Biel Young Masters Chess: Caruana wins title after tie-break showdown
 Biel Young Masters 2010 champion GM Fabiano Caruana
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The young Italian Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana has won the 2010 Biel Young Masters Chess Tournament. It was a nice birthday gift for himself as he celebrated his becoming 18 years old a day after the tie-break win on Thursday. You can check the official website for videos and swell photos.
Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (the best player according to Sonneborn-Berger points) was qualified for the final. Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave played a semi-final of two blitz games (5 mins. + 2 sec. increment per move). Caruana won the first, Vachier-Lagrave, both taking advantage of the white pieces. In the Armageddon game the French GM had to win with the white pieces.
In the first game of the rapid chess final (10 mins. + 10 sec. increment per move) the Vietnamese GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son gained a considerable advantage with the black pieces against Fabiano Caruana and must have been winning around move 60. But he blew it at move 62 (...b2) and the game was soon drawn. In the second game Caruana picked up a pawn and was able to win the ensuing knight + pawns ending quite convincingly.
Here is a list of previous winners for statistics sake.
Past winners ----------------- 1977 Anthony Miles (ENG) 1979 Viktor Kortchnoi (SUI) 1980 Yehuda Grünfeld (ISR) 1981 Eric Lobron (GER); Vlastimil Hort (TCH) 1982 John Nunn (ENG); Florin Gheorghiu (ROM) 1983 Anthony Miles (ENG); John Nunn (ENG) 1984 Vlastimil Hort (TCH); Robert Hübner (GER) 1986 Lev Polugajevski (URS); Eric Lobron (GER) 1987 Boris Gulko (USA) 1988 Ivan Sokolov (YUG); Boris Gulko (USA) 1989 Vassily Ivantschuk (URS) 1990 Anatoly Karpov (URS) 1991 Alexej Shirov (LAT) 1992 Anatoly Karpov (RUS) 1994 Viktor Gavrikov (SUI) 1995 Alexej Dreev (RUS) 1996 Anatoly Karpov (RUS) 1997 Viswanathan Anand (IND) 1998 Mladen Palac (CRO) 1999 Jeroen Piket (NED) 2000 Peter Svidler (RUS) 2001 Viktor Kortchnoi (SUI) 2002 Ilya Smirin (ISR) 2003 Alexander Morozevich (RUS) 2004 Alexander Morozevich (RUS) 2005 Boris Gelfand (ISR); Andrei Volokitin (UKR) 2006 Alexander Morozevich (RUS) 2007 Magnus Carlsen (NOR) 2008 Evgeny Alekseev (RUS) 2009 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's Also see her personal blog at Labels: Biel Young Masters
Biel Young Masters Chess: Three-way tie for top slot, tie-breaks on Thursday
 In a three-way tie for top place: Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son
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The last round saw a quick draw by one of the leaders - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave - with Parimarjan Negi. In fact there were three other draws with just one game with a result. That one game was Nguyen Ngoe Truong Son beating Anish Giri allowing the former to be in a three-way tie for the first spot.
Tie-breaks would be held on Thursday to decide the winner between Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Fabiano Caruana and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son.
Results of Round 9 ----------------------
Maxim Rodshtein - Evgeny Tomashevsky ½ - ½ Parimarjan Negi - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave ½ - ½ Fabiano Caruana - David Howell ½ - ½ Wesley So - Dmitry Andreikin ½ - ½ Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son - Anish Giri 1 - 0
Standings after Round 9 ---------------------------
1. Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (VIE, 2617) 5.5 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA, 2723) 5.5 Fabiano Caruana (ITA, 2697) 5.5 4. Dmitry Andreikin (RUS, 2650) 5.0 5. Wesley So (PHI, 2674) 4.5 Evgeny Tomashevsky (RUS, 2708) 4.5 Maxim Rodshtein (ISR, 2609) 4.5 8. Anish Giri (NED, 2672) 4.0 9. David Howell (ENG, 2616) 3.5 10. Parimarjan Negi (IND, 2615) 2.5
Son qualifies for the final tie-break because of a better tie-break score. Vachier-Lagrave and Caruana would play a semifinal and the winner would take on Son in the final of the tie-break.
Meanwhile, here is the nice Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son - Anish Giri game that helped Son tie for the first. You can run the moves in our pgnplayer or watch the flash below.
PGN: 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 c6 4. d3 Bg4 5. O-O Nbd7 6. h3 Bh5 7. Qe1 e5 8. e4 dxe4 9. dxe4 Be7 10. Nh4 O-O 11. Nf5 Bc5 12. b4 Bb6 13. Na3 Bg6 14. Nc4 Bxf5 15. exf5 Qe7 16. a4 Nd5 17. Rb1 e4 18. a5 Bd4 19. Qxe4 Qxe4 20. Bxe4 Nc3 21. Bb2 Bxf2+ 22. Rxf2 Nxe4 23. Re2 Nxg3 24. Re7 Nf6 25. Bxf6 gxf6 26. Kf2 Nxf5 27. Rg1+ Kh8 28. Rxb7 Rab8 29. a6 Rxb7 30. axb7 Rb8 31. Na5 Nd6 32. Rd1 Nxb7 33. Nxc6 Rc8 34. b5 Kg7 35. Kf3 Rc7 36. Rd5 f5 37. c4 Kf6 38. c5 Ke6 39. Re5+ Kf6 40. Kf4 Rd7 41. Rxf5+ Ke6 42. Re5+ Kf6 43. Rh5 Nd8 44. Rf5+ Ke6 45. Re5+ Kf6 46. Nxd8 Rxd8 47. c6 Rd1 48. Re8 Rf1+ 49. Kg4 Rc1 50. Kf3 h5 51. Ra8 Rc5 52. Ke4 Re5+ 53. Kd4 Re7 54. Kd5 Re5+ 55. Kd6 Rxb5 56. c7 Rb1 57. c8=Q Rd1+ 58. Kc5 Rc1+ 59. Kd4 1-0
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's Also see her personal blog at
Labels: Biel Young Masters
Biel Young Masters: Vachier-Lagrave, Caruana in joint lead with one round to go
 Maxim Rodshtein (left) vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
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The eighth round at the Biel Young Masters Tournament included some action after a dull seventh round. Overnight leader Fabiano Caruana drew his game allowing Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to draw level. The latter beat Maxim Rodshtein. Other games were also interesting with Tomashevsky losing to Son and Anish Giri beating Wesley So. There's just one more round to go.
Results of Round 8 --------------------
Evgeny Tomashevsky- Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son 0 - 1 Anish Giri-Wesley So 1 - 0 Dmitry Andreikin-Fabiano Caruana ½ - ½ David Howell-Parimarjan Negi 1 - 0 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave-Maxim Rodshtein 1 - 0
Pairings for Round 9 -----------------------
Maxim Rodshtein-Evgeny Tomashevsky Parimarjan Negi-Maxime Vachier-Lagrave Fabiano Caruana-David Howell Wesley So-Dmitry Andreikin Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son-Anish Giri Standings after Round 8 ----------------------------- 1. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA, 2723) 5.0 Fabiano Caruana (ITA, 2697) 5.0 3. Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (VIE, 2617) 4.5 Dmitry Andreikin (RUS, 2650) 4.5 5. Anish Giri (NED, 2672) 4.0 Wesley So (PHI, 2674) 4.0 Evgeny Tomashevsky (RUS, 2708) 4.0 Maxim Rodshtein (ISR, 2609) 4.0 9. David Howell (ENG, 2616) 3.0 10. Parimarjan Negi (IND, 2615) 2.0
If two or more players are tied for the first place after the last round then a tie-break would follow. The tie-break would include two rapid games (10 minutes, with 10 second increments per move). If the result is 1-1, then two blitz will be organised.
Meanwhile, here is the nice Maxime Vachier-Lagrave-Maxim Rodshtein game. You can run it in the pgnplayer or watch in flash below. You can also check the official website for photos and videos here.
PGN: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. g3 Bg7 6. Bg2 Nb6 7. Nf3 O-O 8. O-O Nc6 9. d5 Na5 10. e4 c6 11. Bf4 cxd5 12. Nxd5 Nxd5 13. exd5 Nc4 14. Qb3 Nd6 15. Rfe1 Bf6 16. Be5 Qa5 17. Bc3 Bxc3 18. bxc3 Re8 19. c4 Bf5 20. Ne5 f6 21. g4 Bc8 22. Nd3 b6 23. g5 Bd7 24. Qb2 fxg5 25. Ne5 Rad8 26. Nxd7 Rxd7 27. Bh3 Nf5 28. Bxf5 gxf5 29. Re5 Rd6 30. Rae1 Qa4 31. Qe2 Qd7 32. Qh5 Rg6 33. Re6 Kg7 34. R1e3 f4 35. Rh3 Rxe6 36. Qxh7 Kf6 37. Rh6 Ke5 38. Rxe6 Kd4 39. Qf5 Qa4 40. Re4 Kc5 41. d6 e5 42. Rxe5 Kxd6 43. c5 bxc5 44. Qf6 Kc7 45. Qf7 Kd8 46. Qd5 Kc7 47. Qxc5 Kb7 48. Qd5 Kb6 49. Rxg5 Qc6 50. Qxc6 Kxc6 51. h4 f3 52. h5 Re4 53. Kh2 Ra4 54. Kg3 1-0
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's Also see her personal blog at
Labels: Biel Young Masters
Biel Young Masters Chess: Caruana leads after a dull seventh round
 Anish Giri and Fabiano Caruana
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The seventh round saw all games drawn at the Biel Young Masters. That leaves Italian GM Fabiano Caruana still in the lead. You can check the official website for photos and the live games. You can watch some interesting videos at the website here.
Results of Round 7 (for pairings' sake!) ---------------------
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave-Evgeny Tomashevsky ½ - ½ Maxim Rodshtein-David Howell ½ - ½ Parimarjan Negi-Dmitry Andreikin ½ - ½ Fabiano Caruana-Anish Giri ½ - ½ Wesley So-Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son ½ - ½
Standings after Round 7 --------------------------
1. Fabiano Caruana (ITA, 2697) 4.5 2. Maxim Rodshtein (ISR, 2609) 4.0 3. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA, 2723) 4.0 4. Dmitry Andreikin (RUS, 2650) 4.0 5. Wesley So (PHI, 2674) 4.0 6. Evgeny Tomashevsky (RUS, 2708) 4.0 7. Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (VIE, 2617) 3.5 8. Anish Giri (NED, 2672) 3.0 9. Parimarjan Negi (IND, 2615) 2.0 10. David Howell (ENG, 2616) 2.0
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's Also see her personal blog at
Labels: Biel Young Masters
Biel Young Masters Chess: Caruana maintains half-point lead after six rounds
 Wesley So (left) vs Evgeny Tomashevsky
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The action was a bit subdued at the Biel Young Masters Chess Tournament ahead of the rest day. The sixth round saw five draws and just one game with a result. David Howell lost to Maxime-Vachier-Lagrave.
We found these interesting statistics at chessbase.com about the six rounds played so far.
Statistics --------------- Of the 30 games played in the first six rounds:
21 games = 70% were drawn 5 games = 17% were won by White 4 games = 13% were won by Black
13 games were shorter than 30 moves – 29 of these were drawn. The longest game was Giri-Andreikin, which lasted 109 moves and was drawn. Tomashevsky won a 94-mover against Negi.
Results of Round 6 ---------------------
Evgeny Tomashevsky-Wesley So ½ - ½ Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son-Fabiano Caruana ½ - ½ Anish Giri-Parimarjan Negi ½ - ½ Dmitry Andreikin-Maxim Rodshtein ½ - ½ David Howell-Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 0 - 1
Standings after Round 6 -----------------------------
1. Fabiano Caruana (ITA, 2697) 4.0 2. Maxim Rodshtein (ISR, 2609) 3.5 3. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA, 2723) 3.5 4. Dmitry Andreikin (RUS, 2650) 3.5 5. Wesley So (PHI, 2674) 3.5 6. Evgeny Tomashevsky (RUS, 2708) 3.5 7. Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (VIE, 2617) 3.0 8. Anish Giri (NED, 2672) 2.5 9. Parimarjan Negi (IND, 2615) 1.5 10. David Howell (ENG, 2616) 1.5
And, here is the Howell-Vachier Lagrave game. You can run it through our pgnplayer or watch the flash below.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's Also see her personal blog at
Labels: Biel Young Masters
Biel Young Masters Chess: Caruana beats So, takes lead
 Parimarjan Negi: Steadies after a difficult start
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Talented young Grandmaster Wesley So ended up with his first loss at the 43rd Biel International Young Grandmasters Chess Tournament at the hands of Italian youngster GM Fabiano Caruana. So lost a 49-move Slav battle with Black and the lead in the tournament.
Caruana leads while So is now tied for the second place with GM Evgeny Tomashevsky, GM Dmitry Andreikin of Russia and GM Maxim Rodshtein with 3 points each. Caruana leads with 3.5/5.
In the other matches, Rodshtein beat GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands, Tomashevsky drew with GM David Howell of England, GM Parimarjan Negi of India drew with GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam and Andrekin drew with GM Maxime Vachier-Lagreve of France.
Results of Round 5 ----------------------
David Howell-Evgeny Tomashevsky ½ - ½ Maxime Vachier-Lagrave-Dmitry Andreikin ½ - ½ Maxim Rodshtein-Anish Giri 1 - 0 Parimarjan Negi-Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son ½ - ½ Fabiano Caruana- Wesley So 1 - 0
Standings after Round 5 ---------------------------
1. Fabiano Caruana (ITA, 2697) 3.5 2. Evgeny Tomashevsky (RUS, 2708) 3.0 3. Wesley So (PHI, 2674) 3.0 4. Dmitry Andreikin (RUS, 2650) 3.0 5. Maxim Rodshtein (ISR, 2609) 3.0 6. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA, 2723) 2.5 7. Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (VIE, 2617) 2.5 8. Anish Giri (NED, 2672) 2.0 9. David Howell (ENG, 2616) 1.5 10. Parimarjan Negi (IND, 2615) 1.0
You can use the pgnplayer for this Caruana-So game or check it in the flashplayer below. And, here is the official website.
PGN: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. Bd3 O-O 8. O-O dxc4 9. Bxc4 a6 10. Ng5 c5 11. Nce4 Qc7 12. Nxd6 Qxd6 13. Bd3 h6 14. Nh7 Ng4 15. g3 Rd8 16. h3 cxd4 17. exd4 Ngf6 18. Bf4 Qe7 19. Nxf6+ Nxf6 20. Rfe1 b5 21. Bc7 Rd7 22. Qc6 Ra7 23. Bb6 Bb7 24. Qc5 Ra8 25. Qxe7 Rxe7 26. a4 Nd7 27. Ba5 bxa4 28. Rxa4 Nb8 29. Bb6 Bc6 30. Rb4 a5 31. Bxa5 Rea7 32. Bb6 Ra1 33. Rf1 Rxf1+ 34. Kxf1 Bf3 35. Ke1 Nc6 36. Rb5 Ne7 37. Kd2 Bc6 38. Ra5 Rb8 39. Bc5 Rxb2+ 40. Kc3 Rxf2 41. Bxe7 Rf3 42. Kd2 Rxg3 43. Rc5 Bd7 44. Rc7 Be8 45. Rc8 f6 46. Bd6 Rg2+ 47. Ke3 Kf7 48. Bh7 e5 49. d5 1-0
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's Also see her personal blog at Labels: Biel Young Masters
Biel Young Masters Chess: So leads, Negi opens account after four rounds
 Fabiano Caruana - Tied for second place after four rounds
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The young masters seemed to be in cautious mode during the fourth round at the Biel Young Masters Chess 2010. All the games ended in draw except for Dmitry Andreikin beating David Howell. Parimarjan Negi, who had three straight losses to get over, managed a nice draw against tournament leader Wesley So. You can check the official website for live games, statistics and photos.
Results of Round 4 ------------------------
1. Evgeny Tomashevsky-Fabiano Caruana ½ - ½ 2. Wesley So-Parimarjan Negi ½ - ½ 3. Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son-Maxim Rodshtein ½ - ½ 4. Anish Giri-Maxime Vachier-Lagrave ½ - ½ 5. Dmitry Andreikin-David Howell 1 - 0
Standings after Round 4 ------------------------------ 1. So 3 2. Tomashevski, Caruana, Andreikin 2,5 5. Vachier-Lagrave, Giri, Rodshtein, Truong Son 2 9. Howell 1 10. Negi 0,5
Meanwhile, here is the nice game between Andreikin and Howell. You can run it in our pgnplayer or watch in flash below.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's Also see her personal blog at Labels: Biel Young Masters
Biel Young Masters Chess:Wesley So takes lead after three rounds
 Wesley So against Maxim Rodshtein
Hi Everyone!
The 43rd Biel Young Masters is showcasing some interesting games. Round 3 saw two wins and three draws. Wesley So beat Maxim Rodshtein to take the lead in the tournament while Parimarjan Negi lost to Fabiano Caruana allowing the latter to move to joint second with Evgeny Tomashevsky.
Results of Round 3 ----------------------
Dmitry Andreikin - Evgeny Tomashevsky ½ - ½ David Howell - Anish Giri ½ - ½ Maxime Vachier-Lagrave - Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son ½ - ½ Maxim Rodshtein - Wesley So 0 - 1 Parimarjan Negi - Fabiano Caruana 0 - 1
Standings after Round 3 --------------------------
1. Wesley So (PHI, 2674) 2.5 2. Evgeny Tomashevsky (RUS, 2708) 2.0 3. Fabiano Caruana (ITA, 2697) 2.0 4. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA, 2723) 1.5 5. Anish Giri (NED, 2672) 1.5 6. Dmitry Andreikin (RUS, 2650)1.5 7. Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (VIE, 2617) 1.5 8. Maxim Rodshtein (ISR, 2609) 1.5 9. David Howell (ENG, 2616)1.0 10. Parimarjan Negi (IND, 2615) 0.0
Here is the nice Rodshtein-So game that you can play in the pgnplayer or examine in the flash player below.
PGN: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O Na5 11. Bd3 b6 12. Qd2 e5 13. Bh6 cxd4 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. cxd4 exd4 16. f4 f6 17. f5 Nc6 18. Bb5 Ne5 19. Nxd4 gxf5 20. exf5 Kh8 21. Rad1 Bb7 22. Rf4 Qd5 23. Bf1 Rg8 24. Kh1 Rad8 25. Qf2 Rg4 26. Rd2 Rdg8 27. Ne6 Qc6 28. h3 Rxf4 29. Nxf4 Qe4 30. Nh5 Qc6 31. Kh2 Qc7 32. Kh1 Qc1 33. Kh2 Qc7 34. Kh1 Qf7 35. Nf4 Be4 36. Rd6 Qg7 37. Nh5 Qh6 38. Qh4 Bxg2+ 39. Bxg2 Qc1+ 0-1
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's Also see her personal blog at
Labels: Biel Young Masters
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