[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: Biel, Round 9: Dominguez still leads

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
Biel, Round 9: Dominguez still leads
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1217461540.shtml


   ...and although he has clinched at least a tie for first going into
   tomorrow's last round, the chase pack is fortunate that there's still
   an outside chance of catching him. In today's big game against Carlsen
   and his Dragon, he seems to have let a winning position slip. A win
   would have put a tremendous exclamation point on the tournament, but
   his performance is already impressive enough.
   Carlsen thus remains a point behind, and he's joined there, in equal
   second place, by Alekseev, who outplayed the sinking Onischuk on the
   black side of a Queen's Indian. As for the other game, it really
   wasn't one: Pelletier and Bacrot played the only obvious non-game of
   the tournament so far, drawing in 22 moves.
   Standings after Round 9:
   1. Dominguez 6.5
   2-3. Alekseev, Carlsen 5.5
   4. Bacrot 4.5
   5. Onischuk 3.5
   6. Pelletier 1.5
   Last round pairings:
   Alekseev - Pelletier
   Carlsen - Onischuk
   Bacrot - Dominguez
   This could be very interesting: the leader has Black in the last
   round, while his closest competitors both have White against the
   tournament tailenders. Bacrot has been in very good form, too, since
   the early rounds, but after his hat trick has seemed to lose any
   further ambition. So my guess is that at least one of the second-place
   guys will win, but Dominguez will finish with an easy draw and secure
   clear first. Whatever happens, it has been a great tournament and a
   huge success for Dominguez.
   Carlsen Watch: [1]Current live rating: 2788.5 (9.5 points behind
   Anand, 3 points behind Ivanchuk, .5 points ahead of Morozevich)
   Dominguez Watch: [2]Current live rating: 2724.8 (up 16.8 points for
   the event)
   Tournament site [3]here, games with my comments [4]here.

References

   1. http://chess.liverating.org/
   2. http://chess.liverating.org/
   3. http://www.bielchessfestival.ch/cms/
   4. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/files/biel2008_rd9.htm