Biel Chess Tournament 2006: Alexander Morozevich & Pia Cramling Win!

by John Lee Shaw



The Swiss city Biel-Bienne plays host to a wonderful chess festival each year, and with it's wonderful landscape and lake, it is without a doubt one of the most picturesque tournament settings on the chess calendar. There are two main tournaments, the Grandmaster Tournament, and the Accentus Ladies Tournament. Both are played over 10 rounds, Swiss system, and feature invited players.



Grandmaster Tournament


Round 5 standings: Morozevich -- 4.0/5; Radjabov -- 3.5/5; Carlsen -- 3.0/5; Volokitin -- 2.0/5; Bruzon -- 1.5/5; Pelletier -- 1.0/5


Round 6: Leader after round 5, Alexander Morozevich, resumed after the rest day and got straight back in to his stride. He played Lazaro Bruzon, a promising young Grandmaster from Cuba. They got in to a Chigorin Defence to the Ruy Lopez, and the position at black's 11...Qc7 shows up over two-thousand times in my database. At Morozevich's 12.a3, that drops to just two games (this game being one of them) and Bruzon's 12...Bd7 takes us to new territory. From 2000+ previous's to new ground in just two half moves. Play progressed with equality, until Bruzon's 19...a5? which is shown in the diagram to the left. Here, Morozevich took hold of things with 18.Rxa5 Rxa5, 19.bxa5 Na4, 20.Bxa4 bxa4, 21.Ba3! There followed, 21...Qxc3, 22.Nb1 Qc6, and here Morozevich should probably have played ...Nxe5 instead of the 23.dxe5 that he actually chose. Perhaps he figured that after 23.Nxe5 black can hold after 23...dxe5, 24.Bxe7 Nxe4!?. In the exchanges that followed, however, Morozevich won a pawn, and ended up with passed d and a pawns. He did misplay things around this point, however, perhaps playing a little more reserved than he should have, and allowed black back in to the game. This was until Bruzon's 36...f6 and 37...Bxa5? allowed Morozevich to sacrifice knight for pawn and attack. He got his piece back, and with a passed pawn on the 6th rank, was about to win black's bishop. With no perpetual chances, Bruzon was forced to surrender the point.

Volokitin and Radjabov got in to a Sicilian Sveshnikov, and deep in to theory. White varied on the 16th move (0-0) and ended up with two knights, while black had the two bishops. Despite an extra pawn, which was also passed, white could not really make anything of it, and the players shook hands on move 29. Carlsen-Pelletier also progressed well in to theory, in a Sicilian Taimanov. Carlsen left known territory with his 23.Re1, and obtained active rooks and passed pawn, they soon started shuffling pieces, and split the point on move 38.

Round 6 Standings: Morozevich -- 5.0/6; Radjabov -- 4.0/6; Carlsen -- 3.5/6; Volokitin -- 2.5/6; Pelletier, Bruzon -- 1.5/6.




Round 7: Everyone had waited for the encounter Morozevich-Carlsen (pictured right). The young chess prodigy had got the best of things in their first game, would this be a case of revenge for Morozevich?


Morozevich,A (2731) - Carlsen,M (2675)
Biel GM Tournament 2006, round 7

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 "Carlsen has played a couple of nice games recently with the accelerated dragon, and here Morozevich avoids it."  3...Nf6 4.Bxc6  dxc6 5.d3 Nd7 6.Bf4 "The first time that this move has been tried I believe." 6...g6 "not only preparing to utilise the long diagonal, but also Magnus wants to adopt a set up with which he is familiar (see my note to White's move 3)."  7.Qc1 "A nice prophylactic move, defending b2, while also preparing Bh6. Nice play." 7...Bg7 8.Bh6 Qa5+ 9.c3 Ne5 10.Nxe5 Bxe5 "the absolute optimum line for both, with White being very slightly better." 11.Nd2 Qa6 12.Qc2 Be6 13.f4 Bc7 14.0-0 f6 "castling long was also good here, but no better, and Carlsen loses nothing delaying it a move. Also, Carlsen is keeping Morozevich guessing somewhat as to where he will put his king. Will he go long, or will he invest time with Kf7, etc? It does no harm to stay flexible." 

15.c4 [diagram, right] "At first sight, I thought this move was slightly dubious, and I started to dislike white's position here. It is always wise to remember that pawns can not move backwards, and so unless white can quickly play d4, he is stuck with a premanent hole. That is not the only consideration, however -- Black's queen is not in the nicest of placements there on a6, and I think that is where Morozevich's attention was...probably quite rightly." 15...0-0-0 "Possibly better was 15...Qb6, (e.g.: 16.a4 a5, 17.Ra3 0-0-0, 18.Rb3 Qa7=), I think maybe Carlsen under-estimated Morozevich's possibilities." 16.a4 Rd7 "I have to admire the calmness of Carlsen's play, he lets White come (rightly or wrongly) and prepares counterplay along the d-file. He did actually have another possibility here, however, which was 16...Bg4 (threatening ...Be2). Play may have gone: 17.Nb3 Ba5, and perhaps Black can fight here, though white is still clearly better." 17.a5 "after this move, things start to look a little tight for Carlsen" 17...Rhd8 18.Ra3 Bxa5 "perhaps flawed, ...Bg4 was again playable, but perhaps black just had to sit tight and prepare to defend, and hope white would go wrong. Not that it is ever nice (and certainly not the style of Carlsen) sometimes that is what one has to do." 19.f5 "if 19.Nb3, then ...Rxd3 is fine for Black." 19...Bf7 20.fxg6 hxg6 21.e5 Be6 22.exf6 exf6 23.Nb3 Rxd3 24.Nxc5 Bb6? "mathematically, this move just loses, and I am not sure why Carlsen opted for this rather than 24...Qxc4 25.Qxc4 Bxc4 26.Nxd3 Bb6+ 27.Nf2 Bxf1 28.Kxf1 where white is better of course, but at least he has not won the queen." 25.Rxa6 Bxc5+ 26.Kh1 bxa6 "a rook and piece for the queen, then, it is not enough, and White is winning."  27.Bg7?? "this is an amazing and inexplicable blunder, 27.b4! was practically game over." 

27...Bg4! [diagram, right] "the exact move to seize the initiative right from the jaws of defeat, and the point is White's back rank."  28.b4 "this move is not as effective now that White's bishop does not cover the e3-square."  28...Be3 "cool as a cucumber ... in the space of a few moves, Morozevich goes from winning to losing." 29.h3 Rd1 30.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 31.Kh2 Bf4+ 32.g3 Rd2+ 33.Qxd2 Bxd2 34.hxg4 Bxb4 "simply amazing. From White's mistake, Carlsen has not put a foot wrong." 35.Bxf6 a5 36.Kg2 Kd7 37.Kf3 Bd6 38.Ke4 Bxg3 39.Kd3 Ke6 40.Bd4 a6 41.Kc2 a4 42.Kb1 Be5 "Black is clinical in finishing this game." 43.Bf2 Kd6 44.Ka2 Bc3 45.Ka3 Ke5 46.Kxa4 Kf4 47.Bb6 Kxg4 48.Ba5 Bxa5 49.Kxa5 Kf4 50.Kb6 a5 "and here, Morozevich resigned what was bound to be a painful game."

The other two games of the round were drawn, which meant that Carlsen not only improved his position to Morozevich, but also where Radjabov was concerned, joining him in second place.

Round 7 Standings: Morozevich -- 5.0/7; Radjabov, Carlsen -- 4.5/6; Volokitin -- 3.0/7; Pelletier, Bruzon -- 2.0/7.


Round 8:  The tournament draw really was cruel to poor defending Champion Alexander Volokitin. In round 3 he faced Alexander Morozevich who had lost to Magnus Carlsen in the previous round, and here in round 8, he found himself in the same situation. Even with the colours reversed, the result was the same. The game was a Closed Spanish, and Morozevich (black) was soon having a good game. Things became very sharp, in which both players overlooked things, but it was White who had the most damage done. Morozevich ended up with just bishop versus White's 2 rooks, but he had two connected passed pawns, one of which queened. White battened down the hatches, but the resilient Morozevich gradually ground him down and closed the box. The other decisive game of the round was Yannick Pelletier against Lazaro Bruzon, who was having a bit of a lack-lustre showing at this tournament. To be honest, Bruzon was never really in the game, and Pelletier wrapped things up without too much difficulty in the end. In his match against fellow prodigy Tiemour Radjabov, Magnus Carlsen brought out a move first tried by the late Tony Miles back in 1999. The game was a King's Indian, Carlsen lashing out with 10.g4!? His novelty of 13.Rc1 followed soon after, but this did not really do very much for him, and black probably stood a little better. I am wondering just how much Carlsen's win over Morozevich took out of him, because he did not seem very up for this game really. Both players ganged up on the Kingside, and when the queenside became locked up there was no obvious and risk free way of breaking through. Draw agreed in 30.

Round 8 Standings: Morozevich -- 6.0/8; Radjabov, Carlsen -- 5.0/8; Volokitin, Pelletier -- 3.0/8; Bruzon -- 2.0/8.



Round 9: In this round, it became apparent that the wheels had fallen off of the Carlsen wagon, and I mean no offence to Magnus, but he seemed to have lost a little sparkle at this stage of the tournament. I found it a great shame, because he had started the tournament so well, he must have been very disappointed with the latter stage. His round 9 opponent, playing White, was Yannick Pelletier, and they got in to a Sicilian, with Carlsen not only allowing the doubling of his f-pawns, but the isolation of his d-pawn. Now, it is true that this is theory, (see diagram, left, showing Carlsen's 7...exf6), but not all chess theory is good. I was surprised that Carlsen had gone this way, because his chess is usually quite textbook and precise. He seemed to take liberties in this game, and it scorned him. Pelletier won the d6-pawn, and if there was any compensation for Black it is not very obvious. To be fair, Carlsen was never in the game, and Volotikin made pretty clean work of dispatching him in 39 moves.




Morozevich,A (2731) - Pelletier,Y (2583)
Biel GM Tournament 2006, round 9

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 "The French Defence"  3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Bd3 Ngf6 6.Nxf6+ Nxf6 7.Bg5 c5 8.dxc5 Bxc5 9.Nf3 h6 10.Bh4 0-0 11.Qd2 b6 "a new approach in this line." 12.0-0-0 Bb7 13.Rhe1 Be7 14.Ne5 Nd5 15.Bxe7 Qxe7 16.a3 Rad8 17.f4 Nf6? [diagram, right] "Things had progressed quite evenly up to here, but this move is just far too passive, and hands white an initiative. Black really had to try and compete in the centre with ...Qc5 or ...a6 preparing to expand for example."  18.c4!? "I don't get this move really, it appears to me out of context ... and what is that rule about not pushing pawns infront of your king...? Better for Morozeich here, in my humble opinion, was something like 18.g4, with the threat of g5 even h4, at which point white threatens to open up the black king position quite quickly. With White's major pieces all ready to swing over to the Kingside, this is not something black can afford to take lightly."  18...Qc7 "Things are about even here." 19.b4? "This move is definitely wrong and Black is actually slightly better here." 19...Nd7 20.Kb2 Nxe5 21.fxe5 Kh8 "perhaps ...Rc8 was more to the point."  22.Qe3 Rd7 23.g4! "Black has been a bit too slow in responding to White's inaccuracies, and here Morozevich seizes the initiative."  23...Rfd8 24.g5 "There is no right way of dealing with this move, black is in trouble, and the rest of the game is really a rout."  24...hxg5 25.Qh3+ Kg8 26.Qh7+ Kf8 27.Re3 g4 28.Qh8+ Ke7 29.Qxg7 Bf3 30.Bg6 Rf8 31.Rxd7+ Qxd7 32.Rd3 Qc8 33.Qf6+ Ke8 34.Rd6 "And here, Pelletier resigned the game, and Morozevich secured the tournament with 1 round to spare."

In contrast to the fireworks of the other two rounds, Bruzon-Radjabov was a rather quiet 16-move draw, which does not really require any further comment.


Round 10:  Quite understandably, Alexander Morozevich decided that his work at the tournament was done and wanted to tax his brain no more than needed in the last round. Tiemour Radjabov was more than willing to help in this area, and they agreed a 10 move draw. The other two games were decisive, Yannick Pelletier getting the better of out-going champion Volokitin, and Magnus Carlsen ended on a high, defeating Lazaro Bruzon.

That, then, left Morozevich the 2006 Champion, with a brilliant 7.0/10 performance, with Carlsen and Radjabov behind him on 6.0/10.

Final Standings: Morozevich -- 7.0/10; Carlsen, Radjabov -- 6.0/10; Volokitin, Pelletier -- 4.0/10; Bruzon -- 2.5/10.

Accentus Ladies Tournament

Round 5 Standings: Cramling -- 3.5/5; Dembo, Socko -- 3.0/5; Skripchenko, Muzychuk -- 2.0/5; Atalik -- 1.5/5.

Round 6: All decisive games in this round, with the ladies coming out with their sleeves rolled up. Anna Muzychuk got the better of Ekaterina Atalik, (whom I understand is expecting a baby -- many congratulations to her and GM Husband Suat Atalik), and Yelena Dembo won a long game with black against Monika Socko. Just as Morozevich in the other tournament, Pia Cramling resumed in a winning way, defeating defending Champion Almira Skripchenko:


Cramling,P (2521) - Skripchenko,A (2421)
Accentus Ladies Tournament, Biel 2006, round 6.

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.e3 Qa5 7.Nd2 "We're in the Cambridge Springs variation of the Queens Gambit Declined." 7...Bb4 8.Qc2 0-0 9.a3 dxc4 10.Bxf6 Nxf6 11.Nxc4 Bxc3+ 12.bxc3 Qc7 13.Bd3 c5 14.0-0 Rd8 15.Rfd1 [diagram, left] "a new move from Pia, and I like this move a little more than the usual 15.a4." 15...b6 16.e4 cxd4 "This seems to be a little co-operative in this instance -- ...b5 was a better try." 17.e5 Nd5 18.Bxh7+ "obviously with advantage" 18...Kf8 19.Rxd4 Ba6 20.Nd6 "there was also the possibility of Bd3, which was perhaps slightly better." 20...Qxc3 21.Qxc3 Nxc3 22.Bd3 Bxd3 23.Rxd3 Ne4 [diagram, below]





"After exchanges, material is equal, and structure is niether here nor there, but it is the knight on d6 that gives white an edge." 24.Rc1 Nc5 25.Rh3 Ke7 26.f4 "Rh7 Rg8, h4 was also strong. It is interesting to observe how Pia pretty much takes command of the whoel board." 26...Rh8 27.Rg3 Rhg8 28.Nb7 Na6 29.a4 g6 30.Nd6 Rab8 31.a5 Nc5 32.Ra3 Rgd8 33.h4 Rd7 34.Kh2 Rh8 35.Kh3 f6 36.g3 g5 37.axb6 axb6 38.fxg5 fxe5 39.Nc4 Nd3? "this is unplayable and loses for tactical reasons, but even so, Black's position is very difficult to save." 40.Rxd3! "Rarely does Pia Cramling miss a hard punch, and although she does not win this piece, it leaves Skripchenko without the means needed to put up very much resistance."  40...Rxd3 41.Nxe5 Rhd8 42.Nc6+ Kf7 43.Nxd8+ Rxd8 44.Rc7+ Kg6 45.Rc6 Kf5 46.Rxb6 Rd1 47.Rb8 Rh1+ 48.Kg2 Re1 49.Rf8+ Kg6 50.Kf2 Ra1 51.Rf6+ Kh5 52.Rxe6 "Three pawns up, and the doubled pawns don't lessen this any. Cramling wraps things up very nicely."  52...Ra2+ 53.Re2 Ra8 54.Kf3 Rf8+ 55.Kg2 Ra8 56.Kh3 Ra3 57.Re8 "and here, Skripchenko resigned to the player who would eventually take her title."

Round 6 Standings: Cramling -- 4.5/6; Dembo -- 4.0/6; Muzychuk, Socko -- 3.0/6; Skripchenko -- 2.0/6; Atalik -- 1.5/6.



Round 7: Only one decisive game in this round, which was Ekaterina Atalik v Monika Socko, who went obscure in their game with 1.d4 d6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 dxe5 4.Qxd8+ Kxd8. Black obtained an advantage, until Monika slipped up and allowed Ekaterina to win a rook. However, Ekaterina did not use this as she should have, and some inaccurate moves gave Socko actvity, which compensated for the material. Soon, Atalik was giving back the rook under dis-favourable circumstances, and to actually have gone on to lose the game must have hurt quite a bit. Elsewhere, Yelena Dembo obtained an advantage, but could not really make it pay in her game against Almira Skripchenko, and Pia Cramling and Anna Muzychuk agreed quite a quick 15-move draw.

Round 7 Standings: Cramling -- 5.0/7; Dembo -- 4.5/7; Socko -- 4.0/7; Muzychuk -- 3.5/7; Skripchenko -- 2.5/7; Atalik -- 1.5/7.


Round 8:  The Queens Gambit of Socko-Muzychuk looked quite exciting, until the players started to exchange down into a position that was just dead drawn. Almira Skripchenko took out the Centre Game against Ekaterina Atalik, and to be honest it just did not work for her. Atalik equalised without too much trouble, and at her 12...Nf5, held some advantage.  A few moves later, she held a winning advantage, and Almira was never back in the game. Pia Cramling played a nice game with white against Yelena Dembo. In the King's Indian, she soon held some advantage, and it was winning by move 20. She pushed through a passed d-pawn, which caused absolute bedlam in the Black camp, and with no counterplay for Dembo, Pia's position gradually became overwhelming.

Round 8 Standings: Cramling -- 6.0/8; Dembo, Socko -- 4.5/8; Muzychuk -- 4.0/8; Skripchenko, Atalik -- 2.5/8.


Round 9: Anna Muzychuk often impresses me because of her wish to go her own way and not just stick to main lines and theory. In this game she played the white side of an unusual line in the Sicilian Defence. Her opponent, Almira Skripchenko needed a few opportunities to swing the balance, and when she did make the most of it, she did not have enough time left in order to convert. I can only assume that she lost on time as the evaluation in the end position is -13.68. Yelena Dembo played something of a bad game in this round, and by that I mean no disrespect to her opponent, Ekaterina Atalik who played very well! In the King's Indian, the position was equal, until Yelena's 17...Nd7, upon which Atalik seemed to seize the initiative, and Dembo seemed to just fold. Soon she was two pawns down, and Atalik was holding a winning advantage. Yelena resigned on move 30. Pia Cramling drew in 23 with Monika Socko, and had done enough to secure the tournament with a round to spare.

Round 9 Standings: Cramling -- 6.5/9; Socko -- 5.0/9; Dembo -- 4.5/9; Muzychuk -- 4.0/9; Skripchenko, Atalik -- 3.5/9.


Round 10:  With the tournament decided, the final round was a clean sheet of draws, and nothing too eventful to report really.


Final Standings: Cramling -- 7.0/10; Socko -- 5.5/10; Dembo -- 5.0/10; Muzychuk -- 4.5/10; Skripchenko, Atalik -- 4.0/10.

A chess legend in her own right, Swedish Grandmaster Pia Cramling

A fine tournament all round, all players producing some nice fighting chess. It is very interesting to watch the development of Magnus Carlsen, he seems to get better and better, and is not even officially near his chess maturity yet. Already he is becomming a force within chess, and I continue to enjoy the waves and buzz that his play is creating. Having said this, it is also nice to see Morozevich and Cramling (the older and more experienced of he field) showing themselves at the tops of their game. Congratulations to them on their victories, and to all the players and organisers for a wonderful tournament!