
The 39th Biel International Chess Festival is taking place from July 22nd
to August 4th 2006 in two closed double round robin tournaments, one for men,
one for women.

Biel is located in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland, on the north eastern shore
of Lake Biel. It is a thoroughly bilingual town – it is called Biel in
German name, while Bienne is its French name. Since 2005 the official name
is "Biel/Bienne". About two thirds of the population of 52,000 speak
German, one third French.
Report after round five
"Magnificent Magnus" Carlsen won his first two games, defeating
Pelletier with black and Morozevich (!) with white. Two draws followed and
after four rounds the 15-year-old was leading together with Moroz, who had
won all games after the fateful one against Magnus. Morozevich went on to win
his fifth-round game as well, against Yannick Pelletier, while Carlson lost
to Andrei Volokitin. Meanwhile Teimour Radjabov clawed his way back after a
fourth-round loss to Morozevich and took second place by beating Lazaro Bruzon
of Cuba in round five. Standings after five rounds:
In the womens's section top seed Pia Cramling took the lead at the half-was
mark, defeating Monica Soko and Ekaterina Atalik and drawing the rest of her
games. Soko and Yelena Dembo of Greece are in second place, with 3/5 each.
Standings:
Picture gallery

The playing venue of the Biel/Bienne Chess Festival

The six GMs in the men's section of Biel 2006: Teimour Radjabov, Yannick Pelletier,
Andrei Volokitin, Alexander Morozevich, Magnus Carlsen and Lazaro Bruzon. Click
here for individual portraits of all the players.

The players from the Accentus women's tournament: Almira Skripchenko, Yelena
Dembo, Ekaterina Atalik, Anna Muzychuk, Monika Socko, Pia Cramling. Click
here for individual portraits of all the players.

The playing hall, with the GM tournaments on the stage in the back

Magnus Carlsen of Norway playing against Andrei Volokitin of Ukraine

A view of the action in the women's tournament

Top seed Alexander Morozevich, Russia, Elo 2731

The other 2700+ GM, Teimour Radjabov, 19, Elo 2728

Magnus Carlsen, 15, Norway, 2675

Top Cuban grandmaster Lazaro Bruzon, Elo 2667

Andrei Volokitin, Ukraine, Elo 2662
Yannick Pelletier, Switzerland, 2583

Strongest player in the women's section: Pia Cramling, 2521

Second seed Yelena Dembo, 22, Greece, 2465

Equal on the rating list: Monica Socko, Poland, 2465

Anna Muzychuk, 16, Ukraine/Slovenia, Elo 2456
Almira Skripchenko, France, Elo 2421

Ekaterina Atalik, Turkey, 2377
Pictures by Benjamin Bartels, ChessBase
Links