Quiet day in Biel

by Alejandro Ramirez
7/23/2014 – Only two rounds remain at the Biel Chess Festival as round eight saw a series of three relatively quiet draws. This leaves Vachier-Lagrave as the clear favorite to win the tournament as he leads by a full point and a half. Meanwhile Hou Yifan, Wojtaszek and Harikrishna all have 50% and tie for second place. Can Giri make a magic comeback and emerge as the second place winner?
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International Chess Festival in Biel

Round Seven

Round 08 – July 22, 2014
Pentala Harikrishna 2726
½-½
 Alexander Motylev 2698
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766
½-½
 Hou Yifan 2629
Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733
½-½
 Anish Giri 2750

Video Recap

The open section, with room for the spectators of the Grandmaster Tournament

The big stage, but concentration is high in the open

Despite the aggressive nature of today's games, it seems as if there wasn't enough to spark any really challenging games.

A strange perpetual finished an interesting albeit short game

Alexander Motylev and Pentala Harikrishna drew in a Caro-Kan... Just as Black's king was becoming overly exposed it was the reduced amount of material that saved the Russian player who was able to simplify into a drawn endgame in which the queen certainly did not overpower the two rooks, who gave perpetual check anyways.

Meanwhile Hou Yifan trusted her Ragozin yet again to equalize against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. In a variation that didn't give Black any real trouble it was maybe White that had to be careful at certain points. The resulting opposite colored bishop endgame was an easy draw.

These are the only two people that can be really happy with their tournament so far: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Hou Yifan

Point and a half ahead of the field, and only two rounds to go: MVL!

In the last game of the day Radoslaw Wojtaszek used a long theoretical variation to force an endgame that is marginally better for White, but that was certainly not enough to beat the defense of Anish Giri. The draw was agreed after basically every piece and every pawn came off the board.

Giri defended well today, but he needs more than that to regain the 10 rating points he is losing thus far

The fighting spirit was certainly there, though the game was mostly simplification after simplification

Replay Round Eight Games

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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,172,27354%2421---
1.d4951,24355%2434---
1.Nf3283,16356%2440---
1.c4182,99656%2442---
1.g319,77556%2427---
1.b314,39754%2427---
1.f45,92048%2377---
1.Nc33,83450%2384---
1.b41,76548%2379---
1.a31,22854%2405---
1.e31,07449%2409---
1.d395850%2378---
1.g466746%2361---
1.h445753%2378---
1.c343651%2426---
1.h328356%2419---
1.a411560%2464---
1.f39646%2431---
1.Nh39166%2508---
1.Na34262%2482---
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nf3 e6 8.Ne5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Nd7 11.f4 Bb4+ 12.Bd2 Bxd2+ 13.Qxd2 Ngf6 14.0-0-0 0-0 15.f5 Re8 16.Rhf1 Qc7 17.Rde1 Nxe5 18.dxe5 exf5 19.Nxf5 Rxe5 20.Nxh6+ gxh6 21.Rxf6 Rae8 22.Ref1 Re2 23.Qb4 Rxg2 24.Rxf7 Qxf7 25.Rxf7 Rg1+ 26.Kd2 Rg2+ 27.Kc1 Rg1+ 28.Kd2 Rg2+ 29.Kc1 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Harikrishna,P2726Motylev,A2698½–½2014B18Hans Suri Mem 20148.1
Vachier-Lagrave,M2766Hou,Y2629½–½2014D38Hans Suri Mem 20148.2
Wojtaszek,R2733Giri,A2750½–½2014D31Hans Suri Mem 20148.3

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games

Standings

Schedule

Round 01 – July 14, 2014
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766
½-½
 Pentala Harikrishna 2726
Alexander Motylev 2698
0-1
 Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733
Hou Yifan 2629
1-0
 Anish Giri 2750
Round 02 – July 15, 2014
Pentala Harikrishna 2726
1-0
 Anish Giri 2750
Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733
½-½
 Hou Yifan 2629
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766
½-½
 Alexander Motylev 2698
Round 03 – July 16, 2014
Alexander Motylev 2698
1-0
 Pentala Harikrishna 2726
Hou Yifan 2629
0-1
 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766
Anish Giri 2750
1-0
 Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733
Round 04 –July 17, 2014
Hou Yifan 2629
½-½
 Pentala Harikrishna 2726
Anish Giri 2750
1-0
 Alexander Motylev 2698
Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733
½-½
 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766
Round 05 – July 18, 2014
Pentala Harikrishna 2726
½-½
 Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766
1-0
 Anish Giri 2750
Alexander Motylev 2698
½-½
 Hou Yifan 2629
Round 06 – July 19, 2014
Pentala Harikrishna 2726
½-½
 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766
Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733
½-½
 Alexander Motylev 2698
Anish Giri 2750
½-½
 Hou Yifan 2629
Round 07 – July 21, 2014
Anish Giri 2750
½-½
 Pentala Harikrishna 2726
Hou Yifan 2629
½-½
 Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733
Alexander Motylev 2698
0-1
 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766
Round 08 – July 22, 2014
Pentala Harikrishna 2726
½-½
 Alexander Motylev 2698
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766
½-½
 Hou Yifan 2629
Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733
½-½
 Anish Giri 2750
Round 09 – July 23, 2014
Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733   Pentala Harikrishna 2726
Anish Giri 2750   Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766
Hou Yifan 2629   Alexander Motylev 2698
Round 10 – July 24, 2014
Pentala Harikrishna 2726   Hou Yifan 2629
Alexander Motylev 2698   Anish Giri 2750
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2766   Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2733

Links

The games will be 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 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

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