The Chess Mind

I know, the tournament has been over for a few days now - sorry! Unfortunately, I've been preoccupied with other matters, and in any case, you get what you pay for. With these excuses out of the way, here's my wrap-up report on Biel.

When we left off after round 7 (of 9), Carlsen, who had lost his last game, and Radjabov, who had won his last two, were tied for first with 4.5 points, half a point ahead of Onischuk and Polgar. Here's what happened next:

Round 8 Results:

van Wely - Carlsen 1-0
Radjabov - Motylev 1/2-1/2
Onischuk - Avrukh 1-0
Grischuk - Polgar 1/2-1/2
Pelletier - Bu Xiangzhi 1-0

The shock of the round was Carlsen's second straight loss, and to tailender van Wely at that. Nevertheless, it wasn't a good game for Carlsen by any means, but van Wely's fighting spirit and opening preparation shouldn't be denigrated. The Dutchman came out of the opening in good shape, and a piece sac for a quartet of passed pawns rendered the win inevitable. Radjabov maintained his first-place position with a quick draw against Motylev, and although Carlsen lost Radjabov had company in first, as Onischuk combined tactical astuteness with good ending technique to defeat Avrukh.

Standings after Round 8:

1-2. Onischuk, Radjabov 5
3-5. Carlsen, Pelletier, Polgar 4.5
6. Grischuk 4
7-8. Bu Xiangzhi, Avrukh 3.5
9. Motylev 3
10. van Wely 2.5

The key last-round matchups were Carlsen-Radjabov and Motylev-Onischuk. The latter was a Marshall Gambit, and we all know what that means: a draw. The battle of the prodigies was anything but a draw, however, as Radjabov's surprisingly shaky play and outright error on move 16 gave White an easy attack, and Carlsen finished with brutal and speedy efficiency.

Round 9 Results:

Carlsen - Radjabov 1-0
Motylev - Onischuk 1/2-1/2
Polgar - Pelletier 1/2-1/2
Avrukh - Grischuk 0-1
Bu Xiangzhi - van Wely 0-1

The final standings were appealing for those who like patterns: a two-way tie for first, followed by a four-way tie half a point behind and another four-way tie for last. There was also a Lake Wobegon flavor to those standings: maybe all of the children weren't above average, but most of them were!

Final Standings:

1-2. Carlsen, Onischuk 5.5
3-6. Pelletier, Polgar, Grischuk, Radjabov 5
7-10. Bu Xiangzhi, van Wely, Motylev, Avrukh 3.5

Did I write "Final Standings"? Not quite. Rather than splitting first or using some sort of statistical tiebreaker to determine the winner, Carlsen and Onischuk had a playoff. The first two games, at G/15, saw the players squander plenty of winning chances on the way to a pair of draws, and two 5-minute games were drawn as well. Only in the Armageddon game (White gets 5 minutes, Black gets 4 minutes and draw odds) did a decisive result occur, a Carlsen win with the black pieces.

In our games section, I've included five contests from the last two rounds. First up is Polgar's swindle draw against Grischuk - an important game, in retrospect, as the latter might well have tied for first with a win. Next is Carlsen's loss to van Wely (mentioned above) and Onischuk's win over Avrukh (ditto). From the last round, I've of course presented Carlsen's win over Radjabov, and finally van Wely's win over Bu Xiangzhi - but only because of the cute finish. Here's the link. Also, you can find an interview with the winner, here.