[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: Biel: Final round + tiebreak: Alekseev wins!

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
Biel: Final round + tiebreak: Alekseev wins!
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1217560042.shtml


   Didn't see that one coming! Though Evgeny Alekseev was tied with
   Magnus Carlsen for the most of the first half, and then, after falling
   behind [1]defeated Carlsen in round 7 to close within half a point of
   the lead, [2]his eighth round loss to Lenier Dominguez seemed to close
   the deal. How, with two rounds to go and a 1.5 point deficit, could he
   possibly catch Dominguez? But catch him he did. [3]In round 9 he
   defeated Onischuk while Dominguez split the point with Carlsen, and
   that brings us to round 10.
   Let's start with the evil fate that befell Dominguez. With Black
   against Bacrot, he chose a risky line of the Queen's Gambit Accepted.
   On move 13 he played a novelty, but it was what a friend of mine used
   to call a TL (instead of a "TN" - a theoretical novelty): a
   theoretical lemon. With a couple of accurate moves, Bacrot obtained a
   clear advantage. Maybe from a computer's-eye perspective, Bacrot let
   the advantage slip a little, but from a practical, human point of
   view, he was in trouble throughout. A very bad loss for Dominguez, who
   had been undefeated throughout and dominant in the second half of the
   tournament. On the other hand, Bacrot deserves tremendous praise,
   going +4 in the last 6 rounds after a horrible .5-3.5 start.
   This meant that Carlsen and Alekseev could catch Dominguez with a win.
   Since both players had White against the event "bottom-markers", it
   was a very real possibility. Unfortunately for Carlsen, his effort
   against Onischuk was a failure. His idea of playing 6.d3 in the Ruy
   Lopez, avoiding forcing lines, was sensible, but just seven moves
   later Carlsen offered a TL of his own, initiating a long series of
   exchanges. From Black's 13th move to White's 22nd, the players swapped
   off both rooks, both knights, a bishop and two pawns, and all to reach
   a position where it's Black if anyone who enjoys the marginally better
   half of the draw. Onischuk held with supreme ease - Carlsen didn't
   even come close.
   On the other hand, Alekseev succeeded where Carlsen failed, though
   there were some similarities between the two games. Alekseev played an
   ambitious system against Pelletier's Gruenfeld, but like the less
   ambitious Carlsen, achieved no advantage with the white pieces. A
   further similarity is that this game too reached an equal ending with
   queen, minor piece, and six pawns. Where Onischuk held fast, however,
   Pelletier faltered. Whether due to time trouble or miscalculation,
   errors on moves 33 and 34 transformed the game from equal to lost for
   Black. Alekseev won a pawn and traded queens, and the rest was a short
   matter of his fine technique.
   That meant that like last year, the title of champion would have to be
   settled in a playoff match. (Last year, Carlsen won the title by
   finally defeating Onischuk in an Armageddon game.) The first three
   games were drawn, but in a wild and error-filled fourth game, Alekseev
   won with Black to claim the title.
   Congratulations to Alekseev, and to Dominguez too, who had a great
   tournament, the last round notwithstanding. It wasn't such a bad
   tournament for Carlsen, either, as his TPR was only 34 points below
   his published rating. Still, it must have been at least a little
   disappointing: he went -1 over the last four rounds, and two of his
   three wins were against Pelletier. If the culprit for his poor finish
   - even after the Alekseev loss - was a lack of energy, then he might
   really get hammered in [4]Mainz. Bacrot can be happy with his
   performance, too, and Onischuk can feel good about his performance in
   the first half, prior to [5]the rook and knight vs. rook fiasco in
   round 6. For Pelletier, the sooner it's forgotten, the better. (From
   an emotional perspective. Of course he should learn whatever objective
   lessons he can from the tournament.)
   Final standings, with TPRs:
   1. Alekseev (by playoff) 6.5 (2792)
   2. Dominguez 6.5 (2792) [They started with identical 2708 ratings]
   3. Carlsen 6 (2741)
   4. Bacrot 5.5 (2722)
   5. Onischuk 4 (2618)
   6. Pelletier 1.5 (2414)
   Tournament site [6]here, last round and tiebreak games (with my
   comments) [7]here.

References

   1. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1217311433.shtml
   2. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1217396840.shtml
   3. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1217461540.shtml
   4. http://www.chesstigers.de/
   5. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1217108679.shtml
   6. http://www.bielchessfestival.ch/cms/
   7. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/files/biel2008_rd10.htm