page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 30  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. M Vachier-Lagrave vs Ivanchuk ½-½ 32 2009 Biel International Chess Festival C07 French, Tarrasch 2. Morozevich vs E Alekseev 1-0 34 2009 Biel International Chess Festival E32 Nimzo-Indian, Classical 3. Gelfand vs Caruana ½-½ 34 2009 Biel International Chess Festival E32 Nimzo-Indian, Classical 4. Morozevich vs Gelfand 1-0 31 2009 Biel International Chess Festival C24 Bishop's Opening 5. Caruana vs M Vachier-Lagrave ½-½ 34 2009 Biel International Chess Festival D86 Grunfeld, Exchange 6. E Alekseev vs Ivanchuk ½-½ 22 2009 Biel International Chess Festival C01 French, Exchange 7. Ivanchuk vs Caruana 1-0 49 2009 Biel International Chess Festival C48 Four Knights 8. Gelfand vs E Alekseev ½-½ 27 2009 Biel International Chess Festival D38 Queen's Gambit Declined, Ragozin Variation 9. M Vachier-Lagrave vs Morozevich ½-½ 41 2009 Biel International Chess Festival B90 Sicilian, Najdorf 10. Ivanchuk vs Gelfand ½-½ 30 2009 Biel International Chess Festival A15 English 11. M Vachier-Lagrave vs E Alekseev ½-½ 19 2009 Biel International Chess Festival C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense 12. Caruana vs Morozevich 1-0 59 2009 Biel International Chess Festival D87 Grunfeld, Exchange 13. Morozevich vs Ivanchuk ½-½ 12 2009 Biel International Chess Festival D31 Queen's Gambit Declined 14. Gelfand vs M Vachier-Lagrave ½-½ 41 2009 Biel International Chess Festival A15 English 15. E Alekseev vs Caruana ½-½ 52 2009 Biel International Chess Festival B76 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack 16. E Alekseev vs Morozevich 1-0 55 2009 Biel International Chess Festival B17 Caro-Kann, Steinitz Variation 17. Caruana vs Gelfand ½-½ 22 2009 Biel International Chess Festival C42 Petrov Defense 18. Ivanchuk vs M Vachier-Lagrave ½-½ 41 2009 Biel International Chess Festival A10 English 19. M Vachier-Lagrave vs Caruana 1-0 38 2009 Biel International Chess Festival C67 Ruy Lopez 20. Gelfand vs Morozevich 0-1 48 2009 Biel International Chess Festival E04 Catalan, Open, 5.Nf3 21. Ivanchuk vs E Alekseev ½-½ 61 2009 Biel International Chess Festival E32 Nimzo-Indian, Classical 22. Morozevich vs M Vachier-Lagrave 0-1 76 2009 Biel International Chess Festival B80 Sicilian, Scheveningen 23. E Alekseev vs Gelfand ½-½ 11 2009 Biel International Chess Festival C42 Petrov Defense 24. Caruana vs Ivanchuk 0-1 41 2009 Biel International Chess Festival B07 Pirc 25. Ivanchuk vs Morozevich 0-1 38 2009 Biel International Chess Festival D44 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav  page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 30    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)

< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 34 OF 35 ·  Later Kibitzing> Jul-30-09    percyblakeney: <After 18. f4 Qg3 19. Rf2 Qxe3 20. Nf3 if 20...Qxf2 21.Kxf2 exf3 Kxf3 and white does not look that bad at all> Shredder likes 21. ... Bf5 and sees black as more than a pawn up though, I guess Moro didn't like the look of it: click for larger view Jul-30-09    kurtrichards: All games drawn. Congratulations GM Lagrave for winning the Biel 2009 Chess Festival! Jul-30-09    totololo: < percyblakeney > The white pawns are shatttered, the black center is solid , Can ST. Chess make a miracle? Jul-30-09    totololo: Congratulations MLV and A PLUS! Jul-30-09    percyblakeney: Well done by Vachier-Lagrave, sole winner in a very strong field! Jul-30-09    Valmy: Yes PERCY, your evaluation is probably right, but what MORO had to lose? A game against CARUANA, who cares! He was playing for the win in the tournament. Ivanchouk Tried a bit more. Jul-30-09    schroedingers cat: <percyblakeney> Erm, you got me. Jul-30-09    dumbgai: Wow, talk about a boring final round. Jul-30-09    whiteshark: btw, Happy Birthday, <Fabiano>! Jul-30-09    csmath: Out of 10 decided games Moro played 7. The rest of the crowd was here to preserve ratings and get a little money. This is the reason why tournament play nowadays is worse than soccer. In soccer the side that has favorable outcome stalls the last 15-20 minutes, in chess everybody stalls in the last round. Perhaps they need to double the score of the last round to make it worth playing. Without superstars, without effort, with everything based on all-time inflated ratings, and with privileged group on the top this "sport" is forever relegated to the sidelines. Why do they even bother to invite Gelfand to tournaments? The guy must be rather cheap because there is nothing else attractive about him. Jul-30-09    The Rocket: the fact that Maxime Vachier Lagrave won this tournament is quite comical given his game vs morozevich Jul-30-09    Open Defence: "yes, technique is all about nerves" - attributed to Alexander Alekhine .... Jul-30-09    znsprdx: Total nonsense - that Ivanchuk gets 2nd with only half as many wins as Morozevich: I hope this tournament sounds the death knell for the antiquated 1 pt for win, half point for draw. The real winner was Morozevich <schroedingers cat: After 18. f4 Qg3 19. Rf2 Qxe3 20. Nf3 if 20...Qxf2 21.Kxf2 exf3 22.Kxf3 and white does not look that bad at all.> Wow THANX for supporting my f4 conjecture. If 19...Bxh3 20. Nc1! Jul-30-09    dx9293: <znsprdx> Morozevich lost 3 games... Jul-30-09    slomarko: <csmath: Out of 10 decided games Moro played 7. The rest of the crowd was here to preserve ratings and get a little money.> +1 Jul-30-09    boz: <Total nonsense - that Ivanchuk gets 2nd with only half as many wins as Morozevich> Yeah, losses shouldn't count. Jul-30-09    nummerzwei: <znsprdx :I hope this tournament sounds the death knell for the antiquated 1 pt for win, half point for draw> ?? Jul-30-09    capatal: <The End Crowns All> Hard to remember such a so-so final round prep, (at this chess level), for the open top spot. ...Or faster last round draws - for 'A Fistful of Dollars' (plus bragging rights with lucrative invitations). Why no tenth round Chessic 'Dance of Death' - with Biel up for grabs? Jul-30-09    lorker: <znsprdx><The real winner was Morozevich> No it wasn't. Morozevich did not play his best chess throughout, blundering quite a lot, which led to a lot of his decisive games (at least to his three losees). As for his wins, his wins against Gelfand and Ivanchuk really had nothing to do with him, but were the result of his opponents gifting him free points essentially, as Gelfand hung a piece and Ivanchuk made an unsound sacrifice. So I would not really say that Moro deserved to win this tournament, or even that he was the only one who was fighting to win all his games. It was just his (bad?) luck that he had so many decisive games. Jul-30-09    Open Defence: I think the result is fair overall Lagrave was a bit lucky but luck plays its part.... and when the chips were down he hung in there and was rewarded for it.. congrats to him Jul-30-09    dumbgai: Bring back the "only wins count" system, but apply it to tournaments. Three possible results: 1-0, 0-1, 0-0 (draw). Just kidding. I think the current system is fine. But man I can't wait for the next tournament to have Morozevich, Carlsen, and Topalov all playing. Those three are fearless warriors. Jul-30-09    The Rocket: does somebody who blows a a forced win about 100 times in the same game deserve the titel? rather than lagrave who is ice-cool and gets suddenly a winning advantage and wins a complicated endgame?. 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!!!!! 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