Biel Chess In Memoriam Hans Suri with MVL, Giri, Wojtaszek, Harikrishna, Motylev, Hou July 16-25
Hello chess blog friends, Biel Chess has announced a very special Grandmaster Chess Tournament 'In Memoriam Hans Suri' from July 16-25 with six participants
- Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, FRA, 24 years, Elo 2766, FIDE #10
- Anish Giri, NED, 20 years, Elo 2750, FIDE #14, Junior #1
- Radoslaw Wojtaszek, POL, 27 years, Elo 2733, FIDE #22
- Pentala Harikrishna, IND, 28 years, Elo 2726, FIDE #27
- Alexander Motylev, RUS, 35 years, Elo 2698, FIDE #48, European champion
- Yifan Hou, CHN, 20 years, Elo 2629, FIDE Women #2, World champion
The tournament has an average of 2717 Elo points (category 19) and will be held according to the Double Round Robin System.
June 14, 2013 was a sad day for the chess world. Two leading figures of the Swiss chess world have left us. Hans Suri, Studen, has died at the age of 85. Lucio Barvas, living in Uster, has passed away at the age of 78.
The name of Hans Suri is inseparable from the Biel Chess Festival. He organised the event for the first time in the summer of 1968 in a small hotel. There was no looking back. Hans Suri remained the festival's director for three decades as the chess festival grew in stature and reputation. Today, the festival as an important part of the international calendar.
Unforgettable Friends: 12th Women's World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk flanked by Hans Suri (Left) and Lucio Barvas.
In 1976, 1985 and 1993, Hans Suri even brought the Interzonal tournament to Biel. To his great commitment, the Swiss Chess Federation of the time and his club SG Biel had elected him as a honorary member. After retiring from the tournament, Hans Suri has regularly played the tournament. He participated in the 45 th edition in July 2012.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
Labels: biel chess, hans suri, lucio barvas
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave Wins Olivier Breisacher Chess Memorial in Biel
Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013
Hi everyone,
French Grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave defeated Liren Ding 2-0 in a blitz semifinal and then Alexander Moiseenko 1.5-0.5 in a rapid final to claim the top prize in the Olivier Breisacher Memorial in Biel, Switzerland. Olivier Breisacher Memorial was the main event of the 46th Biel Chess Festival. After the regular ten rounds in the tournament as many as four players shared the first place with 14 points each (three points for a win, one for draw) - Etienne Bacrot 2714 FRA, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2719 FRA, Ding Liren 2714 CHN and Alexander Moiseenko UKR 2699.
Ian Nepomniachtchi 2717 RUS was fifth, while Richard Rapport 2693 HUN finished sixth.
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Labels: biel chess, maxime vachier lagrave
Four Players Tie in First Place at Olivier Breisacher Memorial, Tiebreaks to Follow
Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013
Hi everyone,
The very exciting Olivier Breisacher Memorial in Biel had its last round today. The whole tournament was very intriguing regarding the standings, as all the players showed their strength at some point. After Etienne Bacrot led for a couple of rounds, Ding Liren took over first place and seemed ready to grab the title today. however, things went other way.
After today’s results, no less than four players tied for first place with 14 points each. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who missed a lot of chances during the whole event, scored a final win over leader Ding Liren; meanwhile, Etienne Bacrot and Alexander Moiseenko took this opportunity to also catch the Chinese with a draw. Ian Nepomniachtchi and Richard Rapport also split the point.
Ding Liren was a win away from clear first place and, in retrospect, given the other results, he would have taken the trophy even with a draw. On the other hand, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave arrived with a slim chance of catching the leaders, and he took it. He had a remarkable performance in most of his games, so the final result only seems fair.
The young Chinese used his only weapon against the 1.d4 systems, the King’s Indian Defense. The players took a sideline and ended up focusing most of the fight on the queenside. A very slow maneuvering battle began and white obtained the better of it. When the smoke cleared, Vachier-Lagrave was a pawn up with four rooks on the board, and the grinding began. Only on move 75, Ding Liren finally gave up hopes when it is clear that white will either end up in a totally won pawn endgame, or will get a second pawn if the rooks are left on the board. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave defeated Ding Liren with white
The other key game of the round was Etienne Bacrot – Alexander Moiseenko. The oldest participants showed throughout the event that they are still capable of fighting with the new generations. In previous rounds, Bacrot saved a couple of inferior pawn endgames and Moiseenko showed his class and preparation with the white pieces.
The players went into a Nimzo-Indian and started simplifying the position rather quickly. None of them took too many chances, as they focused their strengths on trying to win a pawn in a very positional battle. The defensive skills of the experienced GMs were up to the task and they reached a drawn position on 32 moves. Both of them will participate in tomorrow’s tiebreak to fight for first place.
Ian Nepomniachtchi had a rather disappointing performance, given the fact that he arrived as the second seed. Richard Rapport arrived as the outsider and could not cope with the pressure of playing these strong GMs, however, he showed a lot of creativity and added a lot of value to the event. It would not be surprising if they invite him again next year. These two players finished at the bottom of the standings after drawing their last round game.
The four players that tied on first place will play a mini-tournament tomorrow to decide who will be the champion. The rules are presented below:
There will be semi-finals in blitz (two games with 5’+2’’; if 1-1, one Armageddon game). The semi-finals will be Player 1- Player 4 and Player 2- Player 3 (according to Sonnenborn-Berger), with 1 and 2 having the priority to choose the color.
Then, the winners make the final: two rapid games with 15 minutes, with increase of 10’’/move. If 1-1, two games with 5’+2”. If again 1-1, one Armageddon game with 5’ for white (has to win) and 4’ for black. (www.chessdo.com)
The pairings for the semifinals are Bacrot – Moiseenko and Vachier-Lagrave – Ding Liren.
Final Standings:
1 Etienne Bacrot 2714 FRA 14 68.00
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2719 FRA 14 61.00
Ding Liren 2714 CHN 14 61.00
Alexander Moiseenko 2699 UKR 14 59.00
5 Ian Nepomniachtchi 2717 RUS 10 55.00
6 Richard Rapport 2693 HUN 6 38.00
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From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
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at www.chessqueen.com
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Labels: biel chess, olivier breisacher chess memorial
Biel Chess Round 4: Alexander Moiseenko, Etienne Bacrot in Lead
Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013
Hi everyone,
The fourth round of the Breisacher Memorial in Biel was played today. The only decisive result of the day saw Ding Liren defeating co-leader Maxime Vachier-Lagrave with white. The other two games finished with draws. This leaves Alexander Moiseenko and Etienne Bacrot as the leaders, with Ding Liren a point behind (the Bilbao score system is being used). First seed Bacrot saved the draw yesterday against his compatriot Vachier-Lagrave and missed a chance to get sole lead today in his game against Alexander Moiseenko. Meanwhile, Richard Rapport and Ian Nepomniachtchi signed a peaceful draw in an opposite-colored bishops endgame.
Ding Liren has shown steady progress in the last couple of years. In the very competitive Chinese chess scene, he managed to rise to third place behind Wang Hao and Wang Yue. The 20-year old is now in sole third place behind the leaders. His uncompromising style of play might shoot him right up the ladder or leave him empty-handed. In any case, the chess fans always welcome his presence in these strong events.
Etienne Bacrot
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave used his typical counter-attacking strategy with the black pieces, and faced an even more aggressive opponent. Ding Liren quickly advanced his h-pawn to shake black king’s defensive setup. By move 19, the computer already gave white an advantage of more than two pawns; Ding Liren converted his positional edge into a clear material advantage. The French grandmaster gave up on move 28.
The two leaders battled today. Alexander Moiseenko had the white pieces against Etienne Bacrot . The most experienced players of the lineup are proving that their unorthodox positional styles are good enough to beat the younger generations of active players. Today, a draw kept them both as favorites to fight for first place in the upcoming rounds.
The seemingly calm exchange variation of the Queen’s Gambit turned sharper when Moiseenko sacrificed his h-pawn for activity. Bacrot defended very accurately and went for a counterattack on the kingside. Moiseenko erred on move 29, but his French colleague was not able to find the sharp line suggested by the computer that gave him a clear advantage. Instead, he forced a threefold repetition to split the point after 34 moves.
The first game to finish was Richard Rapport – Ian Nepomniachtchi . The young stars played an interesting line of the Sicilian but proved they were well prepared and ended up simplifying the material rather quickly. They played a clearly equal opposite-colored bishops endgame until finally signing the peace treaty on move 34.
Tomorrow will be another exciting round. Co-leaders Bacrot and Moiseenko will face Richard Rapport and Ding Liren, respectively. (www.chessdom.com)
Standings after 4 rounds:
1 Alexander Moiseenko 2699 UKR 6
Etienne Bacrot 2714 FRA 6
3 Ding Liren 2714 CHN 5
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2719 FRA 5
5 Ian Nepomniachtchi 2717 RUS 3
Richard Rapport 2693 HUN 3
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal chess blog
at www.chessqueen.com
Don't miss Chess Queen™
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Labels: biel chess
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