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Standings after eight rounds

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Round eight report

Radjabov surprised the spectators by agreeing a micro-draw with Motylev. Why would the co-leader waste his final White in such fashion? I guess they call it "tournament tactics"...

Radjabov,T (2746) - Motylev,A (2648) [C45]
GM Biel SUI (8), 01.08.2007
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nxc6 Qf6 6.Qf3 bxc6 7.Nd2 Qxf3 8.gxf3 d5 9.Rg1 Ne7 10.Nb3 Bd6 11.Rxg7 Ng6 12.Bh6 Bxh2 13.0-0-0 Bd6 14.Bg5 h5 15.c4 dxe4 16.fxe4 ½-½.

However, Radjabov's decision looked a good deal more sensible a few hours later, when Carlsen slumped to his second straight defeat. He was in trouble very early on against the hitherto winless Van Wely, and the upshot of the Dutchman's piece sacrifice was an ending where White had a veritable rain-forest of passed pawns on the kingside. Carlsen struggled on to the death, but there was no stopping the pawns.

Loek van Wely against Magnus Carlsen in round eight

Van Wely,L (2680) - Carlsen,M (2710) [D38]
GM Biel SUI (8), 01.08.2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 0–0 6.e3 c5 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Bd3 c4 9.Bc2 Nbd7 10.0–0 Qa5 11.Rc1 Bxc3 12.bxc3 Ne4 13.Bb1 Re8 14.Bf4 Nb6 15.Ne5 f6 16.Qh5 Be6

17.f3 fxe5 18.Bxe5 Bf7 19.Qh3 Nf6 20.Bxf6 gxf6 21.Qh6 Bg6 22.Bxg6 hxg6 23.Qxg6+ Kf8 24.Qxf6+ Kg8 25.Qg6+ Kf8 26.Qf6+ Kg8 27.e4 Qb5 28.Qg6+ Kf8 29.Qf6+ Kg8 30.Qg6+ Kf8 31.e5 Qc6 32.Qf5+ Ke7 33.Qh7+ Kd8 34.f4 Qd7 35.Qxd7+ Kxd7 36.g4

36...Rg8 37.h3 Na4 38.Kg2 b5 39.Kg3 a5 40.a3 b4 41.cxb4 axb4 42.axb4 Nb2 43.Rc3 Nd3 44.b5 Rgb8 45.Rb1 Ra5 46.f5 Raxb5 47.Rxb5 Rxb5 48.e6+ Ke7 49.Ra3 Rb7 50.g5 Nb4 51.Re3 Nc6 52.f6+ Kd6 53.Kg4 c3 54.e7 c2 55.Rc3 Rb8 56.Rxc2 Nxd4 57.Rb2 Rc8 58.g6 Ne6 59.Rb6+ Kd7 60.Rb7+

1–0.

Onischuk jumped into a share of the lead, by beating Avrukh. White achieved only a small edge against the Grunfeld, but the critical moment came at move 21. The Israeli GM traded his Grunfeld bishop, in order to snatch a pawn, but after the fine zwischenzug 27.Qxe7!, his king proved fatally exposed. He staved off mate by surrendering a pawn, but succumbed in the minor piece ending.

Onischuk,Al (2650) - Avrukh,B (2645) [D98]
GM Biel SUI (8), 01.08.2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Qb3 dxc4 6.Qxc4 0–0 7.e4 Nc6 8.Be2 Bg4 9.d5 Na5 10.Qb4 Bxf3 11.Bxf3 c6 12.0–0 Qb6 13.Qa4 Nd7 14.Rd1 Rfd8 15.Qc2 Rac8 16.Be3 Qb4 17.dxc6 bxc6 18.Be2 Nc4 19.Bxc4 Qxc4 20.Rac1 Nb6 21.h3

21... Bxc3 22.Rxd8+ Rxd8 23.Qxc3 Qxa2 24.b3 Qe2 25.Qe5 Rd1+ 26.Kh2 Rxc1 27.Qxe7 Rh1+ 28.Kxh1 Qd1+ 29.Kh2 Qd7 30.Qf6 Qe6 31.Qd8+ Kg7 32.Bd4+ f6 33.Qc7+ Nd7 34.Qxa7 g5 35.Qc7 Kg6 36.f3 h5 37.f4 gxf4 38.Qxf4 Kf7 39.b4 Kg6 40.Be3 Qe5 41.Kg3 Qxf4+ 42.Kxf4

42...Nf8 43.g4 Ne6+ 44.Kg3 hxg4 45.Kxg4 Ng7 46.h4 Nh5 47.Bd4 Ng7 48.Bc5 Ne6 49.h5+ Kf7 50.h6 Ng5 51.Kf5 Nf3 52.Bf2 Nd2 53.Bd4 Nc4 54.Bxf6 1–0.

"Nothing succeeds like success", the saying goes. Yannick Pelletier proved the truth of this, by following up yesterday's win over Carlsen with a fine and thematic crush of Bu Xiangzhi's Slav. Black's Achilles' Heel in this variation is often the bishop on g6, which can be shut out by the white pawn on e4. Pelletier carried out the plan to perfection.

Pelletier,Y (2591) - Bu Xiangzhi (2685) [D19]
GM Biel SUI (8), 01.08.2007
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.0–0 Nbd7 9.Qe2 Bg4 10.h3 Bh5 11.Rd1 0–0 12.e4 Qe7

13.g4 Bg6 14.Bd3 h6 15.Bf4 Rac8 16.Rac1 Ba5 17.Bg3 Bb6 18.Bb1 Qb4 19.Ne5 Rfd8 20.Qc4 Qxc4 21.Nxc4 Bc7 22.Bxc7 Rxc7 23.f4 Nb6 24.Ne5

24...a5 25.Nxg6 fxg6 26.Ba2 Kf7 27.f5 gxf5 28.gxf5 Nh5 29.Bxe6+ Kf8 30.d5 cxd5 31.Nxd5 Rxc1 32.Rxc1 Nxd5 33.exd5 Nf4 34.Rc7 Nxd5 35.Rf7+ Ke8 36.Rxg7 Nf4 37.Rg8+ 1–0.

Polgar had a remarkable escape at the hands of Grischuk. Her Petroff Defence went horribly wrong inside 15 moves, and she was soon defending a technically lost ending. Tenacious defence could not prevent Grischuk reaching an ending of N+2Ps v N, which should have been an elementary win. However, just when the online spectators were wondering why Polgar was still playing on, she produced the fiendish resource 61...Ng4!!, and despite lengthy thought, Grischuk could not find a win.

Grischuk,A (2726) - Polgar,Ju (2707) [C42]
GM Biel SUI (8), 01.08.2007
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0–0 Be7 8.c4 Nb4 9.cxd5 Nxd3 10.Qxd3 Qxd5 11.Re1 Bf5 12.Ne5 Nd6 13.Nc3 Qa5 14.Qe2 0–0

15.b4 Qa6 16.Qxa6 bxa6 17.Nd5 Bd8 18.Nc6 Be6 19.Nde7+ Bxe7 20.Nxe7+ Kh8 21.d5 Rae8 22.Bg5 h6 23.dxe6 hxg5 24.exf7 Rxf7 25.Nc6 Rxe1+ 26.Rxe1 Rf4 27.Rc1 g4 28.g3 Re4 29.Kf1 a5 30.bxa5 Ra4 31.Nxa7 Rxa5 32.Nc6 Rxa2 33.Ne5 Ra4 34.Rxc7 Ne4 35.Kg2 Nf6 36.Nf7+ Kh7 37.Ng5+ Kh6 38.Ne6 Ra2 39.Nxg7 Kg6 40.Ne6 Nd5

41.Rc1 Rd2 42.Re1 Kf5 43.Re2 Rd1 44.Nc5 Nf6 45.h3 gxh3+ 46.Kxh3 Rd4 47.Kg2 Rd6 48.f3 Rd4 49.Ne4 Nd5 50.Rd2 Rxd2+ 51.Nxd2 Kg5 52.Kf2 Kf5 53.Nc4 Nb4 54.Ke2 Nc6 55.Ke3 Ne7 56.Nb2 Nd5+ 57.Kf2 Nf6 58.Nd3 Kg5 59.f4+ Kg4 60.Ne5+ Kh3 61.Kf3

61... Ng4!! 62.Nd3 Nh2+ 63.Ke4 Ng4 64.Ne5 Nf6+ 65.Kf3 Ng4 66.Nc4 Nh2+ 67.Ke4 Nf1 68.Ne3 Nxg3+ 69.Ke5 Kh2 70.Kd6 Nh5 71.f5 Ng7 72.f6 Draw 1/2–1/2 ½–½

So, the stage is set for a great last round. Radjabov has Black against Carlsen, whilst Onischuk has Black against Motylev. Join us at Playchess.com to follow the action live!

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