2012 Biel Thread - Chess and Board Game Strategy

TexAg06 · 07-23-2012, 09:44 AM

Round 1 of Biel 2012 starts today. Here are the participants.

Magnus Carlsen
Hikaru Nakamura
Alexander Morozevich
Wang Hao
Etienne Bacrot
Anish Giri

And here is a link to the event's website.

http://www.bielchessfestival.ch/en/home/

I think it should be an interesting tournament. Obviously Magnus is the favorite to win, but there should still be some great chess. When you've got Carlsen, Nakamura, and Morozevich comprising half of the field, you know you're going to see some entertaining games.

TexAg06 · 07-24-2012, 10:10 AM

Anyone watching today?

So far Carlsen-Hao looks really interesting to me. *Posting this after move 16.Bd3* Carlsen has castled queenside and ruined his pawn structure but has the two bishops and some open diagonals and files against black's king. I really want to see how this one plays out.

*Posting this after 21.Bxe4* In Nakamura-Giri, does white have much on the kingside here? I don't really see what he's going to do to create overwhelming threats, black's position looks pretty solid.

networth · 07-24-2012, 11:08 AM

With Giri turning 18 I'm hoping for a ten year Nadal/Federer type rivalry with Magnus. It's fun watching Giri discuss his games. He makes you really struggle to follow his thoughts.

TexAg06 · 07-24-2012, 12:12 PM

Round 2 results

Carlsen def Hao
Bacrot def Morozevich
Nakamura draw Giri

YouKnowWho · 07-24-2012, 07:42 PM

Am I the only one who get's really tilted by the GM interviewing/commenting with players in the post-game videos? Klaus Bischoff I think, but not sure. He annoys the hell out of me with the constant "ok let's not look at this, there are more interesting lines later on!". Just let the 2700+ (and 2800+..) players talk bout their own games after they just happened, they know what was important better than you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe they have some time constraints or something, that would explain the utter stupidity of what he is doing..

Do it Right · 07-25-2012, 01:53 AM

For some reason Giri's demeanor tilts me and the interviewer probably would normally too but together they balanced out and it I enjoyed it!

Do it Right · 07-25-2012, 01:54 AM

Also, with Nakamura somehow not going 0/2 or 0.5/3 right off the bat this could be a huge tournament for him. Or maybe he needs to lose to get going and this will be his worst tournament in a while.

Do it Right · 07-25-2012, 02:06 AM

Also the Giri-Morozevich self blunder reminds me so much of Alekhine - Euwe second match game 16. Here's the position:

Alekhine, one of the greatest tacticians of all time, plays 26. Bb2?? Euwe plays Bc6?? Alekhine plays 27. a3?? and Euwe plays Bd6 finally ending their comedy of errors.

Here's Giri's position:

Giri, as black, played 32. .. Qd6?? Morozevich, again an incredible tactician, played 33. f4?? and proceeded to eventually lose the game.

The lesson to be learned - if you want to be a strong player, you need to get f7 forks out of your mind!

QuantumCage · 07-25-2012, 08:17 AM

Yay I must be strong then. I was just about to bash your post. I missed that tactic 1.5 years ago too. Unfortunately for my opponent it did not work. http://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game...r.php?id=68220

Noir_Desir · 07-25-2012, 08:34 AM

in this respect you're ready for 2700 ELO then

TexAg06 · 07-25-2012, 09:24 AM

Looks like the story is still developing, but apparently Morozevich has withdrawn from the tournament. See the link. Supposedly he's withdrawing for medical reasons, but I tend to think he'd stay in if he wasn't 0/2 at this point.

http://www.chessdom.com/alexander-mo...aws-from-biel/

TexAg06 · 07-25-2012, 03:59 PM

Apparently Viktor Bologan is going to replace Morozevich in the tournament. See the main page link above in the original post.

Bologan is a name I haven't heard in a while.

Do it Right · 07-26-2012, 01:12 AM

I hope Morozevich doesn't disappear again. When he's on form he is absolutely one of the most interesting players in the top 10. I was just looking at his graph, it's insane: http://ratings.fide.com/id.phtml?event=4116992 He bounces from sub 2700 to almost 2800 like it's nothing.

TexAg06 · 07-27-2012, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Do it Right

I hope Morozevich doesn't disappear again. When he's on form he is absolutely one of the most interesting players in the top 10. I was just looking at his graph, it's insane: http://ratings.fide.com/id.phtml?event=4116992 He bounces from sub 2700 to almost 2800 like it's nothing.

Just saw this, that rating graph is outrageous. Unbelievable to see someone at that level do it.

Through round 5, Wang Hao is really playing well and is leading by a full point. Using traditional scoring (I'm not a fan of soccer style) he's got 4/5, leading Nakamura and Giri that each have 3/5. Very curious to see if he can keep this up through the second half of the tourney.

Do it Right · 08-02-2012, 01:41 PM

This is going to be interesting. Wang Hao just won his last round game. In classical scoring that puts him with a final score of 6.5/10. Carlsen enters round 10 with 6.5/9 but it looks like he's going to end up drawing his final game. That will give him a clear first with 7/10 in classical scoring. The catch is that the event is using the football / 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw scoring system. This gives Wang a final score of 19. Carlsen entered the final round on 17 and so will likely end up taking second place due to the scoring system.

I am a fan of the football scoring system but can't think of any recent events having had first place of a major event decided by it. It mostly seems like an aside but here it's going to have a fairly major impact since there will finally be a tourney Carlsen does not technically win! It will probably also lead to some discussion on the merits of the scoring system.