Biel 2009: Morozevich beats Ivanchuk, Vachier leads

The 42nd Biel International Chess Festival is taking place from July 18th to 31st 2009. There are ten different tournaments (open, rapid, blitz, youth, Chess 960). The main event is a Category 19 double round robin tournament with six players averaging 2716 Elo points and 28.3 years of age.

Round nine

French GM Maxime Vachier Lagrave played an 21-move draw against the somewhat dejected Boris Gelfand of Israel, while Vachier's co-leader in the score chart, Vassily Ivanchuk lost his white game against the unpredictable Alexander Morozevich.

Morozevich and Ivanchuk at the start of their round nine game

Ivanchuk,V (2703) - Morozevich,A (2751) [D37]
GM Biel SUI (9), 29.07.2009
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e3 a6 6.a4 b6 7.Bxc4 Bb7 8.0-0 Bb4 9.Qb3 Nc6 10.Rd1 Bd6 11.Qc2 Nb4 12.Qe2 Ne4 13.Nxe4 Bxe4 14.Bd2 Bxf3 15.Qxf3 0-0 16.a5 c6 17.axb6 Qxb6 18.h4 a5 19.h5 Be7 20.Rdc1 Rfc8 21.b3 h6 22.Ra4 Nd5 23.e4 Bb4 24.exd5 Bxd2 25.dxe6 Bxc1

26.Qxf7+? Better was probably 26.e7 and then 27.Qxf7+. 26...Kh8 27.Bd3. If 27...e7 then Black has 27...Qxd4 (which did not work in the previous line: 26.e7 Qxd4? 27.Bxf7+ and 28.Rxd4). 27...Qd8 28.Qg6 Qg8 29.Rc4 Ba3 30.g3 Be7 31.d5 cxd5 32.Rf4 Bd6 33.Rf7

White is a rook down and has to mate. But Black, as it turns out, has sufficient defensive resources: 33...Rc7 34.Rd7 Be5 35.Qf5 Rxd7 36.exd7 Bc7 37.Bb5 Rf8 38.Qg6 Qf7

and with everything under control Black's extra rook will carry the sway. 0-1.

Alexander Morozevich in win-one-lose-one mode

Ivanchuk in his fateful round nine game

Caruana,F (2670) - Alekseev,Evgeny (2714) [B48]
GM Biel SUI (9), 29.07.2009
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.f4 Bb4 8.Ndb5 Qa5 9.e5 Nd5 10.Bd2 Nxc3 11.Bxc3 0-0 12.Qd2 Bxc3 13.Nxc3 f6 14.exf6 Rxf6 15.0-0-0 d5 16.Kb1 Bd7 17.g3 Be8 18.a3 Rb8 19.Nb5 Qxd2 20.Rxd2 Bg6 21.Bh3 a6 22.Nc3 b5 23.Re1 Kf7 24.Nd1 h5 25.Ne3 Be4 26.Bg2 Bxg2 27.Nxg2 Rg8 28.Rd3 g5 29.Rc3 e5 30.fxe5 Re6 31.Rf1+ Kg6 32.h4 Nxe5 33.hxg5 Kxg5 34.Nf4 Rf6 35.Rh1 Rh8 36.Rc7 Rf7 37.Rc5 Kg4 38.Rxd5 Rf5 39.Ne2 Nf3 40.Rd6 Re8 41.Nf4 Rh8 42.Rg6+ Rg5 43.Rxa6 Kxg3 44.Rf6 h4 45.Rh3+ Kg4

46.Rxf3 Kxf3 47.Ng6+ Kg4 48.Nxh8 h3 49.Nf7 h2 50.Rf1 Rd5 51.Ka2 Kg3 52.Rh1 Kg2 53.Rxh2+ Kxh2

and now Caruana tries bravely to win this ending which, as it turns out, cannot be done. 54.Kb3 Kg3 55.c4 bxc4+ 56.Kxc4 Rd2 57.Kc3 Rd5 58.Kc4 Rd2 59.b4 Kf4 60.b5 Kf5 61.a4 Ke6 62.Ng5+ Kd7 63.Ne4 Rh2 64.Nc3 Kd6 65.Ne4+ Kc7 66.a5 Rh4 67.Kd5 Rh5+ 68.Kc4 Rh4 69.Kd4 Kb7 70.Kd5 Rh5+ 71.Kc4 Rh4 72.Kd4 Kc7 73.Kd5 ½-½.

• Click to replay the games from round nine

Pictures by Pascal Simon, ChessBase

Current standings

The draw percentage in this event is a fairly low 63%, with 22% white and 15% black wins. It is mainly due to Alexander Morozevich, who you will notice has played only two draws in nine rounds, winning two games with white and two with black. Of his three losses two were with the white pieces.

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse the PGN games.