7/29/2016 – As so often before it was the Najdorf that brought Maxime Vachier-Lagrave an important victory. The French Grandmaster had Black in the third game of his match against Peter Svidler, and Svidler, who had to win the game to stay in the match, tried an unusual, sharp line of the Najdorf. But while Vachier-Lagrave at one point in the game was worse he managed to win with a surprising counterattack. Including rapid and classical games Vachier-Lagrave now leads 7.5-2.5 and won the match with one round to go.
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The 49th International Chess Festival Biel is taking place from Saturday, July 23 until Wednesday, August 3 2016. The exact schedule and further information are now published on the official website. Here are the main links:
Peter Svidler (left, with White) needed to win and is going for Maxime Vachier-Lagrave's favorite Najdorf.
May Maxime Vachier-Lagrave likes the Najdorf because the
opening offers so many resources?
Peter Svidler missed a chance in a good position
Analysis with Daniel King
Peter Svidler still wondering about the game
Games
Daniel King interviews the players
"Juniors Challenge":
Parallel to the "Masters Challenge", the duel between Svidler and Vachier-Lagrave, Dutch GM Benjamin Bok plays a match against Swiss IM Nico Georgiadis and GM Francesco Rambaldi from Italy faces Swiss IM Noel Studer - these two matches are the "Juniors Challenge".
Benjamin Bok (left) won the match against Nico Georgiadis:
he leads with 7.5-2.5.
The match between Francesco Rambaldi (left) and Noel Studer
is still open though Rambaldi leads 6-4.
The Masters Tournament
The Masters Tournament is a strong open full of grandmasters, experienced players and rising talents. After four rounds five players share the lead with 3.5/4.
Klaus BesenthalKlaus Besenthal is computer scientist, has followed and still follows the chess scene avidly since 1972 and since then has also regularly played in tournaments.
@excalibur2 : Maybe you are right.
I'm French and I really like MVL, so I try to take care not being too enthusiastic about his play and results. This may lead me to downplay his achievements.
Looking at the field from Dortmund and Biel in recent years, it seems to me that the elo average is almost the same, but Dortmund tends to have better top players. I think it makes winning Dortmund more difficult, because you have to outperform two or three top 10 players, while in Biel the best player rating wise is most often around the 20th rank. But I can understand those who think a more homogeneous field is stronger.
I mainly wanted to point out that saying MVL is a biggest danger to Carlsen than Caruana is a bit premature : Caruana has won strongest tournaments than MVL (if Dortmund and Biel are about the same strength, Caruana still has a Grand Prix Serie and the Sinquefield cup 2014 to MVL's tie for first in London), has had both better elo performances and better elo rating, is two years younger, and has a much better record against Carlsen.
Of course I would love to see MVL challenge Carlsen and win, but I don't think he is the most likely to do it.
excalibur2 7/30/2016 12:29
@Angelo Pardi
I disagree with you that Biel is "much weaker" than Dortmund. That's not true at all. If you compare the field of Biel in the last 6 years to the field of Dortmund, there isn't much of a great difference, especially with Dortmund organizers' proclivity to invite local German players who tend to be much weaker than the star players and which "dilutes" the overall strength of the event.
It's ridiculous to say Dortmund was "almost MVL's first supertournament win". Take a look at Biel 2009's field (Ivanchuk, Caruana, Morozevich, Gelfand) and come back to me. Also, let's not forget Caruana has been involved at the top circuit for a longer period than MVL, yet MVL has arguably been more impressive. He has won 7 of his last 8 games against Caruana as well.
MJFitch 7/30/2016 06:10
I like MLV style but I seriously doubt Carlsen would have let MLV off the hook in this game like Svidler did???...Just my opinion!! :)
Angelo Pardi 7/30/2016 02:01
@scoobeedo : A bit early to say that MVL is the biggest danger to Carlsen. Remember that Caruana is two years younger than MVL, and MVL victory in Dortmund, though an impressive achievement in itself, is almost his first win in a supertournament (well, there is the notorious tie for first in London last year and his victories in Biel, but Biel is much weaker than Dortmund) and is much less impressive than Caruana's win in Sinquefield (and he also won Dortmund thrice).
Truth is MVL has had an amazing year, but is he going to keep stable performances ?
That being said, as a Frenchman I woud really like to see MVL challenge Carlsen for the world title - although I would have not much hope concerning the result.
scoobeedo 7/29/2016 06:08
It came as I expected. Not Caruana is the big danger for Carlsen, it is MVL.
Karjakin is very likely not the big problem for Calrsen to defend his world title, but MVL is very likely a bigger thread for Carlsen.
And MVL is still not on the peak of his development.
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