International Chess Festival in Biel

Round Four

Video Recap

Hou Yifan's 50% is good but she has had three whites so far

Today's round was certainly more quiet than the previous ones in Biel. Hou Yifan had her third white in the start of the tournament as she faced off against Pentala Harikrishna. The Indian player decided not to repeat a Berlin Defense and instead went with the Caro-Kann. Hou Yifan's solid approach was not sufficient for an advantage, but the Indian may have been over-ambitious in his moves and let Hou Yifan sacrifice an exchange for two pawns and the better chances in the endgame. The advantage was never very big and eventually Harikrishna held the draw.

Pentala Harikrishna certainly had the worse part of today's draw

Anish Giri and Alexander Motylev played the action game of the day. It was always very unclear and very murky, certainly a difficult game to explain. Black's activity gave him compensation for White's pair of bishops, but that turned on its head when Motylev collected a pawn but Giri opened up the position. Eventually, in time trouble, Motylev blundered an exchange and that was the end of the game.

Even grandmasters crack under time pressure: Alexander Motylev

Anish Giri's two in a row!

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave had no difficulties defending a symmetrical position against Radoslaw Wojtaszek and the game was an uneventful draw.

Radoslaw Wojtaszek couldn't even put pressure on MVL today

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave will play in a tournament with a 2800 FIDE rating average later this year

Replay Round Four Games

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Standings

Schedule

Links Official tournament site Download Games in PGN 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.