Biel Rd.2: Carlsen wins again, Vachier self-destructs

by ChessBase
7/19/2011 – If a title had to be given to the day’s round, it would be Beauty and the Beast. For ‘Beauty’, Magnus Carlsen confirmed his return to form as he outplayed Shirov in a Meran, taking his score to 2.0/2 (6/2 in the Biel scoring system). The ‘Beast’ would be Vachier-Lagrave’s reversal of fortune against Morozevich as he went from winning to dead lost after a tragic hallucination. Express report.

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The 2011 Biel Chess Festival is taking place from July 16 to 29, in a number of groups: the Master Tournament (eleven rounds Swiss); the Main Tournament (nine rounds Swiss); a Rapid and a Blitz tournament; Chess960; Youth, Simultaneous, Chess Tennis, ChessBase training seminars. Of greatest interest is of course the Accentus Grandmaster Tournament with six very strong grandmasters playing a double round robin: Magnus Carlsen, Maximee Vachier-Lagrave, Alexei Shirov, Fabiano Caruana, Alexander Morozevich and Yannick Pelletier.


The participants: Caruana, Pelletier, Shirov, Carlsen, Morozevich, Vachier-Lagrave

The rate of play: 2 hours for 40 moves, then one hour for 20 and 15 min for the rest of the game, with 30 sec increment per move. The scoring system is three points for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss. No draw offers are permitted before move 30.

Round 2: Tuesday, July 19, 14:00h
Maxime Vachier 
0-1
 Alex. Morozevich
Magnus Carlsen 
1-0
 Alexei Shirov
Yannick Pelletier 
½-½
 Fabiano Caruana

If a title had to be given to the day’s round, Beauty and the Beast might be appropriate. Magnus Carlsen has been confirming not only his status as the number one, but also his return to form as he outplayed Alexei Shirov in a Meran, finishing his game long before everyone else. They played fifteen moves of known theory at which point they deviated. Shirov found himself with a king trapped in the center and serious development problems he never managed to resolve. Eventually he tried to do so energetically, but this just left him open to Carlsen’s counter-strike and soon succumbed. That would be the Beauty, as it also leaves Carlsen on 2.0/2.

The game between former French prodigy Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and returning phenom Alexander Morozevich would be the Beast. The players went for a classic Exchange Gruenfeld, but the Frenchman seemed the better prepared and his initiative soon turned into a deadly attack. This might have decisively turned to his advantage with 23.Qh6+ Kf7 24.Nf4, which he missed, albeit still retaining a good advantage. Then the tragic took place five moves later, and in what can only be ascribed to a massive hallucination, he went for a completely mistaken sacrifice that left him dead lost, yielding the win to Morozevich.


Self-distructed in round two: French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave


Alexander Morozevich, who graciously took the presented point

Fabiano Caruana and Yannick Pelletier played a French that was soon reduced to a rather straightforward endgame with few, if any, winning chances. Caruana no doubt felt a need to play it out and try to somehow squeeze a win against the tournament’s lowest-rated player, but the Swiss had few difficulties and the balance was never broken over the 59 moves played.

[Event "Biel ACCENTUS GM"] [Site "Biel SUI"] [Date "2011.07.19"] [Round "2"] [White "Vachier Lagrave, M."] [Black "Morozevich, A."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D86"] [WhiteElo "2722"] [BlackElo "2694"] [PlyCount "82"] [EventDate "2011.07.18"] [EventType "tourn"] 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. e4 Nxc3 5. bxc3 g6 6. d4 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O $2 10. O-O $2 Qc7 11. Rc1 b6 12. Qd2 Bb7 13. Bh6 Rad8 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. f4 Qd7 16. Bb5 Qe6 17. f5 Qd6 18. Bxc6 Bxc6 19. d5 Bd7 20. c4 Qe5 21. Rc3 Rh8 22. Rh3 f6 23. Qf4 (23. Qh6+ Kf7 24. Nf4 $17) 23... b5 24. Qh6+ Kf7 25. Nf4 Rdg8 26. Ne6 bxc4 27. Ra3 Qxe4 28. Ng5+ $4 (28. fxg6+ Rxg6 29. Ng5+ Rxg5 30. Qxg5 $11) 28... fxg5 29. fxg6+ Ke8 30. Rxa7 hxg6 31. Ra8+ Bc8 32. Qxg5 Kd8 33. d6 Qd4+ 34. Rf2 Qd1+ 35. Rf1 Qd4+ 36. Rf2 Qd1+ 37. Rf1 Qxd6 38. h3 Qd4+ 39. Kh1 Rf8 40. Re1 Rf6 41. Qg3 Rhf8 0-1

[Event "Biel ACCENTUS GM"] [Site "Biel SUI"] [Date "2011.07.19"] [Round "2"] [White "Carlsen, M."] [Black "Shirov, A."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D47"] [WhiteElo "2821"] [BlackElo "2714"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2011.07.18"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3 Bb7 9. O-O a6 10. e4 c5 11. d5 c4 12. Bc2 Qc7 13. Nd4 e5 14. Nf5 g6 15. Nh6 Nh5 16. g3 Bc5 17. Qf3 Rf8 18. Bd2 Bd4 19. b4 cxb3 20. Bxb3 Qd6 21. Rac1 Ng7 22. a4 f5 23. axb5 f4 24. Ne2 Bb6 25. bxa6 Bxa6 26. Bc4 g5 27. Bxa6 Rxa6 28. Rc8+ Bd8 29. Nf5 Nxf5 30. exf5 Nf6 31. Qd3 Ra7 32. Qb5+ Qd7 33. Rxd8+ 1-0

[Event "Biel ACCENTUS GM"] [Site "Biel SUI"] [Date "2011.07.19"] [Round "2"] [White "Caruana, F."] [Black "Pelletier, Y."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C10"] [WhiteElo "2711"] [BlackElo "2590"] [PlyCount "117"] [EventDate "2011.07.18"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. Bd3 c5 8. Be3 Qc7 9. Qe2 a6 10. O-O b6 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. Bxc5 Qxc5 13. Qe5 Qxe5 14. Nxe5 Ke7 15. a4 Bb7 16. Ra3 a5 17. f4 g6 18. Re1 Rhd8 19. g3 Rab8 20. Rb3 Ba8 21. Rc3 Rbc8 22. Rxc8 Rxc8 23. Kf2 Nd7 24. Nxd7 Kxd7 25. h4 h5 26. Ke3 Rc5 27. Kd2 Bc6 28. b3 Kd6 29. c3 Bd7 30. Re4 Rd5 31. Ke3 Rc5 32. Bc4 b5 33. Rd4+ Kc7 34. axb5 Bxb5 35. Bxb5 Rxb5 36. b4 axb4 37. cxb4 e5 38. fxe5 Rxe5+ 39. Re4 Rb5 40. Rf4 f5 41. Rd4 Re5+ 42. Kf4 Re6 43. Kg5 Kc6 44. Rd8 Re3 45. Kxg6 Rxg3+ 46. Kxh5 f4 47. Rf8 f3 48. Rf5 Kb6 49. Kh6 Kc6 50. h5 Kb6 51. Kh7 Kc6 52. h6 Kb6 53. Kh8 Kc6 54. h7 Kb6 55. Rf8 Kb5 56. Rb8+ Kc6 57. b5+ Kc7 58. Rg8 f2 59. Rf8 1/2-1/2

Standings

Remember: a win counts as three points, a draw as one and a loss zero.


Live GM commentary on Playchess

There is live audio and video commentary on the chess server Playchess. The English commentary starts at 3:30 p.m., and German commentary directly from the playing site begins at 4:00 p.m. In addition Daniel King is doing round-up shows at 8:00 p.m. on the days he is commenting.


GM Daniel King commenting on the games in round one

Commentary schedule

Monday 18/07/2011 Miso Cebalo Daniel King
Tuesday 19/07/2011 Miso Cebalo Daniel King
Wednesday 20/07/2011 Miso Cebalo Jan Smeets
Friday 22/07/2011 Miso Cebalo Daniel King
Saturday 23/07/2011 Miso Cebalo Jan Gustafsson
Monday 25/07/2011 Miso Cebalo Jan Gustafsson
Tuesday 26/07/2011 Miso Cebalo Jan Gustafsson
Wednesday 27/07/2011 Miso Cebalo Daniel King
Thursday 28/07/2011 Miso Cebalo Daniel King
Friday 29/07/2011 Miso Cebalo to be announced

As a special treat the multimedia commentary live from Biel is also available on our live browser coverage. This also includes the players analysing after their games.


Overview: schedule and results

Round 1: Monday, July 18, 14:00h
Fabiano Caruana 
½-½
 Maxime Vachier
Yannick Pelletier 
0-1
 Magnus Carlsen
Alexei Shirov 
½-½
 Alex. Morozevich 
Round 2: Tuesday, July 19, 14:00h
Maxime Vachier 
0-1
 Alex. Morozevich
Magnus Carlsen 
1-0
 Alexei Shirov
Yannick Pelletier 
½-½
 Fabiano Caruana
Round 3: Wednesday, July 20, 14:00h
Yannick Pelletier 
   Maxime Vachier
Alexei Shirov 
   Fabiano Caruana
Alex. Morozevich 
   Magnus Carlsen 
Round 4: Friday, July 22, 14:00h
Alexei Shirov 
   Maxime Vachier
Alex. Morozevich 
   Yannick Pelletier
Magnus Carlsen 
   Fabiano Caruana
Round 5: Saturday, July 23, 14:00h
Maxime Vachier 
   Magnus Carlsen 
Fabiano Caruana 
   Alex. Morozevich
Yannick Pelletier 
   Alexei Shirov
Round 6: Monday, July 25, 14:00h
Maxime Vachier 
   Fabiano Caruana
Magnus Carlsen 
   Yannick Pelletier
Alex. Morozevich 
   Alexei Shirov
Round 7: Tuesday, July 26, 14:00h
Alex. Morozevich 
   Maxime Vachier
Alexei Shirov 
   Magnus Carlsen 
Yannick Pelletier 
   Fabiano Caruana
Round 8: Wednesday, July 27, 14:00h
Maxime Vachier  
   Yannick Pelletier
Fabiano Caruana 
   Alexei Shirov
Magnus Carlsen 
   Alex. Morozevich
Round 9: Thursday, July 28, 14:00h
Magnus Carlsen 
   Maxime Vachier
Alex. Morozevich 
   Fabiano Caruana
Alexei Shirov 
   Yannick Pelletier
Round 10: Friday, July 29, 11:00h
Maxime Vachier 
   Alexei Shirov
Yannick Pelletier 
   Alex. Morozevich
Fabiano Caruana 
   Magnus Carlsen 

Links

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 a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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