Bacrot and Carlsen winners in round 2 Biel

Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri share the lead after two rounds in Biel. Both won one game and drew one to score 4 points, as the football scoring system is used in Biel. Carlsen crushed Wang Hao on Tuesday while Giri held a draw with Black against Hikaru Nakamura. Etienne Bacrot bounced back from yesterday's loss with a spectacular win against Alexander Morozevich, who is the only player with zero points now.

Carlsen beats Wang Hao in round 2 | Photo © Biel Chess Festival

We've always been a bit skeptical about the football scoring system (3 points for a win, 1 for a draw), because at most tournaments the final standings aren't that much different compared to the classical system. But perhaps we should reconsider this point of view after today's round, because after his game against Anish Giri, Hikaru Nakamura admitted that he actually played for a win in a position where he would have taken the draw if there hadn't been the possibility of scoring 3 points!

From a Bogo-Indian the American grandmaster probably missed a chance for an advantage in the middlegame. He then avoided a move repetition, but the resulting position was "confusing", said Nakamura. The result didn't change.

[Event "45th Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel SUI"]
[Date "2012.07.24"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Nakamura, Hi"]
[Black "Giri, A."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2778"]
[BlackElo "2696"]
[Annotator "Doe,John"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2012.07.23"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bxd2+ 6. Nbxd2 O-O 7. Bg2 b6 8.
O-O Bb7 9. cxd5 (9. Ne5 Qe7 10. Rc1 Rd8 11. Qa4 Na6 12. c5 bxc5 13. dxc5 c6 14.
Nb3 Qc7 15. f4 {Kasimdzhanov,R (2687)-Anand,V (2817)/Tashkent 2011}) 9... Bxd5
10. Re1 Nbd7 11. e4 Bb7 12. e5 Nd5 13. Ne4 h6 $146 (13... Rc8 14. Rc1 Re8 15.
Nfg5 h6 16. Qh5 f6 17. exf6 N7xf6 18. Qf7+ Kh8 19. Nxf6 Qxf6 20. Qxf6 gxf6 21.
Nxe6 Re7 {Hauck,B-Schenderowitsch,M/Koblenz 1994}) 14. Rc1 Qe7 15. a3 a5 16.
Nfd2 Rad8 17. Nc4 Nb8 18. Ne3 (18. Nc3 Nxc3 19. bxc3 Bxg2 20. Kxg2 {is no
problem for Black. "There is no pressure now." (Nakamura)}) ({Giri felt that
White is better after} 18. Qg4 Kh8 19. h4) 18... Nxe3 19. fxe3 c5 20. Qg4 Bxe4
{"I was thinking he might mate me somewhere." (Giri)} 21. Bxe4 Rc8 22. Rcd1 {
"Trying to keep all the pieces on the board. I need both rooks to have any
chance to break through." (Nakamura)} Nd7 23. Bb1 b5 24. Qe4 f5 25. Qb7 (25.
Qg2 Nb6) 25... Rb8 26. Qa7 Ra8 27. Qb7 Rab8 28. Qa7 Ra8 29. Qc7 c4 30. Rf1 ({
Afterwards the players looked at} 30. d5 Rfc8 (30... Rac8 31. Qa7 (31. Qd6 Qxd6
32. exd6 e5) 31... Qe8 $5 {Giri}) 31. Qd6 Qxd6 32. exd6 e5 33. Bxf5 Rd8 {and
Black holds (Giri).}) 30... Rfc8 31. Qd6 {After the game Nakamura felt that
playing on was a bad decision, because the game became quite confusing.
Interestingly, the American admitted that the football scoring system
influenced his decision!} (31. Qb7 b4 (31... Rab8 32. Qg2 c3 33. bxc3 Rxc3 34.
e4 {looks good for White.}) 32. axb4 axb4 33. e4 Rab8 34. Qa6 c3 $6 35. bxc3
bxc3 36. Ba2 $1) 31... Qxd6 32. exd6 Nf6 33. g4 (33. d5 exd5 34. d7 (34. Bxf5
Re8) 34... Nxd7 35. Bxf5 {forces the draw (Nakamura).}) 33... g6 (33... Nxg4
34. d5 e5 $1 (34... Nxe3 35. dxe6) 35. Bxf5 Nxe3 36. Be6+ Kh7 37. Bxc8 Rxc8 38.
Rde1 Nxf1 39. Kxf1 Rd8 40. Rxe5 Rxd6 41. Ke2 $11 {Giri/Nakamura}) 34. gxf5 exf5
35. e4 Nxe4 36. Bxe4 fxe4 37. Rf6 Kg7 38. Re6 Rf8 39. Rxe4 Rad8 40. Re7+ Rf7
41. Rf1 1/2-1/2

Video produced by Pascal Simon (Chessbase)

Magnus Carlsen scored a crushing win against Wang Hao, who made a mistake as early as move five. Carlsen said:

He played 5...b6 instantly which I have believed for ten years to be a mistake. Maybe he just made a fingerfehler."

For the remainder of the game the Norwegian was mostly trying to find forced wins while building up an attack, assisted by two killing bishops. 

[Event "45th Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel SUI"]
[Date "2012.07.24"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, M."]
[Black "Wang Hao"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2739"]
[Annotator "Doe,John"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2012.07.23"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. Nf3 b6 {"He played [this]
instantly which I have believed for ten years to be a mistake. Maybe he just
made a fingerfehler." (Carlsen)} 6. e4 c5 7. e5 Ne8 (7... cxd4 8. a3 dxc3 9.
axb4 Ne8 10. Qxc3 f6 11. Be2 Bb7 {Erdos,V (2597)-Bruedigam,M (2317)/Deizisau
2011}) 8. d5 $146 {"White has several promising possibilities here." (Carlsen)}
(8. Bd3 f5 9. Bg5 Qc7 10. d5 d6 11. O-O-O Bxc3 12. Qxc3 exd5 13. cxd5 Ba6 {
Vera Gonzalez Quevedo,R (2535)-Aleksic,N (2445)/Porto San Giorgio 1998}) (8. a3
Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 {is a promising version of the Saemisch variation.}) 8... exd5 9.
cxd5 d6 10. Bg5 ({"Here I really wanted to go} 10. Ng5 g6 11. h4 dxe5 (11...
Qe7) 12. h5 {but I couldn't find anything clear." (Carlsen)}) 10... f6 11. exf6
Nxf6 12. O-O-O {"I thought why not." (Carlsen)} (12. Bd3) 12... Bxc3 13. bxc3
Bg4 {"Logical." (Carlsen)} 14. Re1 Bxf3 ({Carlsen expected} 14... Nbd7 15. Bd3
h6 16. Bf4 c4 {which is very complicated.}) 15. gxf3 Nbd7 16. Bd3 h6 17. Bf4 ({
"Here I was surprised that} 17. Bxh6 {wasn't winning immediately."} gxh6 18.
Rhg1+ Kh8 19. Qd2 Rf7 20. Qxh6+ Nh7 21. Re6 {and now Carlsen saw that} Ne5 {
allows a nice trick:} 22. Bxh7 Rxh7 23. Re8+ Qxe8 24. Qf6+ {but this is not
forced.}) 17... c4 {"Logical." (Carlsen)} 18. Bf5 Nc5 19. Rhg1 Kh8 20. Rg6 (20.
Bxh6 gxh6 21. Qd2 Qc7 (21... Rf7 22. Qxh6+ Nh7 {and now again} 23. Bxh7 Rxh7
24. Re8+ Qxe8 25. Qf6+) (21... Ng8 22. Rxg8+ Kxg8 23. Qxh6 Rxf5 24. Rg1+ Kf7
25. Rg7+) 22. Qxh6+ Nh7 {and Carlsen didn't see a win here.}) 20... Rf7 ({
"Here I kind of froze because I missed} 20... Nfe4 {" said Carlsen, and he
showed the lines} 21. Rxe4 (21. fxe4 Nd3+ 22. Kb1 Nxf4 (22... Nxe1 23. Qd2) 23.
Rg4 Nh5) 21... Nd3+ 22. Kb1 Rxf5 23. Rxc4 Nxf4 24. Qxf5 Nxg6 (24... Qf6 25.
Rxf6) 25. Qxg6) 21. Reg1 Qf8 22. Be3 Nxd5 (22... Nh5 23. Be6 Nd3+ 24. Kb1 Rf6
25. Bd4 Rxg6 26. Rxg6 Kh7 {"I don't know where my attack is going." (Carlsen)})
23. Bd4 Nf6 24. Qd2 Re8 (24... Nd3+ 25. Bxd3 cxd3 26. Qf4) 25. Rxg7 Qxg7 ({
Here Wang Hao probably missed the main point} 25... Rxg7 26. Qxh6+ Kg8 27. Bh7+
$1) 26. Rxg7 Kxg7 27. Qf4 Nd3+ 28. Bxd3 cxd3 29. Kd2 Kg6 ({Carlsen showed that
White has a few tricks here:} 29... Re6 30. Qg4+ {and}) (29... Re2+ 30. Kxd3
Rxa2 31. Qg4+ Kf8 32. Qe6) 30. Kxd3 Re6 31. h4 Rfe7 (31... Rh7 32. h5+ Kf7 33.
Qf5 Rg7 34. f4) 32. h5+ Kf7 33. Qf5 Re5 34. Qg6+ Ke6 35. f4 (35. f4 Rf5 36.
Bxf6 Rxf6 37. f5+ Ke5 38. f4+ {picks up a rook.}) 1-0

Video produced by Pascal Simon (Chessbase)

The most spectacular game of the round had its own story. Caught by surprise when his opponent played the Marshall Gambit of the Semi-Slav, Etienne Bacrot spent more than half an hour on his first ten moves and about an hour on the next ten. Up till then the game was very sharp but of high quality (one GM said to Bacrot afterwards that they were following the main line of his analysis!) until Morozevich suddenly avoided the draw, missing two very nice strokes by the Frenchman.

[Event "45th Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel SUI"]
[Date "2012.07.24"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Bacrot, E."]
[Black "Morozevich, A."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2713"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[Annotator "Doe,John"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2012.07.23"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c6 4. e4 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Qxd4 7. Bxb4 Qxe4+
8. Be2 Na6 9. Bd6 Qxg2 10. Qd2 {Bacrot had already spent about 30-40 minutes
here.} (10. Qd3 e5 11. O-O-O Qg5+ 12. Rd2 Nf6 13. Nf3 Qf5 14. Nxe5 Qxd3 15.
Bxd3 Be6 {Jobava,B (2696)-Robson,R (2567)/Khanty-Mansiysk 2009}) 10... e5 11.
Bxe5 $146 {"I didn't know the theory here." (Bacrot)} (11. Bf3 Qg6 12. Bxe5 Be6
13. O-O-O Nf6 14. Ne2 Qf5 15. Qc3 Nb4 16. Qxb4 Qxe5 17. Rhe1 Qc7 {Castilla
Leon Salas,C (2126)-Sengupta,D (2562)/Seville 2012}) 11... Bf5 12. Bf3 (12.
O-O-O Qe4 13. Bd3 Qxd3 14. Qxd3 Bxd3 15. Bxg7 Nb4 $1 {is not clear.}) 12... Qg6
13. O-O-O Nc5 14. Qe3 Bb1 15. Rd2 Bxa2 16. Bd6+ {Forced, according to Bacrot.}
Ne6 17. Be4 Qh6 18. f4 Nf6 19. Nf3 (19. b3 Nxe4 20. Qxe4 O-O-O) 19... Bxc4 20.
Re1 O-O-O (20... Bd5 21. Bf5) (20... Nd5 21. Bxd5 $1 ({Bacrot was planning} 21.
Qa3 Ndxf4 (21... O-O-O $1) 22. Qb4 Bb5 23. Bxf4 Qxf4 24. Bxc6+)) 21. Bxc6 Ba6
$2 {Too optimistic, but understandable because Bacrot didn't have much time
left.} ({Black should have taken the draw with} 21... bxc6 22. Qxa7 Rxd6 23.
Qa8+ (23. Rxd6 $2 Qxf4+) 23... Kc7 24. Qa7+) 22. Ng5 $1 {A great move which
keeps the Black queen out of play.} Nxg5 (22... Rxd6 23. Rxd6 bxc6 24. Nxf7 $18
) 23. Bd7+ $1 Kxd7 (23... Nxd7 24. Qc3+) (23... Rxd7 24. Qc3+) 24. Qe7+ Kc6 25.
Qc7+ (25. Qc7+ Kb5 26. Qc5+ Ka4 27. Qb4#) 1-0

Video produced by Pascal Simon (Chessbase)

Biel 2012 | Round 2 standings

Biel 2012 | Round 2 standings (classical)