Biel, Round 4
For the first three rounds of Biel we've been positively spoiled with decisive action - today featured a return to the usual grinding of top level chess.
But the first game we'll discuss wasn't expected to feature this return! Georgiadis took the White pieces against Magnus the Great - even with the Black pieces, it was completely reasonable to expect Carlsen to leave the lowest rated member of the tournament with quite a few welts. Carlsen brought out the French (again, his strength - he can play anything at anytime), and a Winawer found its way to the board. Although I've never played the French, it makes me very happy to see this making an appearance in a super tournament - the Winawer has such a deep presence in chess history, yet is so infrequently seen at the top nowadays. Carlsen chose the slightly offbeat 5...Ba5 (dodging some truly historic positions that were wielded with incredible authority by Botvinnik), and by move 13 we were in the theoretical wilderness. By 11...Qxc7, it fair to say Georgiadis had a slightly preferable position, and all the hallmarks of a good White French - two bishops and a well protected strongpoint on e5. 13. Qd6?, however, seemed to throw away White's advantage and leave him with a soon to die pawn embedded on d6. However, Georgiadis made a bold practical decision to sacrifice the exchange with 19. Rxd4 to keep the pawn alive. He seems to be fond of material transformations to solve positional difficulties - this is similar to his decision last round against Navara. Neither side grappled with the unique problems terribly well - Georgiadis let his g pawn drop for dubious reasons, and also sacrificed his h pawn for not much. However, Carlsen inexplicably pinned his own bishop on the 7th rank with 27...Bd7, and 29...Rg7? allowed yet another pin with 30. Bh6. 30...Bxc6 was somewhat forced, and we reached a rook and opposite coloured bishop ending with absolutely no chances for either side. Carlsen tried his best to introduce an imbalance, but Nico was never truly in danger, and the game was drawn on move 58. In some ways this was a sloppy game, but Georgiadis very intentionally introduced these imbalances to the position and managed to deal with the complications just as well as his esteemed opponent (and perhaps slightly better - Carlsen started out slightly better, after all!). All credit to Georgiadis to not submitting to a passive execution and fighting for his half point with honour.
Mamedyarov-Svidler featured a Fianchetto Gruenfeld with White using the trendy 5. Qa4 as a way to avoid the positively soporific Symmetrical Fianchetto lines. The game continued along predictable channels until Svidler chose 15...Qb5!? - 16. Qxb5 unbalanced the pawn structure, but 16. Qc2 might have been more accurate, looking to gain tempi from the boldly placed queen. It's hard to say if Mamedyarov had any real chances to make something of his space edge, but Svidler maneuvered well and broke at the right moment with 19...e6. The game featured a slow but steadily liquidation after this point, and the players agreed to a draw just after the time control.
Finally, Navara-MVL featured a Be3 Exchange Gruenfeld with a slightly esoteric sequence with 10...Ba4 11. Qxa4+ Qxa4 12. Bb5+. This was just a dramatic way of trading into a classic Gruenfeld ending, but one where White looks a bit more comfortable than usual - the early trades of minor pieces actually makes his space advantage a bit more secure. 13...b6 might have been a bit too flamboyant (13...cxd4 looks more routine), and White developed a very comfortable position. 16. c6! looked more incisive than the game move, immediately claiming a very dangerous passed pawn with tempo. Navara played it one move later, but the difference of including Black's castling and White's slightly questionable knight placement on b3 made a large difference in evaluation - MVL developed strong counterplay against the White king, and a piece sacrifice brought a swift end to the game with draw by repeated mate threats.
Round 5 features the titanic matchup of Carlsen-Mamedyarov - Carlsen is sure to take the White pieces and push in his usual tenacious fashion. Svidler faces Navara in, aside from two very strong players facing off, is a matchup of two of the nicest guys in chess. MVL takes the White pieces against Georgiadis with hopes of getting his tournament back on track - if MVL doesn't win this game, I think we can start talking about a bad tournament. We'll see you then!
http://view.chessbase.com/cbreader/2018/7/26/Game96900015.html
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