8/2/2017 – One could hardly imagine more exciting final round pairings! Hou Yifan and Pentala Harikrisha both had White against their closest pursuers, Nico Georgiadis and Etienne Bacrot respectively. Bacrot benefitted from a one-move blunder, to reach 6 points, which meant Hou was in a must-win situation. But win she did! | Photos: Pascal Simon
Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
Winning starts with what you know The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
In this course, Grandmaster Felix Blohberger delivers a complete opening repertoire for White, centred around the flexible move 1.Nf3.
€59.90
50th Biel International Festival
Round 9
We saw great excitement to close out the GM tournament in Biel! Before the final round Pentala Hariskrishna and Hou Yifan led the field by a half point ahead. Etienne Bacrot, Alexander Morozevich and the young Swiss Nico Georgiadis were close on their heels and also had chances of the tournament. The pairings created additional tension: with the matches Hou Yifan against Nico Georgiadis and Pentala Harikrishna against Etienne Bacrot, we had multiple direct duels between those vying for first. Meanwhile Alexander Morozevich met with Black on Peter Leko, so a win for him would be a tall order — though with Moro you never know!
Morozevich surveys the final round openings | Photo: Pascal Simon
2017 Like the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting, the 50th Biel Grand Master Tournament the final round saw all five games finish decisively.
The first decision came on the board of Harikrishna and Bacrot. From a Giuoco Piano (a.k.a. Italian Game), the Indian went for a kingside attack, but in his zeal for attack, he overlooked a tactic based on the power of Bacrot's bishops. The latent power of the queen and bishop batter on the b8-h2 diagonal was made manifest when 22.Bc5 was met by a crushing reply:
Can you spot what Harikrishna missed?
Harikrishna - Bacrot, after 22.Bc5?
Harikrishna before his position exploded against Bacrot | Photo: Pascal Simon
The target: h2 — and the queen dropped there like a bombshell, after 22...Bxf5 23.Nxf5 (or else if Qxf5 then 23...Rd5 forks the queen and bishop) ...Qh2+ 24.Kf1 Rd2!
With Harikrishna's defeat, Bacrot moved to 6 points and was temporarily in the lead again. The task for Hou Yifan was now to win over Georgiadis — a draw was not enough since the Frenchmen's mathematical tiebreak score was higher.
By the time Bacrot and Harikrishna shook hands, however, Hou had a slight edge. She chose a variation of the Sicilian with 4.Qxd4, that doesn't promise White much advantage, but offered chances for a long positional game. The ex-world champion first crippled her opponents pawns at the cost of the bishop pair, but found strong outposts for her knights. The game broken in her favor surprisingly fast. Georgiadis fell into a dismal ending with a "good knight against bad bishop", and gave up on move 29.
New ...
New Game
Edit Game
Setup Position
Open...
PGN
FEN
Share...
Share Board (.png)
Share Board (configure)
Share playable board
Share game as GIF
Notation (PGN)
QR Code
Layout...
Use splitters
Swipe notation/lists
Reading mode
Flip Board
Settings
Move
N
Result
Elo
Players
1.e4
1,185,008
54%
2421
---
1.d4
959,510
55%
2434
---
1.Nf3
286,503
56%
2441
---
1.c4
184,834
56%
2442
---
1.g3
19,892
56%
2427
---
1.b3
14,600
54%
2428
---
1.f4
5,954
48%
2377
---
1.Nc3
3,911
50%
2384
---
1.b4
1,791
48%
2379
---
1.a3
1,250
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
93
66%
2506
---
1.Na3
47
62%
2476
---
Please, wait...
1.e4c52.Nf3d63.d4cxd44.Qxd4Hou likes to play this move.Nc6The most recent example:4...Nf65.Nc3Nc66.Bb5Nd77.Bxc6bxc68.e5dxe59.Nxe5Qb610.Qf4Nxe511.Qxe5Ba612.Bd2Rb813.b3f614.Qe3e515.Na4Qd416.c3Qg417.c4Qxg218.0-0-0Ba3+19.Nb2c520.Rhg1Qb721.f4e422.Bc30-023.Qh3Rf724.Qe6Kf825.Rd6Re826.Qh3e327.Qxh7e228.Re1Qf329.Bd2Bc830.Rd3Qe431.Qxe4Rxe432.Rd8+Re833.Rxe8+Kxe834.Rxe2+Re735.Rxe7+Kxe736.Bc3g537.Kd2Bxb238.Bxb2g439.Kc3Kd640.Bc1Kc641.Be3Bf542.a3a643.Bf2Be444.f5Bxf545.Bh4Be446.Bxf6Bg647.a4Be448.Be7Bf349.a5Be450.Kd2Bf551.Kc31/2-1/2 (51) Hou,Y (2651)-Cramling,
P (2454) Caleta 20175.Bb5a6Often played is5...Bd76.Bxc6Bxc67.Nc3Nf68.Bg5e69.0-0-0Be76.Bxc6+bxc67.0-07.c4e58.Qd37...e58.Qd3Nf69.Rd1Qc710.Bg5Nd710...Rb811.Nbd2Be712.Bxf6gxf613.Rab1Rg814.Nc4Bg415.b3Rd816.Kf1d517.exd5cxd518.Qxh7Rg619.Ne3Bxf320.gxf3d421.Nc4Bf822.Qh3Rh623.Qf5Bg724.h3Kf825.Rd3Qc826.Qxc8Rxc827.f4exf428.Rxd4Rxh329.Kg1Rc330.Rd6a531.Nxa5Rxc232.a4f333.Rbd1R8c534.R6d5R5c335.Rd8+Ke736.R8d3f537.Nc4Rc138.Rxc1Rxd339.a5Bd440.b4Ke641.a6Kd542.b5Rb343.Rd1Kxc444.Rxd4+Kxd445.a7Ra346.b6f647.b7Rxa748.b8QRg7+49.Kf1Ke450.Qh8Rg251.Qxf6Kf452.Qd4+Kg553.Qe3+Kg454.Qh6f455.Qf6Rh256.Qg6+Kh357.Qh5#
1-0 (57) Peters,S-Gotay,A ICCF email 199711.Na3Nc512.Qe2h613.Bd2a514.Nc4Be715.Be3Ba6?Black underestimates the strategic threat.
After15...Nxe4?16.Bb6Qb717.Qxe4d518.Qxe5dxc4is pretty19.Rd8#Solid was15...Ne616.Nb6Rb817.Nxc8Rxc818.c3=16.Bxc5!dxc5Now Black has a crippled pawn position and White has an edge due to better minor pieces. Next, White exchanges
the rooks.17.Rd20-018.Rad1Rfd819.Rxd8+Rxd820.Rxd8+Bxd821.a4
Fixes the black a-pawn as a permanent weakness.Qb8Threatens Bxc4 and Qxb2.22.b3Qb4?Here one would have expected22...f6White is better, but
it'll take longer to win.But also22...Bf623.Qd3Qb423.Nfxe5Bf624.Nf3Not24.Nxc6?because ofBxc425.bxc4Qxa4-+24...Bd425.Qd3Kf8Or25...Bf626.g3g627.Kg2And Black runs out of moves.26.Kf1Bxc427.Qxc4Qxc4+28.bxc4Bb229.Nd229.Nd2Bc3with the idea of30.Nb3Bb431.Ke2Ke732.Kd3Kd633.c31–0
The Rossolimo Variation of the Sicilian Defence (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5) is always an excellent choice with White if you want to avoid the deeply analysed main lines of the Open Sicilian. Alexei Shirov provides you with the requisite understanding of the opening's subtleties, by annotating extensively his most important games in this variation. During his career, he has played the 3.Bb5 system with both colours and he shares with you on this DVD his valuable experience.
For consolation, the Swiss IM will soon be a GM! Having already completed his three required GM-norms, he needed only to elevate his rating above 2500, and his strong 5/9 showing in Biel netted him some two dozen points in spite of the last round loss. Congratulations!
GM-elect Georgiadis will enjoy seeing 'GM' in front of his name! | Photo: Pascal Simon
Best performance ever?
An so Hou Yifan was the clear winner of the GM tournament with a tournament performance of 2810 Elo. This is among the best performances by a woman in decades and the best personal achievements of Hou Yifan besides her accolades in women-only events, including of course the World Championship.
A happy and radiant winner | Photo: Pascal Simon
Three more decisive
Studer 0-1 Ponomariov
Noel Studer's bad luck continued against Ruslan Ponomariov. The Swiss kept the game in balance for a long time, but in the late middlegame, the former FIDE World Champion (and young father) forced a passed b-pawn, which was enough to bring home the bacon. His pair of knights proved better than White's bishops once the rooks were traded.
The rook on c4 is taboo, since Black would get a dangerous pair of passed pawns.
Navara 1-0 Vaganian
David Navara made it look easy against Rafael Vaganian to end a tough tournament for the Czech number one on a high note. In another Tarrasch variation against Vaganian's trusty French Defense, Navara first traded a rook and pawn for two pieces with a theoretical novelty, then won a pawn after a pretty petite combinaison.
Navara - Vaganian, after 22...Rde8
White played 23.Nxe6 Rxe6 24.Qxd5 Ne7 and after liquidation on e6, White has Bb3+ picking up the rook on g8, with a pawn-up ending. Navara turned the material advantage cleanly into a full point.
Leko 1-0 Morozevich
Peter Leko and Alexander Morozevich were fighting for the Spanish Zaitsev variation. Morozevich is, as is known, a friend of the fast flank pawns, and today a-pawn was the one trying to be a hero as he broke down Leko's queenside. The Hungarian, however, was not particularly impressed.
Stoic and steady | Photo: Pascal Simon
After the a-pawns and a few other pieces were traded, the fight continued on the kingside. Leko showed all his skills and won the endgame after more than six hours, one of the longest games of the tournament.
Select the round from the playlist for commentary by GMs Danny King and Joe Gallagher
Translation from German and additional reporting by Macauley Peterson
Update, Aug. 3 — As "FramiS" mentions in the comments below, Hou's 2012 result in Gibraltar is arguably more impressive. Although she did not win that tournament, and it was an Open, her performance rating there was 2872.
How do you play the Queen's Gambit Accepted? Does White have promising variations or can Black construct a water-tight repertoire? The Powerbook provides the answers based on 300 000 games, most of them played by engines.
The Queen's Gambit Accepted Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 11827 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 240 are annotated.
Rossolimo-Moscow Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 10950 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 612 are annotated.
The greater part of the material on which the Rossolimo/Moscow Powerbook 2025 is based comes from the engine room of playchess.com: 263.000 games. This imposing amount is supplemented by some 50 000 games from Mega and from Correspondence Chess.
Focus on the Sicilian: Opening videos on the Najdorf Variation with 6.h3 e5 7.Nb3 (Luis Engel) and the Taimanov Variation with 7.Qf3 (Nico Zwirs). ‘Lucky bag’ with 38 analyses by Anish Giri, Surya Ganguly, Abhijeet Gupta, Yannick Pelletier and many more.
€14.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.