Biel: Vachier-Lagrave beats Georgiadis

by André Schulz
7/27/2018 – After losing twice at the outset of the event, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave improved his standing in Biel with a victory over Nico Georgiadis. In the clash of co-leaders, Magnus Carlsen could not convert a slim edge against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, while Peter Svidler and David Navara also split the point. The tournament reached its half-time and everything is yet to be decided. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival

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MVL fights back

The fifth round of the Accentus Biel GM tournament was played on Thursday. In the second half of the event, the players will face each other once again with colours reversed. In the first half of the competition, Carlsen and Mamedyarov have shown their strength, Svidler and Navara are still in contention, and it is not impossible for Vachier-Lagrave to make a comeback.

In his game against Nico Georgiadis, Vachier-Lagrave played the Mikenas variation of the English opening. By choosing 9.Be2, he followed the plan that gave Daniil Dubov a win over Hikaru Nakamura at the Tal Memorial. In this line, White usually sacrifices a pawn — unlike Nakamura, however, the Swiss GM did not take his opponent's offer. Vachier-Lagrave obtained an edge in development and eventually won a pawn himself. In the endgame, White slowly enlarged his advantage. 

 
Vachier-Lagrave - Georgiadis
Position after 35...Rxc5

Black captured the c5-pawn with the rook, only to realize that after 36.Rd8+ he was going to lose his rook (36...Kg7 37.Ne6+). Naturally, Georgiadis resigned, and Vachier-Lagrave obtained his first victory of the tournament.

Nico Georgiadis is facing a tough challenge in home soil | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Biel International Chess Festival 

Danny King provided in-depth analysis of the only decisive game of the day:

Keeping things under control

The other two games featured battles where both sides maintained the balance with very controlled play. None of the four participants could provoke a big enough mistake from their rivals, so the draws were fair and natural outcomes in both cases.

Peter Svidler and David Navara also went into an English opening, but chose the Four Knights variation with 4.e3. This line has been played a lot recently amongst the elite. Svidler and Navara followed theory until move 18 and reached a balanced endgame with symmetrical pawn structures. The only nominal advantage for Svidler was the fact that he had the pair of bishops.

 
Svidler - Navara
Position after 18.Bc2

The Czech player provoked the exchange of all the kingside pawns timely, killed all of White's intentions prophylactically and signed a draw after 40 moves. In the first half of the tournament, both Svidler and Navara defeated Georgiadis, but David lost against Carlsen, while Peter drew the rest of his games.

Peter Svidler and David Navara getting in the zone before their game | Photo: Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival

In the most expected game of the round, Magnus Carlsen had the white pieces against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. The World Champion played a Spanish with 5.d3 and the game took the typical nature of a "Modern Variation" of the Italian, something we see very often nowadays.

Carlsen obtained some play on the queenside and reached and endgame with a passed pawn on the c-file. Black had an extra central pawn in return, but Magnus knew that he had some chances with his outside passer. Loyal to his fighting spirit, the Norwegian tried to squeeze something out of this small edge.

 
Carlsen - Mamedyarov
Position after 39.bxc4

Nonetheless, Mamedyarov defended accurately and did not falter in the queen's endgame. The draw was agreed on move 67.

Two 2800s in Biel | 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
3.5
5
8.00
2869
2
2801
3.5
5
7.00
2877
3
2753
3.0
5
6.25
2810
4
2741
2.5
5
4.75
2740
5
2779
2.0
5
3.25
2661
6
2526
0.5
5
1.75
2417
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%.
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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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