Round 2 at Biel

Standings unchanged after well-fought draws

In round 1, Magnus Carlsen seemed to work some strange magic to win in the ending despite the presence of the notoriously drawish opposite-coloured bishops.  In round 2, the bishops reasserted their peaceful status by coming to the rescue of Leinier Dominguez in his game against Yannick Pelletier (pictured, doing a passable impersonation of Ben Affleck!).

Dominguez chose the exciting Grunfeld defence, but soon found himself in difficulty as the middlegame tactics panned out in Pelletier's favour.  However, despite having a 2 pawn deficit in the endgame, the trusty bishops on opposite coloured squares saved the day for the Cuban.

The game between the joint leaders Magnus Carlsen and Evgeny Alekseev saw a terrific struggle for central control in the Queen's Indian.  Carlsen, playing the Black pieces, planted a knight deep in enemy territory on f3 to cause Alekseev some discomfort, but he eventually returned the favour as his own knight danced it's way to f6 in return.  The fascinating encounter was eventually agreed drawn on move 47.

The third game between Etienne Bacrot and Alexander Onischuk was a less thrilling affair and also ended peaceably after 35 moves of a Ruy Lopez.

The results in round 2:

The standings after round 2:

The official website for the Biel festival can be found here.