Good fine day to you all! Round 3 of Biel did not let up on the action - the first three rounds of the tournament have featured two decisive games in each round!
The one draw, however, featured yet another continued streak - Peter Svidler's excellent play against Magnus Carlsen! In some ways it's a bit insulting to Svidler to be surprised by his continued success against Carlsen - Svidler is one of the best players in the world, and he has been for several years. But Svidler seems to be one of the few players in the world that can take Carlsen on with any amount of regular success - one of his more high profile wins against him was in the London 2013 Candidates tournament (still the most exciting tournament of my lifetime, bar none), when Svidler's win nearly derailed Carlsen's challenge for the world title. Today, of course, there was less at stake, but we saw yet another hard fought game between the two. Svidler didn't shy away from conflict - he brought out the Najdorf, and against 6. Bg5 played an early ...Nbd7 line that has been completely rejuvenated and refanged by the computer age (I'm old enough to remember when this line was only a footnote given by a Spassky-Petrosian game and condemned). The game followed a fairly trendy paths until Svidler deviated with 9...Qc7 - normal is 9...e5, but I'm guessing Svidler smelled a rat (it's rare that Carlsen plays these sorts of tactical lines, and 9...e5 leads to positions that are ripe for silicon landmines). Carlsen passed on a couple of opportunities for normal Sicilian fireworks, but eventually found his way to the flashy move of the round (15. Bb5!) - this, however, didn't capture anything or threaten anything incendiary, and after Svidler castled Carlsen simply traded the bishop. Carlsen followed up with 17. Nf5?! - this is a normal Sicilian sacrifice (along with about twenty other ways of sacrificing the d4 knight), but in this position it only settled the position into an uneasy standoff and equality. Black's position was actually subjectively a bit more pleasant (the old cliche is that once Black has equalized in the Najdorf, he's winning), but Svidler was short of time and the time control was 15 moves away - he made the practical choice and went along with a repetition. Given how Carlsen started this tournament, a draw with Black is a fine achievement! And perhaps that's why Svidler has a good score against Carlsen - strong enough to beat him, but humble enough to not lose his head in the hunt for more.
The game Mamedyarov - Vachier-Lagrave saw a Symmetrical Four Knights turn into a tangled reverse French style structure - though not a novelty, 7. g4!? injected the game with a ton of strategic tension (if you needed to make a logo to represent Modern Chess, you could easily justify having a white pawn bravely thrusting to g4). Mamedyarov chose a completely hypermodern continuation of 10. b3, and Black immediately went wrong by accepting the oferred pawn. White achieved a tremendous amount of pressure in return, and White nearly immediately regained the material without losing the gained initiative. MVL decided to not fight over his extended e4 pawn in the hopes of drawing the simplified position, but he quickly created a static weakness with 21...h5. Mamedyarov immobilized the isolated pawn and gobbled it up, and MVL resigned far before the time control. A complete disaster for MVL, who had a dubious position out of the opening and never sufficiently recovered to be in the game.
And finally, the game Georgiadis-Navara saw another classroom session for the Swiss student. We saw a Fianchetto KID, and Georgiadis either mixed up his theory or tried a novelty that didn't work. Either way, by move 18 Georgiadis chose a very enthusiastic queen sacrifice, but never gained a full return for the investment. However, in a complex position, Navara allowed Georgiadis back into the game - 28...Qe8? was unnecessarily passive, and 30. Nxa5 would have actually given White a bit of an edge to work with! However, after 30. d6? things descended back downwards for White, and 32...Nc3 sealed White's fate - White resigned before the time control had been reached, with a fresh queen about to hit home on b1. A fighting game, but another painful return for Georgiadis.
With that, we go into Round 4 with Carlsen and Mamedyarov tied at 2.5/3 - Carlsen will have Black against Georgiadis, while Mamedyarov will take White against Svidleron 2/3. MVL, with 0.5/3, will look to get back on track with Black against Navara. Auf Wiedersehen!
http://view.chessbase.com/cbreader/2018/7/25/Game9982796.html