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TOURNAMENT STANDINGS
Biel International Chess Festival Tournament

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave6/10(+2 -0 =8)[games]
Alexander Morozevich5.5/10(+4 -3 =3)[games]
Vasyl Ivanchuk5.5/10(+2 -1 =7)[games]
Evgeny Alekseev5/10(+1 -1 =8)[games]
Boris Gelfand4/10(+0 -2 =8)[games]
Fabiano Caruana4/10(+1 -3 =6)[games]

 page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 30  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Morozevich vs E Alekseev 1-0342009Biel International Chess FestivalE32 Nimzo-Indian, Classical
2. Gelfand vs Caruana ½-½342009Biel International Chess FestivalE32 Nimzo-Indian, Classical
3. Vachier-Lagrave vs Ivanchuk ½-½322009Biel International Chess FestivalC07 French, Tarrasch
4. Morozevich vs Gelfand 1-0312009Biel International Chess FestivalC24 Bishop's Opening
5. Caruana vs Vachier-Lagrave ½-½342009Biel International Chess FestivalD86 Grunfeld, Exchange
6. E Alekseev vs Ivanchuk ½-½222009Biel International Chess FestivalC01 French, Exchange
7. Ivanchuk vs Caruana 1-0492009Biel International Chess FestivalC48 Four Knights
8. Gelfand vs E Alekseev ½-½272009Biel International Chess FestivalD38 Queen's Gambit Declined, Ragozin Variation
9. Vachier-Lagrave vs Morozevich ½-½412009Biel International Chess FestivalB90 Sicilian, Najdorf
10. Ivanchuk vs Gelfand ½-½302009Biel International Chess FestivalA15 English
11. Vachier-Lagrave vs E Alekseev ½-½192009Biel International Chess FestivalC65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense
12. Caruana vs Morozevich 1-0592009Biel International Chess FestivalD87 Grunfeld, Exchange
13. Morozevich vs Ivanchuk ½-½122009Biel International Chess FestivalD31 Queen's Gambit Declined
14. Gelfand vs Vachier-Lagrave ½-½412009Biel International Chess FestivalA15 English
15. E Alekseev vs Caruana ½-½522009Biel International Chess FestivalB76 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack
16. Ivanchuk vs Vachier-Lagrave ½-½412009Biel International Chess FestivalA10 English
17. E Alekseev vs Morozevich 1-0552009Biel International Chess FestivalB17 Caro-Kann, Steinitz Variation
18. Caruana vs Gelfand ½-½222009Biel International Chess FestivalC42 Petrov Defense
19. Vachier-Lagrave vs Caruana 1-0382009Biel International Chess FestivalC67 Ruy Lopez
20. Gelfand vs Morozevich 0-1482009Biel International Chess FestivalE04 Catalan, Open, 5.Nf3
21. Ivanchuk vs E Alekseev ½-½612009Biel International Chess FestivalE32 Nimzo-Indian, Classical
22. Caruana vs Ivanchuk 0-1412009Biel International Chess FestivalB07 Pirc
23. E Alekseev vs Gelfand ½-½112009Biel International Chess FestivalC42 Petrov Defense
24. Morozevich vs Vachier-Lagrave 0-1762009Biel International Chess FestivalB80 Sicilian, Scheveningen
25. Ivanchuk vs Morozevich 0-1382009Biel International Chess FestivalD44 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav
 page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 30  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)  

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 35 OF 35 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Jul-30-09  swordfish: Congratulations to Vachier-Lagrave! First major tournament won by the young Frenchman, I believe. There could be many more. Bottom line: under the current rules of chess scoring, he played well enough --against living legends--to win the tournamentthe others did not. Well done.
Jul-30-09  wanabe2000: <swordfish: Congratulations to Vachier-Lagrave! First major tournament won by the young Frenchman, I believe.>

Yes, congratulations! He won the 2007 French Championsip and placed second in 2008. I believe you are correct about major tounament wins.

Jul-30-09  peano: Yeah Maxime!!!!!! Congradutlations!!!!
see you next year in the WORLD CHampionship!!!!!
Jul-30-09  capatal: Congratulations to GM Maxime Vachier Lagrave!

The second-youngest grandmaster in the world (@ 15 in 2005).

For your outstanding undefeated win at the Biel International Chess Festival Tournament!

Jul-30-09  smaragdus: Congratulations to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave! He is a month and nine days older than Magnus Carlsen and in contrast with him he has never been surrounded by an incessant buzz of laudation, he has not been a wunderkind, he has managed to combine well his studies with his chess activities, he hasn't been affected by unsound expectations and he is coming to maturity in a natural way. And I have the premonition that in the future he might have even greater achievements than Carlsen. In this forum I read some accusations that he draws too much, in an interview he said that he disliked the industrious home preparation and the memorazing of long lines which lead only to draws. In my opinion he is one of the few who still want to ponder over the board using his imagination, depth of thought and his natural flair for chess tactics. Right now he seems almost as balanced and stable as Kramnik and as aggressive and imaginative as Topalov. Maybe he is the strongest of the youngsters, and I hope that his development will not come to a halt, which was the case with Ponomariov, Radjabov, Mamedyarov, Karjakin, etc...
Jul-30-09  messachess: Congratulations to
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave--a very good show. Honorable mention to Fabiano Caruana for some exciting chess. Both have a bright future.
Jul-30-09  vanytchouck: Bravo Maxime!
Un petit cocorico (même si je ne suis pas chauvin).
Jul-30-09  wanabe2000: Maxime Vachier Lagrave has a pretty good won/loss percentage as well. Overall record: +303 -105 =241 (65.3%) according to chessgames.com. Seems like a bright future for this young man.
Jul-30-09  szachista: <smaragdus> 'I hope that his development will not come to a halt, which was the case with Ponomariov, Radjabov, Mamedyarov, Karjakin, etc...'

I don't agree that 'Karjakin's development came to a halt'. This year he won Corus A ahead of huge group of the strongest GMs (Kamsky, Carlsen, Aronian, Ivanchuk, Morozevich etc) and I think that his performance in Wijk aan Zee was better than MVL's in Biel.

Jul-30-09  OneArmedScissor: <csmath> lol look how stupid you are.
Jul-31-09  percyblakeney: The twelve games between Alekseev, Gelfand, Ivanchuk and MVL were all drawn, while all the decisive games involved Moro or Caruana.
Jul-31-09  skrull: Felicitation Maxime,et encore bravo!
Un grand sentiment de fierte...
Jul-31-09  znsprdx: "Yeah, losses shouldn't count" - whether you < boz:> were being sarcastic or not - the reason being that is a kind of double accounting - since the win has been tallied. It is being penalized for actually playing the game, while rewarding un-played 'draws'. This tournament result reveals that the cancer that pervades elitist chess cannot be cured unless promoters get a clue and demand more bang for their buck. We pay for music downloads - why not for 2600+ chess. But no-one will want to pay for an 'unplayed' (obviously pre-arranged) less than forty move draw.
Jul-31-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  tarek1: I strongly disagree with some of the opinions expressed here, like "the real winner is Morozevitch". Morozevich failed to convert a winning position against MVL several times and ended up losing. Such lopsided play cannot - and should not - be rewarded. It's not because a game is a draw that it was without fight. There is a mythology of decisive games. Rowson expressed this well in some of his "New in chess" columns. Usually a player loses because he made a mistake. When noone makes mistakes, the outcome is a draw. Asking for more decisive games is asking for more mistakes.
Jul-31-09  vanytchouck: <znsprdx: (...)It is being penalized for actually playing the game, while rewarding un-played 'draws'.(...)>

No, it's being penalized for putting fire on the board, but not being able to control it (eventually being burned by it). Especially when it's a home prep (like the Nf4 against MVL).

This tournament as others (Tal memorial 2008) shows why Morozevitch will never be (it's well known) Kasparov, Topalov (quite obvious too) or even Shirov (ok, there is room for debate here).

Chess is not just throwing pieces toward opponent.

Jul-31-09  Don Cossacks: Congratulations to GM Maxime for winning this one.But Nakamura seems to give him troubles everytime they meet(in Cap d' Agde and Donostia).
Jul-31-09  zemat: the problem is not the draws (many are real battles that deserve half points) but the EARLY draws whitch should not be allowed
Jul-31-09  Valmy: Don Cossacks> yes that's what I was thinking too. I feel like NAK and MVL are mainly both tacticians and may be NAK is stronger. Well NAK is obvioulsy stronger at rapid time control. But in DONOSTIA MVL was pretty sick and messed up his opening because he played too fast. MVL corrected the problem of playing too fast in BIEL. And NAKA play was very impressive both in DONOSTIA and in MAINZ 960 (3-0 against ARONIAN in the final round!). So I look forward to the next game between them.
Jul-31-09  Everett: What is this talk of "deserving" to win/lose etc. Putting someone in a position that is difficult to understand often awards the aggressor with a blunder from his opponent. Gelfand did not have it easy in his second game with Moro, and Ivanchuk got suckered into a false promise of an attack. That's guile. If you don't want to recognize the psychological aspect of chess games, you can always hang out with the computers.
Jul-31-09  percyblakeney: <If you don't want to recognize the psychological aspect of chess games, you can always hang out with the computers>

+1.27

Jul-31-09  Everett: What's this now?! A computerized rating of my post??? ;-)
Jul-31-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  An Englishman: Good Evening: Congratulations to Maxime. I almost always needed the blessings of good fortune to win tournaments, so I do not begrudge his lucky escape vs. Morozevich. In any case, his ...Rh7 is one of the most stunning defensive brilliancies in history, perhaps the most stunning.
Aug-04-09  vanytchouck: the tournament from the point of view of MVL's coach (GM Arnaud Hauchard).

It's in french.

http://www.evry-grandroque.com/ (there isn't a more accurate link).

It's interesting to know that according to A. Hauchard, Moro complained about the quick draw in the last round between Alekseev and MVL.

Aug-06-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: Well, if Moro wants to complain, then I'll complain about his game against Ivanchuk and Caruana...

There is no (M-Tel) Sofia rule, so...

Dec-16-10  minasina: Biel International Chess Festival (2003)
37th Biel International Chess Festival (2004)
38th Biel Chess Festival (2005)
Biel Int'l Festival (2006)
Biel Chess Festival (2007)
41st Biel International Chess Festival (2008)
Biel International Chess Festival (2009)
Biel Chess Festival (2010)
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