[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: Biel, Round 1: Alekseev, Carlsen win

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
Biel, Round 1: Alekseev, Carlsen win
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1216610283.shtml


   And they'rrrrre off! It was an excellent first round in the
   grandmaster group of the [1]Biel Chess Festival, with two wins in the
   three interesting games.
   Round 1 Results:
   Lenier Dominguez Perez - Alexander Onischuk 1/2-1/2
   Magnus Carlsen - Yannick Pelletier 1-0
   Evgeny Alekseev - Etienne Bacrot 1-0
   The Dominguez-Onischuk game was a lively battle in the American's pet
   line of the Ruy Lopez. Both sides played well, and a tactical battle
   concluded in perpetual check.
   The next game to finish was Alekseev-Bacrot, a Chebanenko Slav with
   5.c5. White wound up with an extra pawn on the queenside, Black with
   an extra on the kingside, but only White managed to make something of
   his majority. It was a convincing win by the young Russian.
   Finally, Carlsen-Pelletier looked on the face of it the most likely
   win of the tournament, featuring the (by far) highest-rated player
   taking White against the (by far) lowest-rated player. Yet Pelletier
   was well-prepared and managed to reach a drawish ending. At one point
   in my life, in the not-too-distant past, I'd have considered the
   position after Black's 34th move
   [carlsen_pelletier_1_biel2008.jpg]
   so hopelessly drawn that if I were to lose it against a peer, it would
   be time to joke grimly about slashing my wrists. That a strong
   grandmaster could lose it would have seemed inconceivable. (Excepting,
   in both cases, losing by means of a simple blunder.)
   Over time, though, I've grown a little smarter and more aware of the
   possibilities of good (and bad!) technique. While I'm pretty sure that
   the position ought to have been drawn, it's also true that White could
   still pose genuine problems, and he did. And then Pelletier panicked,
   or missed something, or overestimated the drawing tendencies of
   opposite colored bishops. In this position
   [carlsen_pelletier_2_biel2008.jpg]
   Pelletier played 42...Ng4?, after which he's losing by force, I
   believe. I spent a lot of time today analyzing this game (me, not Deep
   Frybkarcs), and I think you'll enjoy the results - the early
   middlegame was extremely complex and entertaining, while the endgame
   was (you guessed it) instructive. Have a look [2]here (the other games
   are annotated too, but in less detail).
   Round 2 Pairings:
   Alekseev - Carlsen
   Pelletier - Dominguez
   Bacrot - Onischuk

References

   1. http://www.bielchessfestival.ch/cms/
   2. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/files/biel2008_rd1.htm