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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.
"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:
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
