Carlsen Leads Into Biel Final Round
Magnus Carlsen was unable to beat Anish Giri with the black pieces in the penultimate round at the Biel GM Tournament, but his co-leader Wang Hao lost to last-placed Victor Bologan to fall a point behind the world's #1 ranked player.
Hikaru Nakamura scored a win with the black pieces against Etienne Bacrot thanks to a shocking blunder from the Frenchman, but is too far behind to be in contention for first place in the tournament.
The standings after nine rounds (3-1-0 scoring system):
| Name | Nat | Elo | Pts |
| Magnus Carlsen | NOR | 2837 | 17 |
| Wang Hao | CHN | 2739 | 16 |
| Anish Giri | NED | 2696 | 16 |
| Hikaru Nakamura | USA | 2778 | 13 |
| Etienne Bacrot | FRA | 2713 | 6 |
| Victor Bologan* | MDA | 2732 | 4 |
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After his game Giri tweeted, "Had to give up any ambitions already after move 10"
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The pairings for the final round are:
| Round 10 (2nd Aug) | ||
| Hikaru Nakamura | v | Victor Bologan |
| Wang Hao | v | Anish Giri |
| Magnus Carlsen | v | Etienne Bacrot |
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The festival also includes many other events including a Master Tournament, Main Tournament, Rapid Tournament and a Blitz Tournament.
The Biel Chess Festival runs from 21 July - 3 August. The main GM tournament is a 6-player double round-robin which started on Monday 23 July and will finish on 2 August. Magnus Carlsen is defending the title he won in 2011.
Grandmaster Tournament games start at 14:00 local time (12:00 UTC) and a live broadcast is available at this link.
Picture from the official website. Games via TWIC.
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* Bologan's score includes 2 losses by Alexander Morozevich who withdrew due to illness.
