Ding Liren Sole Leader in Biel After Round 8
On Tuesday Ding Liren took over the lead from Etienne Bacrot in round 8 of the Biel Chess Festival. The 20-year-old Chinese grandmaster beat Richard Rapport with Black in a King's Indian, while Bacrot drew his Grünfeld game with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Thanks to the football score, Ding Liren went from one point less to one point more than Bacrot. In this round, Ian Nepomniachtchi won his first game of the tournament against Alexander Moiseenko.
The 41st edition of the Biel Chess Festival is not the strongest ever, but it's certainly captivating. Inviting a number of creative players is enough to ensure spectacle in a tournament, and this is what's happening in the Olivier Breisacher memorial this year.
On Tuesday Richard Rapport and Ding Liren played one of the most amazing games of 2013. In this King's Indian ("It's the only opening I have against 1.d4" - Ding Liren) Rapport sacrificed a rook, then a piece and then another piece (!) for a very strong attack. The Hungarian couldn't deliver mate but he won Black's queen, and perhaps there was a draw somewhere. However, just before the time control it became clear that Black's material advantage was decisive. Awesome stuff!
Here's the post-mortem of the game, hosted by GM Danny King:
The game between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Alexander Moiseenko wasn't bad either, at least in terms of entertainment. The Russian GM, who played with white and won for the first time, said: "I played really awfully, especially in the first half of the game. At some point my position was very dangerous." He was probably referring to something like 35...Rde8 followed by 36...Nd5 which seems to give Black a strong attack. In the game, White won a pawn and decided the game on move 76 in a rook ending. Endgame lovers might want to check the line 63...Re2+ 64. Kf6 Kg8 65.b6 Rb2 and it's not clear if White can win.
Etienne Bacrot and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave drew an Exchange Grünfeld where Black was close to a win. "I didn't deserve a draw. For sure it was lost," said Bacrot, who managed to defend a rook ending a pawn down to a draw.
Here's GM Danny King's round report video:
Biel 2013 | Breisacher Memorial | Pairings & results
| Round 1 | 22.07.12 | 14:00 CET | Round 6 | 27.07.12 | 14:00 CET | |
| Nepomniachtchi | 1-1 | Bacrot | Bacrot | 1-1 | Nepomniachtchi | |
| Vachier-Lagrave | 1-1 | Rapport | Rapport | 1-1 | Vachier-Lagrave | |
| Moiseenko | 1-1 | Ding Liren | Ding Liren | 3-0 | Moiseenko | |
| Round 2 | 23.07.12 | 14:00 CET | Round 7 | 29.07.12 | 14:00 CET | |
| Bacrot | 3-0 | Ding Liren | Ding Liren | 1-1 | Bacrot | |
| Rapport | 0-3 | Moiseenko | Moiseenko | 3-0 | Rapport | |
| Nepomniachtchi | 0-3 | Vachier-Lagrave | Vachier-Lagrave | 3-0 | Nepomniachtchi | |
| Round 3 | 24.07.12 | 14:00 CET | Round 8 | 30.07.12 | 14:00 CET | |
| Vachier-Lagrave | 1-1 | Bacrot | Bacrot | 1-1 | Vachier-Lagrave | |
| Moiseenko | 1-1 | Nepomniachtchi | Nepomniachtchi | 3-0 | Moiseenko | |
| Ding Liren | 1-1 | Rapport | Rapport | 0-3 | Ding Liren | |
| Round 4 | 25.07.12 | 14:00 CET | Round 9 | 31.07.12 | 14:00 CET | |
| Moiseenko | 1-1 | Bacrot | Rapport | - | Bacrot | |
| Ding Liren | 3-0 | Vachier-Lagrave | Ding Liren | - | Nepomniachtchi | |
| Rapport | 1-1 | Nepomniachtchi | Moiseenko | - | Vachier-Lagrave | |
| Round 5 | 26.07.12 | 14:00 CET | Round 10 | 01.08.12 | 11:00 CET | |
| Bacrot | 3-0 | Rapport | Bacrot | - | Moiseenko | |
| Nepomniachtchi | 1-1 | Ding Liren | Vachier-Lagrave | - | Ding Liren | |
| Vachier-Lagrave | 1-1 | Moiseenko | Nepomniachtchi | - | Rapport |
Biel, Breisacher Memorial 2013 | Round 8 standings
| # | Name | Fed | Rtg | + | = | - | Pts |
| 1 | Ding, Liren | CHN | 2714 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 13 |
| 2 | Bacrot, Etienne | FRA | 2714 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 12 |
| 4 | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | FRA | 2719 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 11 |
| 3 | Moiseenko, Alexander | UKR | 2699 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
| 5 | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | RUS | 2717 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 8 |
| 6 | Rapport, Richard | HUN | 2693 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Photos courtesy of the official website, games via TWIC
