Biel: Wojtaszek dominates the Rapid

by Klaus Besenthal
7/20/2020 – The first discipline of the ‘Grandmaster Triathlon’, the rapid section, was played on Sunday at the International Chess Festival in Biel. The best player in the 15'+5" tournament was Radoslaw Wojtaszek, who in the end only drew two games and won the rest to get a 6/7 score. Vincent Keymer had another strong performance, as he finished third with 5 points, behind Pentala Harikrishna who obtained the same amount of points but had a better tiebreak score. | Photos: Official website
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Keymer in the spotlight

In view of the many blitz and rapid tournaments in recent months, it is certainly not necessary to show every spectacular blunder, but the final phase of the game between Michael Adams and Pentala Harikrishna in the first round was quite interesting — even if things came to a head when Adams made a big mistake:

 
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1.e4 0 e5 0 2.Nf3 0 Nc6 0 3.Bb5 0 a6 2 4.Ba4 0 Nf6 2 5.0-0 3 Be7 4 6.d3 8 b5 4 7.Bb3 1 d6 4 8.a4 20 Bd7 57 9.c3 42 b4 0 10.Nbd2 30 0-0 11 11.Nc4 5 Rb8 22 12.h3 47 h6 33 13.Re1 5 Be6 13 14.a5 31 bxc3 0 15.bxc3 2 Qc8 46 16.Ba2 2:31 Re8 53 17.Bd2 7 Bf8 19 18.Ne3 3 Bxa2 51 19.Rxa2 2 Qe6 0 20.c4 18 Nb4 1:18 21.Ra3 2:46 c5 21 22.Rb3 38 Rb7 57 23.Bxb4 28 Reb8 1:13 24.Nc2 49 Be7 0 25.Qd2 1:27 Nh5 17 26.Reb1 1:00 Bd8 1:13 27.Kh2 1:22 Nf4 1:08 28.Ne3 52 cxb4 1:09 29.Ra1 1 Qg6 0 30.Ra4 23 Kh7 6 31.Qb2 25 Bg5 1:20 32.Nxg5+ 18 Qxg5 22 33.g3 0 Ne6 27 34.Raxb4 2 Rxb4 0 35.Rxb4 0 Rxb4 6 36.Qxb4 0 Nc5 6
The first thought of White here is certainly that the d3-pawn should not be lost under any circumstances. But there are two more considerations: the f2-pawn is also weak (and should not be lost as well!) and the black queen could get to e2 via h5. 37.Qc3 17 Adams protects his pawn. A bit better was 37.Qd2 also protecting f2. But the best alternative was 37.Kg2! White takes the king to defend the above-mentioned weaknesses. In this case, losing the pawn on d3 is not a problem: Nxd3? 38.Qxd6+- 37...Qh5 8 The black queen targets e2 and f3. 38.Ng4?! 40 This knight only serves as a blockade. f5 6 39.exf5 0 Qxf5 1 Despite all this, Black only had a small advantage thus far. The decisive mistake by White only came here. 40.d4? 8 This saves the attacked pawn on d3 and also protects f3, but is bad for another reason. With 40.Qc2! Adams would have lost the d-pawn, but not the game. 40...exd4! 7 40...exd4 41.Qxd4 h5 42.Ne3 Qxf2+ 43.Kh1 Qxg3 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Adams,M2701Harikrishna,P27190–1202053rd Biel ACCENTUS Rapid 20201.2

Michael Adams, Pentala Harikrishna

Michael Adams won three and lost two on Sunday

Vincent Keymer started his great winning streak — which left him atop the standings table after winning three in a row at the outset — by beating David Anton. The Spaniard initially ruined his own position, before Keymer secured the full point with a long series of strong, precise moves:

 
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1.Nf3 0 d5 2 2.c4 7 e6 0 3.g3 17 d4 2 4.Bg2 39 c5 14 5.0-0 39 Nc6 21 6.e3 0 Nf6 3 7.exd4 14 cxd4 2 8.d3 9 h6 2 9.Na3 1:01 Bxa3 0 10.bxa3 3 0-0 3 11.Bf4 1:40 Qa5 2:29 12.Rb1 1:06 Rd8 2:52 13.a4 2:41 a6 7 14.Qb3 2:21 e5 47 15.Bd2 5 Qc7 2 16.Rfe1 30 Nd7 1:13 17.Qa3 25 b6 46 18.a5 0 bxa5 26 19.Nh4 2 Rb8 47 20.Rxb8 1:32 Ndxb8 3 21.f4 38 Re8 1:07 22.Qc5 20 Re6 1:24 23.Bd5 0 Nd7 4 24.Qa3 4 Re8 5
At this point the game was about equal, but with the following two moves Anton ruins his position completely. 25.Nf5?! Nb4! 14 Keymer recognizes that the bishop on d5 is vital for White - and attacks it. 26.fxe5? 37 White thinks he is improving his position, but after this move he is lost. The obvious choice was 26.Bxb4 and Black would get an advantage after axb4 27.Qa4 Nf6 28.Qc6 Qxc6 29.Bxc6 Bxf5 30.Bxe8 Bxd3 31.Ba4 e4 but this might have been defensible for White. 26...Nxe5! 7 Now the f5-knight is hanging, so the d5-bishop can be taken in the next move - and then f3 becomes a huge weakness for White. 27.Nxd4 11 Nxd5 6 28.cxd5 3 Qb6! 4 Keymer confidently converts his advantage. 29.Be3 5 Nf3+! 3 30.Nxf3 6 Rxe3 31.Kg2 8 Bg4 8 32.Rf1 6 Re2+ 3 33.Kh1 2 Bxf3+ 0 34.Rxf3 2 Qb1+ 1 0–1
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Anton Guijarro,D2703Keymer,V25580–1202053rd Biel ACCENTUS Rapid 20201.3

David Anton, Vincent Keymer

Vincent Keymer kicked off the day with three straight wins

After a draw against Pentala Harikrishna in round 4, Keymer won again in round 5 against local hero Noël Studer. One could almost feel a little sorry for the ambitious Swiss grandmaster, as he actually had a good position with a passed pawn on the b-file. But the convincing way in which Keymer, with his majority in the centre, simply rolled over White’s position in the end was certainly admirable:

 
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1.d4 0 Nf6 0 2.c4 0 e6 0 3.Nf3 0 d5 0 4.g3 0 Bb4+ 1 5.Bd2 1 Be7 2 6.Bg2 0 0-0 2 7.0-0 2 c6 1 8.Qc2 1 Nbd7 2 9.Bf4 2 b6 0 10.cxd5 2 cxd5 2 11.Rc1 1 Bb7 2 12.Bc7 2 Qe8 8 13.Qb3 25 Ne4 37 14.Nc3 1 Rc8 0 15.Nb5 32 Ndc5 2 16.dxc5 2 bxc5 1 17.Be5 3 c4 1:49 18.Qa4 2 f6 1 19.Bd4 4 e5 3:38 20.Bxa7 29 Nd6 33 21.Nc3 18 Qxa4 2 22.Nxa4 1 Ra8 1 23.Bc5 2 Rxa4 16 24.Nd2 9 Rb8 0 25.b3 3:33 cxb3 9 26.axb3 1 Rxa1 1:39 27.Rxa1 1 Kf7 28 28.b4 51 Ra8 1:42 29.Rxa8 56 Bxa8 0 30.Nb3 1:25 Nb5 37 31.Kf1 2:13 Bxc5 1:15 32.Nxc5 44 Ke7 4 33.Ke1 10 Kd6 46 34.Kd2 16 Nd4 0 35.Nd3 1:24 Nc6 34 36.Kc3 1:28 e4 43 37.Nc5 29
The computers assess this position as balanced: White has a passed pawn, but it can't run for the time being, while the black majority in the centre is a threat, although it seems to lack (for now?!) the necessary support from the pieces. 37...d4+?! 36 Keymer pushes forward immediately and puts his opponent under strong psychological pressure - but objectively the move was probably not necessarily justified. 38.Kc4 f5 1 39.b5?! 21 The position is not easy to understand - White soon takes the wrong path. Much stronger was 39.Bf1! with a better game for White. At f1, the bishop not only makes the d4-d3 breakthrough much more difficult, but also eludes the tactical motives we will see in the game immediately. And it's hard for Black to find a good response. In the long run, Black has a tough time looking for ways in which his pieces could support the pawn phalanx optimally. 39...d3! 1 Strong counterattack! 40.exd3?! 54 After this natural-looking move, Black profits from the fact that the g2-bishop is unprotected. The best continuation was extremely difficult to see, especially since (for both players) there was hardly any time left to think: 40.Nxd3! exd3 41.Kc3!= White turns the tables. Now the uncovered a8-bishop is clearly misplaced. 40...Ne5+ 9 The most precise was 40...e3! 41.Kd4? 0 The losing move. Much better was 41.Kc3! Kxc5 42.d4+ Kxb5 43.dxe5 41...e3! 1
This breakthrough wins a piece and thus the game. 42.Bf1 40 Nf3+ 0 43.Kxe3 1 Nxh2 10 44.Be2 16 Kxc5 3 45.d4+ 1 Kd6 18 46.f3 7 g5 10 47.Bd3 10 Ke6 0 48.Bc4+ 4 Kf6 4 49.Be2 8 h5 4 50.b6 3 Bb7 4 51.f4 0 Ng4+ 4 52.Kd2 9 gxf4 2 53.gxf4 0 h4 2 54.Bf1 2 Ke6 6 55.Bc4+ 10 Kd6 3 56.Bd3 1 h3 2 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Studer,N2580Keymer,V25580–1202053rd Biel ACCENTUS Rapid 20205.1

Noël Studer

Noël Studer

Vincent Keymer’s amazing run came to an end in round 6 when Radoslaw Wojtaszek took the lead in the standings with a commanding win. The Polish grandmaster also won his seventh game of the day — against Studer — to finish the rapid section of the Biel Triathlon in clear first place.

 
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1.c4 0 e6 4 2.Nc3 0 Nf6 39 3.e4 1 d5 1 4.cxd5 0 exd5 2 5.e5 2 Ne4 2 6.Nf3 2 Bf5 2:30 7.d3 2 Nxc3 0 8.bxc3 2 c5 30 9.d4 1 c4 47 10.a4 2 Nc6 6 11.Be2 0 Be7 13 12.0-0 2 0-0 7 13.Ne1 16 f6 12 14.exf6 8 Bxf6 12 15.Nc2 27 Qd7 54 16.Ne3 0 Be6 8 17.Ba3 59 Rfe8 35 18.Ng4 1:27 Be7 3:06 19.Bxe7 12 Qxe7 1:11 20.Bf3 43 Bxg4 31 21.Bxg4 2 Qd6 3 22.Rb1 35 Rab8 0 23.Bf3 1:47 a6 44 24.Rb6 54 Re7 21 25.Qb1 25 Qd7 26 26.Qc1 37 Qd8 30 27.Qb2 21 Qd7 0 28.Qa3 29
In this position, White does not yet have a large advantage from an objective point of view, but instinctively one suspects that Black's position could collapse at the slightest mistake. First of all, White threatens to capture on d5 and then, if Qxd5, Rxc6 and Qxe7 would follow. 28...Rd8?! 19 An excellent active defensive move would be 28...Rf8! and now 29.Bxd5+?? Qxd5 30.Rxc6 Qf7! Black threatens Qxf2 mate. 29.h3 49 Here already White could have gone 29.Bxd5+ Qxd5 30.Rxc6 Qf7 29...Kf8 13 With 29...Qe6! Black could still defend for a while. 30.Rfb1 1:22 Na5 5 31.Re1 15 Nc6 5 32.Bxd5! 32 Now Wojtaszek finds the move that destroys Black's centre. Game over. 1–0
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Wojtaszek,R2719Keymer,V25581–0202053rd Biel ACCENTUS Rapid 20206.4

Biel Chess Festival 2020

The playing hall 

There will be no Grandmaster-Triathlon action on Monday, while the first round of classical chess is set to take place on Tuesday. For the organizers, however, the biggest challenge begins on Monday, as the start of the 150-player Special Corona Amateur Tournament means there will be a significant increase in the number of people at the Congress Centre.

Final standings - Rapid

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Wojtaszek Radoslaw 6,0 0,0
2 Harikrishna Pentala 5,0 0,5
3 Keymer Vincent 5,0 0,5
4 Adams Michael 4,0 0,0
5 Naiditsch Arkadij 2,5 0,0
6 Anton Guijarro David 2,0 0,5
7 Edouard Romain 2,0 0,5
8 Studer Noel 1,5 0,0

Each point gained in the rapid will be worth twice as much in the overall standings

All games - Rapid

 
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Klaus Besenthal is computer scientist, has followed and still follows the chess scene avidly since 1972 and since then has also regularly played in tournaments.

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