Halfway Point Reached At Biel

Carlsen And Alekseev Share The Lead

The only decisive game of the 5th round at Biel occurred in the clash between the two players at the bottom of the leader board, Etienne Bacrot (pictured) and Yannick Pelletier. 

Pelletier played the solid and unadventurous Philidor defence, but despite emerging with a reasonable game from the opening then made a few slight inaccuracies to leave Bacrot with a rook on the seventh rank and the better game.  A dispirited Pelletier resigned soon after on move 34.

For the first time in the tournament Magnus Carlsen failed to win with the White pieces, but his clash with the Cuban Dominguez was certainly an entertaining game, even though it only lasted 24 moves.  In a Sicilian Najdorf, Carlsen landed his knight on d5 early with menacing intent.  However, Dominguez spotted a way to force a repetition of moves and the Norwegian wonder was denied the spoils.

The game between Alekseev and Onischuk saw an outing for the old favourite, the Giuoco Piano, albeit played in the modern way with an early d3 rather than d4.  Alekseev nurtured a slight advantage throughout but Onischuk defended accurately to share the points.

The results in round 5:

The standings after round 5:

Carlsen and Dominguez start their game: