Biel Rd2 - Carlsen crushes Wang Hao, Bacrot beats Moro

by ChessBase
7/24/2012 – It was another action-packed round as Magnus Carlsen built up a huge attack against Wang Hao to score his first win. Giri and Nakamura had a tense tussle, but drew, while Bacrot found himself in a double-edged opening against Morozevich with as many as three pawns down, but excessive optimism by the Russian allowed Bacrot to finish in beauty. Illustrated report with video analysis.

Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.

The 2012 Biel Chess Festival is taking place from July 23rd to August 2nd, 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, Hikaru Nakamura, Alex. Morozevich, Wang Hao, Etienne Bacrot and Anish Giri.


Hikaru Nakamura, Etienne Bacrot, Magnus Carlsen, Wang Hao, Anish Giri and Alex Morozevich

The rate of play: 40 moves in 100 minutes, then 20 moves in 50 minutes followed by 15 minutes 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 two

Round 2: Tuesday, July 24, 14:00h
Hikaru Nakamura 
½-½
 Anish Giri
Etienne Bacrot 
1-0
 Alex. Morozevich
Magnus Carlsen 
1-0
 Wang Hao

If you thought the action would slow in round two, think again. The first game to end was the tense battle between Hikaru Nakamura and Anish Giri. Hikaru’s queen penetrated the queenside, but was under constant danger of being harried by Giri’s rooks. He solved the problem by exchanging it off, but the ensuing position held no winning chances for either and they shook hands.


Anish Giri presents his thoughts during the post-mortem


Nakamura has his doubts


Giri and Nakamura review their tussle. It is reassuring to see even the players unsure.
Namakura: "Either I'm much better, or Anish is completely fine."

The wildest game by far was between Etienne Bacrot and Alexander Morozevich. The opening looked especially strange considering the players. Its extremely double-edged nature, involving multiple pawn sacrifices would look perfectly normal were it the Russian doing the sacrificing, but it was the other way around! Bacrot later explained that he had known the line could turn up, but preparing against such a maverick made it impossible to truly cover the bases and he spent enormous amounts of time trying to calculate his way out of the maze.


If the game was a rollercoaster for the audience, imagine what it was like for the players,
yet Etienne Bacrot kept his cool and was rewarded in the end.

When he was down three pawns, it seemed clear he would be fortunate to walk away with a draw, but in mutual time trouble, Morozevich became overly optimistic and suddenly was lost. Bacrot played the end to perfection, even finding a ‘cool move’ as he describes in the post-mortem (and it was a cool move) not to mention his lovely coup de grace ending the game in beauty.


Etienne Bacrot analyzes his game in the post-mortem  


Magnus Carlsen came alone to the post-mortem, which was followed live by the hordes
on Playchess. It can be viewed by Premium subscribers in the commentary channel by Klaus Bischoff.

The last game to end was Magnus Carlsen against Wang Hao. Wang Hao, who had enjoyed a completely misplayed opening by his opponent in the first round, made a mess of his own opening against Carlsen, far from ideal against the strongest player alive. Somehow he never managed to regain his equilibrium and he followed this up by various weakening moves around his kingside that soon saw the Norwegian’s pieces swarming around it. The pressure mounted and he buckled, unable to keep his position together.


Wang Hao did exchange notes with Carlsen though


And Magnus then exchanged notes with his personal manager, Henrik Carlsen (dad)


Magnus Carlsen explains for the last ten years he has felt Black's line to be a mistake

New ...
Open...
Share...
Layout...
Flip Board
Settings
MoveNResultEloPlayers
Position not in LiveBook
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Bxd2+ 6.Nbxd2 0-0 7.Bg2 b6 8.0-0 Bb7 9.cxd5 Bxd5 10.Re1 Nbd7 11.e4 Bb7 12.e5 Nd5 13.Ne4 h6 14.Rc1 Qe7 15.a3 a5 16.Nfd2 Rad8 17.Nc4 Nb8 18.Ne3 Nxe3 19.fxe3 c5 20.Qg4 Bxe4 21.Bxe4 Rc8 22.Rcd1 Nd7 23.Bb1 b5 24.Qe4 f5 25.Qb7 Rb8 26.Qa7 Ra8 27.Qb7 Rab8 28.Qa7 Ra8 29.Qc7 c4 30.Rf1 Rfc8 31.Qd6 Qxd6 32.exd6 Nf6 33.g4 g6 34.gxf5 exf5 35.e4 Nxe4 36.Bxe4 fxe4 37.Rf6 Kg7 38.Re6 Rf8 39.Rxe4 Rad8 40.Re7+ Rf7 41.Rf1 ½–½
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nakamura,H2778Giri,A2696½–½2012D0245th Biel GM2
Bacrot,E2713Morozevich,A27701–02012D3145th Biel GM2
Carlsen,M2837Wang Hao27391–02012E3245th Biel GM2

Traditional standings after two rounds

Three-point standings after two rounds

Pictures by Pascal Simon


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 Yasser Seirawan is doing round-up shows at 8:00 p.m. on the days he is commenting.

Commentary schedule

Monday 23/07/2012 Klaus Bischoff Yasser Seirawan
Tuesday 24/07/2012 Klaus Bischoff Yasser Seirawan
Wednesday 25/07/2012 Klaus Bischoff Yasser Seirawan
Friday 26/07/2012 Klaus Bischoff Yasser Seirawan
Saturday 27/07/2012 Klaus Bischoff Yasser Seirawan
Monday 28/07/2012 Klaus Bischoff Yasser Seirawan
Tuesday 30/07/2011 Klaus Bischoff Oliver Reeh
Wednesday 31/07/2012 Klaus Bischoff Oliver Reeh
Thursday 1/08/2012 Klaus Bischoff Sam Collins
Friday 2/08/2012 Klaus Bischoff Sam Collins

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 23, 14:00h
Magnus Carlsen 
½-½
 Hikaru Nakamura
Wang Hao 
1-0
 Etienne Bacrot
Alex. Morozevich 
0-1
 Anish Giri 
Round 2: Tuesday, July 24, 14:00h
Hikaru Nakamura 
½-½
 Anish Giri
Etienne Bacrot 
1-0
 Alex. Morozevich
Magnus Carlsen 
1-0
 Wang Hao
Round 3: Wednesday, July 25, 14:00h
Wang Hao 
   Hikaru Nakamura
Alex. Morozevich 
   Magnus Carlsen
Anish Giri 
   Etienne Bacrot 
Round 4: Thursday, July 26, 14:00h
Alex. Morozevich 
   Hikaru Nakamura
Anish Giri 
   Wang Hao
Etienne Bacrot 
   Magnus Carlsen
Round 5: Friday, July 27, 14:00h
Hikaru Nakamura 
   Etienne Bacrot 
Magnus Carlsen 
   Anish Giri
Wang Hao 
   Alex. Morozevich
Round 6: Saturday, July 28, 14:00h
Hikaru Nakamura 
   Magnus Carlsen
Etienne Bacrot 
   Wang Hao
Anish Giri 
   Alex. Morozevich
Round 7: Monday, July 30, 14:00h
Anish Giri 
   Hikaru Nakamura
Alex. Morozevich 
   Etienne Bacrot 
Wang Hao 
   Magnus Carlsen
Round 8: Tuesday, July 31, 14:00h
Hikaru Nakamura  
   Wang Hao
Magnus Carlsen 
   Alex. Morozevich
Etienne Bacrot 
   Anish Giri
Round 9: Wednesday, August 1, 14:00h
Etienne Bacrot 
   Hikaru Nakamura
Anish Giri 
   Magnus Carlsen
Alex. Morozevich 
   Wang Hao
Round 10: Thursday, August 2, 11:00h
Hikaru Nakamura 
   Alex. Morozevich
Wang Hao 
   Anish Giri
Magnus Carlsen 
   Etienne Bacrot 

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.

Copyright ChessBase


Reports about chess: tournaments, championships, portraits, interviews, World Championships, product launches and more.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register

We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.