Biel: Shak catches Magnus

by André Schulz
7/24/2018 – For the third day in a row, two players left Biel's Congress Centre with a win in their pockets. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov inflicted Maxime Vachier-Lagrave's second consecutive loss and now shares the lead with Magnus Carlsen. The other winner was David Navara, who increased Nico Georgiadis' woes with a Black win in 39 moves. Peter Svidler and Carlsen signed a three-fold repetition draw after exploring a complex line of the Najdorf | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival

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Shak is sharp

Last year, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov rose to the very top of the chess elite after modifying his style — he started playing quieter openings and going for simplifications when the position called for it. Chess fans never forgot, however, of Shak's "previous version", the one that did not shy away from complications and turned evaluations around whenever he had the chance. So far, in Biel, we have seen some snippets of the old not-as-sophisticated version.

Against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in round three, Shak did not hesitate to launch his kingside pawns forward early in the game:

 
Mamedyarov - Vachier-Lagrave
Position after 7.g4

A fight for the central squares followed and White ended up a pawn for the good in a rook and bishop endgame. On move 23, Mamedyarov fixed his opponent's h-pawn on a light square in order to attack it later:

 
Position after 22...gxh5

After 23.h4, White had all the trumps in the position and only needed to be careful, as the presence of the rooks gives Black a slim hope to survive. A few moves later, however, Shak snatched the h-pawn and Vachier-Lagrave decided it was time to stop the clocks and accept his loss.

Their demeanors illustrate how they are doing in Biel | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Biel International Chess Festival

No country for young men

Things did not improve for local player Nico Georgiadis on Tuesday. He lost against David Navara with the white pieces and is yet to score half a point in the tournament. Navara, on the other hand, has had a good performance so far, losing against Carlsen after being slightly better and failing to beat Mamedyarov after getting some chances in the opening.

In the game, Nico followed Magnus' example from round one and gave up his queen for David's rook and bishop. The big difference though is that Carlsen did it voluntarily while Georgiadis did it out of necessity. The white queen was surrounded by enemy pieces and numerous threats, so Nico decided that it was better to give it up in the following position:

 
Georgiadis - Navara
Position after 17...Re8

White went for 18.Rxd4, but perhaps 18.Qh4 Nxe2 19.Kf1 Nd6 20.Be3 was a better way to continue. However, Georgiadis still had good practical chances to hold in the complicated struggle that ensued. In the end, Navara's queenside pawns — supported by the queen — were stronger than White's bundle of pieces. 

 
Position after 39.Kf1

Georgiadis resigned after 39...b3.

Navara respectfully accepts his opponent's resignation | Photo: Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival

Looking for a hat-trick

Magnus Carlsen seems to be in good spirits in Biel. After winning his first two games, he delved into a complicated Najdorf position against Peter Svidler. Evidently, Svidler also was up for a fight, as he usually plays the Kan variation of the Sicilian. 

The World Champion used the principled 6.Bg5 and Svidler answered — as he had done last year against Jobava — with the "modern" 6...Nbd7. Soon afterwards, the player from Saint Petersburg improvised with 9...Qc7, instead of e5, and the players already were in unexplored territory.

 
Carlsen - Svidler
Position after 11.g4

The position proves that Carlsen was ready to fight for his hat-trick. A few moves later, he offered a bishop sacrifice on b5, which Black did not accept as it gave White a direct attack against the king still in the centre.

 
Position after 15.Bb5

In case of 15...axb5, White had a nice combination that finished in checkmate: 16.Ncxb5 Qa5 17.Nxe6 fxe6 18.Nxd6#. After this sacrifice was correctly rejected, Carlsen tried another one with his knight on f5, but once again Svidler kept his cool and returned the piece quickly to keep the balance. The excitement was over on move 26, when the players repeated the position three times. It was a short but flashy struggle.

Head-scratching was called for after such a complicated game | Photo: Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival

Live coverage with commentary by Daniel King and Anna Rudolf

Current standings

Rk.NameRtg.Nt.Pts.n
1
2
3
4
5
6
TBPerf.
1
2842
2.5
3
3.00
3031
2
2801
2.5
3
1.25
2955
3
2753
2.0
3
1.50
2841
4
2741
1.5
3
1.25
2723
5
2779
0.5
3
1.00
2526
6
2526
0.0
3
0.00
1965
TBs: Sonneborn-Berger

All games

 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
Replay and check the LiveBook here
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.Bg5 Bb4+ 5.Nc3 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 0-0 8.Rc1 dxc4 9.Bxc4 c5 D38: Queen's Gambit Declined: Ragozin Defence (4 Nf3 Bb4) 10.dxc5 Nd7 11.0-0 LiveBook: 3 Games Nxc5 The position is equal. 12.Nb5 a6 13.Nbd4
13...b5N Predecessor: 13...Ba5 14.a3 Bb6 15.b4 Ne4 16.Qd3 Ng5 17.Nxg5 hxg5 1-0 (36) Salem,A (2638)-Peralta,F (2556) Sitges 2017 14.Be2 e5 15.Nc2 15.a3 is more complex. exd4 16.Nxd4 Ne6 17.axb4 Rd8 18.Bf3 15...Rd8 16.Nxb4 Rxd1 17.Rfxd1 a5 18.Nd5 Qd6 19.Nxe5 Bb7 20.Bf3 Rc8 21.Ng4 Qf8 22.h4 Nd7 With the idea ...Rxc1. 23.Rxc8 Bxc8 24.a3 h5 25.Nh2 g6 26.Be2 Ne5 27.Bxb5 Bb7 28.Nc3 Qe7 29.Rd4 Qe6 30.Nf1 Qb3 31.Rd2 Nc4 32.Rd7 Bxc4 is the strong threat. Nxb2 33.Rxb7 Qxc3 34.Be8 Kf8 35.Bxf7 Qc6 36.Rxb2 Kxf7=       Endgame KQ-KRN 37.Rd2! Qa4 38.Rd3 Qxh4 39.Rd7+ Kg8 40.Rd4! Qe7 41.a4 Qa3 42.g3 Qa1 43.Kg2 g5 44.Nd2 g4 45.Ne4 Qc1 46.Nf6+ Kf7 47.Nxh5 Qc6+ 48.Kg1 Threatens to win with Rf4+. Qc1+ 49.Kh2 Kg6! 50.Nf4+ Kf6 51.Ng2 Kg5 52.Rf4 Qd1 53.Nh4 Hoping for Rf5+. Qc2 54.Nf5 Qd3 55.e4       Qd7?      
55...Qd1!= and Black has nothing to worry. 56.e5!+- Qh7+ 57.Kg1 aiming for e6. Qg6
58.Nd6! Qe6? 58...Qb1+ 59.Kh2 Qc1 59.Rf5+ Qxf5 60.Nxf5 Kxf5 61.f4 Kg2 would kill now. gxf3 62.Kf2 Kxe5 63.Kxf3 Kf5 64.Ke3 Precision: White = 75%, Black = 65%.
1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Carlsen,M2842Navara,D27411–02018D30ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20181
Mamedyarov,S2801Georgiadis,N25261–02018A15ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20181
Vachier-Lagrave,M2779Svidler,P2753½–½2018C84ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20181
Vachier-Lagrave,M2779Carlsen,M28420–12018B07ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20182
Svidler,P2753Georgiadis,N25261–02018B51ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20182
Navara,D2741Mamedyarov,S2801½–½2018C80ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20182
Carlsen,M2842Svidler,P2753½–½2018B94ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20183
Mamedyarov,S2801Vachier-Lagrave,M27791–02018A04ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20183
Georgiadis,N2526Navara,D27410–12018E62ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20183
Mamedyarov,S2801Svidler,P2753½–½2018D71ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20184
Navara,D2741Vachier-Lagrave,M2779½–½2018D85ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20184
Georgiadis,N2526Carlsen,M2842½–½2018C17ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20184
Carlsen,M2842Mamedyarov,S2801½–½2018C77ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20185
Vachier-Lagrave,M2779Georgiadis,N25261–02018A18ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20185
Svidler,P2753Navara,D2741½–½2018A28ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20185
Svidler,P2753Vachier-Lagrave,M27790–12018A34ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20186
Navara,D2741Carlsen,M2842½–½2018D41ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20186
Georgiadis,N2526Mamedyarov,S28010–12018B92ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20186
Carlsen,M2842Vachier-Lagrave,M2779½–½2018B90ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20187
Mamedyarov,S2801Navara,D27411–02018E10ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20187
Georgiadis,N2526Svidler,P27530–12018B90ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20187
Vachier-Lagrave,M2779Mamedyarov,S2801½–½2018C82ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20188
Svidler,P2753Carlsen,M2842½–½2018C65ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20188
Navara,D2741Georgiadis,N2526½–½2018E52ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20188
Mamedyarov,S2801Carlsen,M28421–02018E65ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20189
Navara,D2741Svidler,P2753½–½2018A33ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20189
Georgiadis,N2526Vachier-Lagrave,M2779½–½2018D71ACCENTUS Biel GMT 20189
Carlsen,M2842Georgiadis,N25261–02018A00ACCENTUS Biel GMT 201810
Vachier-Lagrave,M2779Navara,D27411–02018C50ACCENTUS Biel GMT 201810
Svidler,P2753Mamedyarov,S2801½–½2018A18ACCENTUS Biel GMT 201810

Translation from German and additional reporting: Antonio Pereira

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André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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