Biel Chess Festival 2011 - Round 3 Analysis

By Chess Coach William Stewart. Original article with interactive PGN's available on William's site.

Magnus Carlsen Maintains Top Position

Carlsen has 2.5/3 points after today's fighting draw the ever-dangerous Alexander Morozevich. Carlsen attempted to play a Grunfeld, however had to switch gears after Moro's 4. Bg5. Carlsen emerged from the opening with a space advantage and pawn storming attack against white's king. While Morozevich is reknown for his attacking prowess, he is also an experienced and cool-headed defender. He reduced black's pressure by sacrificing a pawn with 33. d6!? and exchanged pieces while winning back the pawn on c4 (39. Rxc4). It seemed that a draw was likely as the players reached the time control at move 40, however Morozevich attempted to push forward due to his good knight vs Carlsen's bad dark-squared bishop. Carlsen defended accurately and Morozevich forced a perpetual check, ending the game in 52 moves.

Carlsen Regroups to Attack - Position after 22. ...Bf8

Shirov Explodes Caruana from Bishop’s Opening

Alexei Shirov is one of my all-time favorite players, continuing Mikhail Tal's tradition of playing creative, exciting, and above all - attacking chess. His "take no prisoners" style has backfired lately, as he has been in a slump with poor results. During this game, I was amused by Hikaru Nakamura's online commentary about Morozevich and Shirov:

"Moro is brilliant and knows how to set a fire on the board without pouring endless gasoline on his own position. Shirov on the other hand... He pours endless gasoline and eventually it all explodes". - Nakamura

Shirov, as white, opened calmly with the Bishop's Opening against Caruana - aiming for a positional middlegame instead of a sharp opening struggle. Caruana aimed to attack with 11. ...Ng5 12. ...Bg4 and 13. ...Qc8 - and Shirov welcomed the complications 16. d5 and 17. f4!? Many pieces were exchanged and the resulting position was roughly equal until Caruana jettisoned his protected past d-pawn with 31. ...d3?! Shirov quickly surrounded and won the pawn - resulting in a Q+B Vs Q+N endgame where white had an extra pawn but a scattered pawn structure. It seemed that Caruana could hold the position, however he played inaccurately and inattentively - allowing Shirov to first consolidate his position and relocate his king to the healthy queenside, then launch a decisive attack against black's kingside. Shirov finished the game with a simple tactical shot on move 63 to dispatch the young Caruana.

Shirov Vs Carlsen - Final Position After 63. Bg6+

Original article with interactive PGN's on the Biel Chess Festival available on William's site.

Photos and Game PGNS used from the Official Site

Biel Chess Festival 2011 - Round 3 Analysis

By Chess Coach William Stewart. Original article with interactive PGN's available on William's site.

Magnus Carlsen Maintains Top Position

Carlsen has 2.5/3 points after today's fighting draw the ever-dangerous Alexander Morozevich. Carlsen attempted to play a Grunfeld, however had to switch gears after Moro's 4. Bg5. Carlsen emerged from the opening with a space advantage and pawn storming attack against white's king. While Morozevich is reknown for his attacking prowess, he is also an experienced and cool-headed defender. He reduced black's pressure by sacrificing a pawn with 33. d6!? and exchanged pieces while winning back the pawn on c4 (39. Rxc4). It seemed that a draw was likely as the players reached the time control at move 40, however Morozevich attempted to push forward due to his good knight vs Carlsen's bad dark-squared bishop. Carlsen defended accurately and Morozevich forced a perpetual check, ending the game in 52 moves.

Carlsen Regroups to Attack - Position after 22. ...Bf8

Shirov Explodes Caruana from Bishop’s Opening

Alexei Shirov is one of my all-time favorite players, continuing Mikhail Tal's tradition of playing creative, exciting, and above all - attacking chess. His "take no prisoners" style has backfired lately, as he has been in a slump with poor results. During this game, I was amused by Hikaru Nakamura's online commentary about Morozevich and Shirov:

"Moro is brilliant and knows how to set a fire on the board without pouring endless gasoline on his own position. Shirov on the other hand... He pours endless gasoline and eventually it all explodes". - Nakamura

Shirov, as white, opened calmly with the Bishop's Opening against Caruana - aiming for a positional middlegame instead of a sharp opening struggle. Caruana aimed to attack with 11. ...Ng5 12. ...Bg4 and 13. ...Qc8 - and Shirov welcomed the complications 16. d5 and 17. f4!? Many pieces were exchanged and the resulting position was roughly equal until Caruana jettisoned his protected past d-pawn with 31. ...d3?! Shirov quickly surrounded and won the pawn - resulting in a Q+B Vs Q+N endgame where white had an extra pawn but a scattered pawn structure. It seemed that Caruana could hold the position, however he played inaccurately and inattentively - allowing Shirov to first consolidate his position and relocate his king to the healthy queenside, then launch a decisive attack against black's kingside. Shirov finished the game with a simple tactical shot on move 63 to dispatch the young Caruana.

Shirov Vs Carlsen - Final Position After 63. Bg6+

Original article with interactive PGN's on the Biel Chess Festival available on William's site.

Photos and Game PGNS used from the Official Site

Biel LIVE with Carlsen, Vachier-Lagrave, Shirov, Morozevich, Caruana

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Biel chess 2011 LIVE!
Live games with computer analysis

The 44th Biel Chess Festival will take place from 18th to 29th July in Biel, Switzerland. The main event is the Accentus Grandmaster Tournament which will be a six-player double round robin. Magnus Carlsen (NOR), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA), Alexei Shirov (ESP), Fabiano Caruana (ITA), Alexander Morozevich (RUS) and Yannick Pelletier (SUI) will participate. Games will be live daily at 14:00 CET.

Biel LIVE with Carlsen, Vachier-Lagrave, Shirov, Morozevich, Caruana

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Biel chess 2011 LIVE!
Live games with computer analysis

The 44th Biel Chess Festival will take place from 18th to 29th July in Biel, Switzerland. The main event is the Accentus Grandmaster Tournament which will be a six-player double round robin. Magnus Carlsen (NOR), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA), Alexei Shirov (ESP), Fabiano Caruana (ITA), Alexander Morozevich (RUS) and Yannick Pelletier (SUI) will participate. Games will be live daily at 14:00 CET.

Biel 2011 with world's superstars

Official Site

Biel Main Event

1	Carlsen, Magnus	GM	NOR	2821
2	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	GM	FRA	2722
3	Shirov, Alexei	GM	ESP	2714
4	Caruana, Fabiano	GM	ITA	2711
5	Morozevich, Alexander	GM	RUS	2694
6	Pelletier, Yannick	GM	SUI	2590

Biel Masters: Registered Players

(as of July 11, 2011)

Title	Prename	Name		Elo
GM	Boris	Grachev	RUS	2680
GM	Bu	Xiangzhi	CHN	2675
GM	Tigran	Gharamian	FRA	2670
GM	Ivan	Cheparinov	BUL	2669
GM	Ni	Hua	CHN	2662
GM	Christian	Bauer	FRA	2637
GM	Maxim	Rodhstein	ISR	2637
GM	Vladimir	Baklan	UKR	2620
GM	Hrvoje	Stevic	CRO	2619
GM	Anton	Filippov	UZB	2606
GM	Ante	Brkic	CRO	2598
GM	Evgeny	Gleizerov	RUS	2590
GM	Ilya	Nyzhnyk	UKR	2589
GM	Romain	Edouard	FRA	2587
GM	Sébastien	Mazé	FRA	2578
GM	Mykhaylo	Oleksienko	UKR	2564
GM	Magesh C.	Panchanathan	IND	2556
GM	Alexander	Kovchan	UKR	2554
IM	Samuel	Shankland	USA	2539
GM	Mikhail	Ulibin	RUS	2538
GM	Sebastian	Bogner	GER	2528
GM	Normunds	Miezis	LAT	2520
GM	Ilya	Khmelniker	ISR	2510
GM	Anthony	Wirig	FRA	2510
IM	Gerlef	Meins	GER	2505

The full list of registered players

Rising stars add excitement

Rising stars add excitement to the chess scene
Friday July 8, 2011
CHESS By QUAH SENG SUN

INDIA, together with China, the Philippines and Vietnam, are considered among the great chess-playing countries in Asia, if not the world. I say this because these countries continue to produce some of the most exciting names in world chess.

For example, isn’t India’s Viswanathan Anand the world chess champion today? Wasn’t China’s Xie Jun the first Asian to become the women’s world champion? And isn’t Le Quang Liem the first Vietnamese player to break into that elite group of players with a rarified 2700+ chess rating?

In fact, there are so many other talents that have emerged from these four countries.

Wesley So from the Philippines is currently that country’s top ranked player and he is only 17; Hou Yifan from China is currently the women’s world chess champion and she is also 17; Parimarjan Negi, 18, is considered to be a chess prodigy from India. I should also add that Le Quang Liem is 20.

All very talented junior players. When we consider the likes of Norway’s Magnus Carlsen who is approaching his 21st birthday, Italian-American Fabiano Caruana who is 19 and currently the top junior player in the world, and 17-year-old Nepalese-Russian (but now Dutch) Anish Giri, we find that the world is practically littered with junior players who continue to shake up the older chess masters in today’s chess world.

Recently, the Delhi Chess Association and the Airport Authority of India joined hands to organise the AAI international grandmasters chess tournament in New Delhi, India, and they invited four of these young chess talents to participate.

Joining Caruana, So, Negi and Hou in this double round-robin tournament were two other players. One was the Czech Republic’s Viktor Laznicka, who at 23 wasn’t that much older than the four, and India’s second-best player Krishnan Sasikiran, who at 30 found himself the oldest player in the tourmanent.

The event was a romp for Caruana who justified his top seeding. He led after the third round and never allowed any of his rivals to get near enough to him. By the end of the eighth round, he was the only unbeaten player and he enjoyed a 1½-point advantage over his closest rival, Sasikiran.

More here.