis,N2496Bacrot,E2715½–½2017C6750th Biel GM 20173
Morozevich,A2675Harikrishna,P2737½–½2017E3750th Biel GM 20173
Studer,N2493Navara,D2737½–½2017A6250th Biel GM 20173
Leko,P2678Hou Yifan2666½–½2017C4250th Biel GM 20173
Harikrishna,P2737Studer,N24931–02017C1150th Biel GM 20174
Navara,D2737Leko,P26781–02017D3850th Biel GM 20174
Ponomariov,R2699Hou Yifan2666½–½2017C2450th Biel GM 20174
Bacrot,E2715Morozevich,A26751–02017B5250th Biel GM 20174
Vaganian,R2562Georgiadis,N24960–12017A4850th Biel GM 20174
Georgiadis,N2496Ponomariov,R2699½–½2017B3550th Biel GM 20175
Morozevich,A2675Vaganian,R25621–02017C1650th Biel GM 20175
Studer,N2493Bacrot,E27150–12017E0650th Biel GM 20175
Leko,P2678Harikrishna,P2737½–½2017C8850th Biel GM 20175
Hou Yifan2666Navara,D27371–02017B9050th Biel GM 20175

Standings

Rk. Title Name Fed. Elo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pts. Perf. Wtg.
1 GM Etienne Bacrot
 
 2715     ½ ½   1     1 1 4.0 / 5 2825  
2 GM Hou Yifan
 
 2666     ½     1 ½ 1   ½ 3.5 / 5 2803  
3 GM Ruslan Ponomariov
 
 2699 ½ ½   ½     1   ½   3.0 / 5 2694 7.75
4 IM Nico Georgiadis
 
 2496 ½   ½   ½     ½ 1   3.0 / 5 2760 7.00
5 GM Pentala Harikrishna
 
 2737       ½   ½ ½   ½ 1 3.0 / 5 2652 5.25
6 GM Alexander Morozevich
 
 2675 0 0     ½     1 1   2.5 / 5 2683  
7 GM Peter Leko
 
 2678   ½ 0   ½     0   1 2.0 / 5 2596 4.25
8 GM David Navara
 
 2737   0   ½   0 1     ½ 2.0 / 5 2532 4.00
9 GM Rafael A Vaganian
 
 2562 0   ½ 0 ½ 0         1.0 / 5 2424 3.00
10 IM Noel Studer
 
 2493 0 ½     0   0 ½     1.0 / 5 2466 2.75

Live commentary by GMs Danny King and Joe Gallagher

All Photos: Pascal Simon

_REPLACE_BY_ADV_1

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Johannes 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".

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