Bacrot Beats Rapport, Leads in Biel
In yet another fascinating round in Biel, Etienne Bacrot of France grabbed sole lead by defeating Richard Rapport of Hungary in a Botvinnik Semi-Slav. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave missed several wins against Alexander Moiseenko in a c3-Sicilian while Ding Liren played one absolutely stunning move against Ian Nepomniachtchi, a King's Indian that also ended in a draw. The Biel Chess Festival will see five more rounds.
Rapport was well prepared in today's game. He played the sharp Botvinnik, and then the even more daring 11...Rg8!? which Bacrot considered "winning for White". In the game things weren't so clear, and Black missed a clear draw with the move 24...Qg4! when White has to allow a perpetual check.
Here's the post-mortem of the game, hosted by GM Danny King:
The question was not if Vachier-Lagrave missed a win in his game with Moiseenko, but how many. After looking at it many times for the black side, the Frenchman decided to give it a go today with white. 13...Bd7 and 19...Bf8 were dubious, and with 20.g4 White got a very strong attack. Here are some winning lines for White, missed by Vachier-Lagrave:
- 26. Rc2! Qd3 27. Ng5
- 28. Bxe6! fxe6 29. Qh6 Ng6 30. Rxg6 Bxg6 31. Qxg6
- 29. Ng5! Ng6 30.Bxe6! (or 30.Rxe6!).
Here's the post-mortem:
The longest game of the round was Nepomniachtchi-Ding Liren, a King's Indian with an early h3 - Bacrot played something similar against the Chinese GM earlier in the tournament. Before giving the whole game, maybe you want to try and find the surprising move Black played at move 28:
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 | - | Nepomniachtchi | |
| Vachier-Lagrave | 1-1 | Rapport | Rapport | - | Vachier-Lagrave | |
| Moiseenko | 1-1 | Ding Liren | Ding Liren | - | Moiseenko | |
| Round 2 | 23.07.12 | 14:00 CET | Round 7 | 29.07.12 | 14:00 CET | |
| Bacrot | 3-0 | Ding Liren | Ding Liren | - | Bacrot | |
| Rapport | 0-3 | Moiseenko | Moiseenko | - | Rapport | |
| Nepomniachtchi | 0-3 | Vachier-Lagrave | Vachier-Lagrave | - | Nepomniachtchi | |
| Round 3 | 24.07.12 | 14:00 CET | Round 8 | 30.07.12 | 14:00 CET | |
| Vachier-Lagrave | 1-1 | Bacrot | Bacrot | - | Vachier-Lagrave | |
| Moiseenko | 1-1 | Nepomniachtchi | Nepomniachtchi | - | Moiseenko | |
| Ding Liren | 1-1 | Rapport | Rapport | - | 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 5 standings
| # | Name | Fed | Rtg | + | = | - | Pts |
| 1 | Bacrot, Etienne | FRA | 2714 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 9 |
| 2 | Moiseenko, Alexander | UKR | 2699 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 7 |
| 3-4 | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | FRA | 2719 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| 3-4 | Ding, Liren | CHN | 2714 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| 5 | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | RUS | 2717 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 4 |
| 6 | Rapport, Richard | HUN | 2693 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
Photos courtesy of the official website, games via TWIC
