Biel, Round 1: Alekseev, Carlsen win
And they'rrrrre off! It was an excellent first round in the grandmaster group of the Biel Chess Festival, with two wins in the three interesting games.
Round 1 Results:
Lenier Dominguez Perez - Alexander Onischuk 1/2-1/2
Magnus Carlsen - Yannick Pelletier 1-0
Evgeny Alekseev - Etienne Bacrot 1-0
The Dominguez-Onischuk game was a lively battle in the American's pet line of the Ruy Lopez. Both sides played well, and a tactical battle concluded in perpetual check.
The next game to finish was Alekseev-Bacrot, a Chebanenko Slav with 5.c5. White wound up with an extra pawn on the queenside, Black with an extra on the kingside, but only White managed to make something of his majority. It was a convincing win by the young Russian.
Finally, Carlsen-Pelletier looked on the face of it the most likely win of the tournament, featuring the (by far) highest-rated player taking White against the (by far) lowest-rated player. Yet Pelletier was well-prepared and managed to reach a drawish ending. At one point in my life, in the not-too-distant past, I'd have considered the position after Black's 34th move
so hopelessly drawn that if I were to lose it against a peer, it would be time to joke grimly about slashing my wrists. That a strong grandmaster could lose it would have seemed inconceivable. (Excepting, in both cases, losing by means of a simple blunder.)
Over time, though, I've grown a little smarter and more aware of the possibilities of good (and bad!) technique. While I'm pretty sure that the position ought to have been drawn, it's also true that White could still pose genuine problems, and he did. And then Pelletier panicked, or missed something, or overestimated the drawing tendencies of opposite colored bishops. In this position
Pelletier played 42...Ng4?, after which he's losing by force, I believe. I spent a lot of time today analyzing this game (me, not Deep Frybkarcs), and I think you'll enjoy the results - the early middlegame was extremely complex and entertaining, while the endgame was (you guessed it) instructive. Have a look here (the other games are annotated too, but in less detail).
Round 2 Pairings:
Alekseev - Carlsen
Pelletier - Dominguez
Bacrot - Onischuk
Round 1 Results:
Lenier Dominguez Perez - Alexander Onischuk 1/2-1/2
Magnus Carlsen - Yannick Pelletier 1-0
Evgeny Alekseev - Etienne Bacrot 1-0
The Dominguez-Onischuk game was a lively battle in the American's pet line of the Ruy Lopez. Both sides played well, and a tactical battle concluded in perpetual check.
The next game to finish was Alekseev-Bacrot, a Chebanenko Slav with 5.c5. White wound up with an extra pawn on the queenside, Black with an extra on the kingside, but only White managed to make something of his majority. It was a convincing win by the young Russian.
Finally, Carlsen-Pelletier looked on the face of it the most likely win of the tournament, featuring the (by far) highest-rated player taking White against the (by far) lowest-rated player. Yet Pelletier was well-prepared and managed to reach a drawish ending. At one point in my life, in the not-too-distant past, I'd have considered the position after Black's 34th move
so hopelessly drawn that if I were to lose it against a peer, it would be time to joke grimly about slashing my wrists. That a strong grandmaster could lose it would have seemed inconceivable. (Excepting, in both cases, losing by means of a simple blunder.)
Over time, though, I've grown a little smarter and more aware of the possibilities of good (and bad!) technique. While I'm pretty sure that the position ought to have been drawn, it's also true that White could still pose genuine problems, and he did. And then Pelletier panicked, or missed something, or overestimated the drawing tendencies of opposite colored bishops. In this position
Pelletier played 42...Ng4?, after which he's losing by force, I believe. I spent a lot of time today analyzing this game (me, not Deep Frybkarcs), and I think you'll enjoy the results - the early middlegame was extremely complex and entertaining, while the endgame was (you guessed it) instructive. Have a look here (the other games are annotated too, but in less detail).
Round 2 Pairings:
Alekseev - Carlsen
Pelletier - Dominguez
Bacrot - Onischuk
All Related Posts (on one page) | Some Related Posts:
- Biel: Final round + tiebreak: Alekseev wins!
- Biel, Round 9: Dominguez still leads
- Biel, Round 8: Dominguez on fire...
- Biel, Round 3
- Biel, Round 2: Draw x 3
- Biel, Round 1: Alekseev, Carlsen win
Posted by Dennis Monokroussos on
Sunday July 20, 2008 at 11:18pm
Highly appreciate you rolling up your sleeves analyzing a game that, quite frankly, engines don't understand very well.
thanks for your work - it's very educational.