7/30/2012 – In an energetic surge, the world number one, Magnus Carlsen, came from behind and is now tied for the lead, ahead on tiebreak. On Sunday he played the missing round three game against Viktor Bologan, and sure enough imposed his will to give himself a fighting chance for first. In round seven, a crucial game against leader Wang Hao was all that it took. Report and challenge to the readers.
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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 seven
Round 7: Monday, July 30, 14:00h
Anish Giri
½-½
Hikaru Nakamura
Viktor Bologan
½-½
Etienne Bacrot
Wang Hao
0-1
Magnus Carlsen
An indomitable will to win, and a small dose of luck, were what it took to move Magnus Carlsen to the top of the leaderboard after watching Wang Hao and Anish Giri hoard the spotlight for most of the tournament. Admittedly he was handicapped by having a game less in his total, but that was rectified on Sunday when he finally took on Viktor Bologan, duly winning the missing game.
Viktor Bologan had to wait another day before stopping the rot
We challenge our readers to send in their best suggestions for the picture label
In round seven he faced the leader Wang Hao, who had been having a magnificent tournament, with only a single stain on his record: his loss to Carlsen in the first half. Much like the Grand Slam Finals last year, where he had caught Ivanchuk by beating him twice, he pulled off a second win after an oversight by the Chinese player which put Wang Hao in the hot seat, and eventually cost the game.
A pleased Carlsen was in a mood that no one could shake him from
This second straight win brought him to the same score as Wang Hao, but with a better tiebreak.
Magnus Carlsen shows his game against Wang Hao
Viktor Bologan faced Etienne Bacrot’s King’s Indian and it was a fascinating struggle, but as some may know, Bologan has authored more than one work on the opening, including a detailed ChessBase DVD, so he was more than comfortable facing it. He was unable to get more than a lingering edge though and the players drew.
Viktor Bologan had strong opinions on the opening and the game
Etienne Bacrot and Viktor Bologan analyze their game
Anish Giri gave Hikaru Nakamura a hard time as they played a Semi-Slav he was better prepared for. The American GM fought back by taking very energetic measures, an approach Giri agreed with in the post-mortem, but even so had a number of issues to resolve before he could acquit himself with the draw.
Despite the peaceful result, their game was one of the most interesting of the round
Anish Giri had his chances, but Hikaru Nakamura was up to the task and fought back
Traditional standings after seven rounds
Three-point standings after seven 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
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.
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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