He shared first place with Aronian at Corus; finished half a point behind world champ Anand at Linares; won the top prize with two other GMs at the Baku Grand Prix; defeated Hungary’s no. 1 player Leko in a rapid match; and ruled the Aerosvit tourney where he finished undefeated with 5 wins and 6 draws for an Elo performance of 2878.
At the recently held 41st Biel International Chess Festival, however, Carlsen could only finish third, half a point behind Alekseev and Dominguez. Before the seventh round, Magnus appeared to be on his way to another tournament victory only to lose to Alekseev in a pawn race that ended on the 84th move.
The category 18 tournament took place from July 20 to 31 in Biel, in the canton of Bern, Switzerland. It is a bilingual town — Biel in German, Bienne in French, hence its official name: “Biel/Bienne.”
Cuba’s top player Leinier Dominguez Perez, 25, finished in a tie for first place with Russia’s Evgeny Alekseev, 23, who then went on to win the tiebreaking blitz game. Dominguez could have won the tournament if he did not lose his last round game against French GM Etienne Bacrot. In his blitz game against the Russian, the Cuban was a piece up when he stumbled at the finish line!
Alekseev, who is part of the new wave of Russian talents that include Grischuk, Jakovenko and Inarkiev, won the Geneva Open in 2004, became champion of Russia in 2006, topped the Aeroflot Open in Moscow, and placed second at Dortmund behind ex-world champ Kramnik last year.
Game of the week. But in their individual game during the tournament, the Cuban showed the Russian who was the boss. IM Malcolm Pein annotates.
White: E. Alekseev (2708)
Black: L. Dominguez (2708)
Sicilian Najdorf
Biel/Bienne 2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.g3 e5 7.Nde2 Be7 8.Bg2 b5 9.h3 Nbd7 10.g4 b4 11.Nd5 Nxd5 12.exd5 a5 13.0–0 (13.Ng3) 13…h5! (A great new move; previously Black played Ba6 and castled. Dominguez wants to attack the White king.) 14.gxh5 Rxh5 15.Nd4 Nf6 (Defending the rook) 16.Nc6 Qc7 17.Qf3 Bf5 18.Re1 Qd7! (18…Bxc2!? 19.Nxe5 Rxe5 20.Rxe5 dxe5 21.d6 e4!) 19.a3 b3 20.cxb3 Bxh3 21.Bd2 Bxg2 22.Kxg2 (Over the next 10 moves Black rearranges his pieces on the kingside and takes control of f4) 22…Rf5 23.Qd3 Nh5 24.Rh1 g6 25.b4 Bg5! 26.b5 Bxd2 27.Qxd2 Rf4 28.Rh3 Kf8 29.Rah1 Qg4+ 30.Kf1 Ng3+ 31.Rxg3 Qxg3 32.b6 (The passed pawn will win a rook but Dominguez has calculated that his attack is decisive) 32…Qf3 33.Rh2 Kg8!! 34.b7 Re8 35.b4 (The knight has to control d4 if 35.b8Q Rxb8 36.Nxb8 Rd4 37.Qe1 Rd1) 35…axb4 36.axb4 Qg3 37.Rh1 Qf3 38.Rh2 Qg3 39.Rh1 Qb3 40.b8Q Rxb8 41.Nxb8 Rxb4 42.Nd7 Qc4+ 43.Kg2 Qg4+ 44.Kh2 Qh5+ 45.Kg2 Rg4+ 0–1.
Puzzler.
White — pawns on b3, b4, h2; Qa8, Ke1, Be4, Ne7
Black — pawns on a5, b5, e5, g5; Na7, Bb6, Ke3
White to play and mate in three moves.
Send your answers to “64” c/o Marianas Variety, P.O. Box 500231, Saipan MP 96950. Our fax no. is 670-234-9271. You can also e-mail idlasts @lycos.com or [email protected].
