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[Javier]

Wang grabbed the lead with this, his fourth win. It's kind of sad because Bologan deserved better, the draw being at his reach had he not blundered on move 35. Let's not forget that he didn't have the time that the other players did to prepare against each other, that's an enourmous handicapp at this level...


[Event "45th Biel GM"] [Site "Biel SUI"] [Date "2012.07.27"] [Round "5"] [White "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Black "Bacrot, Etienne"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E92"] [WhiteElo "2778"] [BlackElo "2713"] [Annotator "I.M. Javier Gil"] [PlyCount "67"] [EventDate "2012.07.23"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. d5 a5 8. Bg5 { Petrosian's variation against the King's Indian Defence.} h6 9. Bh4 Na6 10. Nd2 Qe8 11. O-O h5 12. a3 Bd7 13. b3 Nh7 14. f3 f5 15. Rb1 g5 16. Bf2 f4 17. b4 axb4 18. axb4 Qg6 19. c5 g4 20. c6 {All book so far!} bxc6 (20... g3 21. cxd7 ( 21. Be1 bxc6 22. dxc6 Be6 23. Bc4 Rfb8 24. Bxe6+ Qxe6 25. Nd5 Qf7 26. b5 Nc5 27. Nc4 Nf6 28. b6 Nxd5 29. Qxd5 Qxd5 30. exd5 cxb6 31. Nxd6 Bf8 32. Nb5 Rd8 33. Rd1 e4 34. Bc3 e3 35. Rfe1 Ra2 36. d6 Rc2 37. Bf6 Ra8 38. Nd4 Rf2 39. d7 Nd3 40. Re2 Bc5 41. c7 Kf7 42. d8=Q {1-0 Flores,D (2439)-Mahia,G (2377)/ Asuncion 2003}) 21... gxf2+ 22. Rxf2 Nf6 23. Bxa6 bxa6 24. Qa4 Qf7 25. Nc4 Nxd7 26. Ra2 Bf6 27. Qc6 Rac8 28. Qxa6 Kh8 29. Nb5 Rg8 30. Rc1 Be7 31. Ncxd6 cxd6 32. Rxc8 Bd8 33. Nxd6 Qf6 34. Nc4 Rxg2+ 35. Kxg2 {1-0 Letelier Martner,R (2235) -Barria Zuniga,D (2285)/Santiago de Chile 1995}) 21. dxc6 Be6 22. b5 $146 {A new move. 22.Bc4 had been tried before.} (22. Bc4 Bxc4 23. Nxc4 g3 24. Be1 gxh2+ 25. Kh1 Rac8 26. Nd5 Bf6 27. b5 Nb8 28. b6 Kh8 29. bxc7 Nxc6 30. Nxd6 Rg8 31. Rb2 h4 32. Nxc8 Rxc8 33. Nxf6 Qxf6 34. Qd7 Ne7 35. Rb8 Qf8 36. Bxh4 Rxb8 37. cxb8=Q Qxb8 38. Qxe7 Qb5 39. Rd1 {1-0 Seipp,T (2117)-Schaack,H (2276)/ Germany 2001}) 22... Nb8 $2 {Javier: Hard to believe. After this black is basically playing a piece down for the rest of the game. For good or worse, 22. ..Nc5 had to be played.} (22... Nc5 $5 23. Bxc5 (23. fxg4 $6 hxg4 24. Bc4 Bxc4 25. Nxc4 g3 26. Bxc5 gxh2+ 27. Kh1 (27. Kxh2 dxc5 28. Qd5+ Kh8 29. Qxc5 $2 Qg3+ 30. Kg1 Qxc3 $19) 27... dxc5 28. Qd5+ Kh8 29. Qxc5 Rg8 $13) (23. b6 $5) 23... dxc5 24. Bc4 Bxc4 25. Nxc4 gxf3 26. Qxf3 Ng5 {And black gets counterplay.}) 23. Nd5 Bxd5 24. exd5 g3 25. Be1 $1 Ng5 26. Rb4 {Eyeing the e4 square.} (26. b6 $5) 26... h4 27. Ne4 h3 {Those 2 PP look kind of threatening, but it's a bit of an optical illusion, as black really doesn't have enough pieces attackng the white K.} 28. hxg3 fxg3 29. Qd2 (29. Nxg3 $1 {This would have been stronger.}) 29... Rf4 $2 (29... Nxe4 30. Rxe4 Bh6 31. Qd3 h2+ 32. Kh1 $18) (29... hxg2 $5 { I think this move would have given black some attacking chances.} 30. Kxg2 Nh3 $1 {Heading for f4.} 31. Bxg3 $1 (31. Kxh3 $2 Qh5+ 32. Kxg3 Bh6 {Threatening not only white's Q but also a nasty check on f4.}) 31... Bh6 32. Qb2 Nf4+ 33. Kh1 {White's probably still better, but at least black's got some chances.}) 30. Nxg5 Qxg5 $2 (30... Rxb4 31. Qxb4 (31. Ne6 Rb3 32. Bc4 Bh6 $13) 31... Qxg5) 31. gxh3 $1 Qf5 32. Bxg3 Qxh3 33. Bxf4 exf4 34. Qxf4 $18 {It's kind of odd how the whole game can be decided in just 2 or 3 critical moves. Bacrot was not up to the task this time...} 1-0 [Event "45th Biel GM"] [Site "Biel SUI"] [Date "2012.07.27"] [Round "5"] [White "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Giri, Anish"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "2837"] [BlackElo "2696"] [Annotator "I.M. Javier Gil"] [PlyCount "97"] [EventDate "2012.07.23"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d3 Nf6 6. d4 d5 {This is actually a french defence now! 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd exd 4. Nf3 Nf6.} 7. Bd3 Bd6 8. O-O O-O 9. h3 h6 10. c4 dxc4 11. Bxc4 {Symmetry is broken. White gets an isolated P but his B is more active.} Nc6 12. Nc3 a6 13. Re1 Re8 14. Be3 { Black needs to get his other B out, but how? if ...Bf5, then Qb3 is a problem. d7 is too passive.} b5 15. Bf1 (15. Bb3 Bf5) 15... Bb7 (15... Bf5 16. g4 $5 Bh7 17. Bg2 b4 18. Na4 Be4 19. Nc5 $13) 16. Rc1 Ne7 17. Ne5 Ned5 18. Nxd5 Nxd5 19. Bd2 Qf6 20. Qh5 c5 {I think black has solved his opening problems very well...} 21. a4 c4 (21... cxd4 22. Ng4 Qg6 23. Rxe8+ Rxe8 24. Qxg6 fxg6 25. axb5 axb5 26. Bxb5 {And black can't be worse.}) 22. Re4 {Ng4 looks like a most dangerous threat now, as white has tactical ideas such as Nxh6+ and Rg4 coming up.} Bxe5 23. dxe5 Qg6 24. Qh4 {Planning Rg4.} Nf6 25. Ree1 (25. Rexc4 bxc4 26. exf6 { This might have been interesting with more pieces on the board. Here ...Re4! looks fine for black.}) 25... Ne4 26. Bc3 Rad8 27. axb5 axb5 28. Bb4 Nd2 {With the threat of ...Nf3.} 29. Qg4 Qxg4 30. hxg4 Nb3 31. Rb1 $8 Bc8 32. f3 Rd5 33. Rbd1 Red8 34. Bd6 Rxd1 35. Rxd1 Be6 36. Be2 f6 (36... Ra8 37. f4 Ra2 (37... g6 38. Be7) 38. f5 Rxb2 39. fxe6 fxe6 (39... Rxe2 $4 40. e7 $18) 40. Kf1 {Looks too risky for black.}) 37. exf6 gxf6 38. Bf4 Rxd1+ 39. Bxd1 Kg7 40. Be3 Bf7 41. f4 Bd5 42. Kf2 b4 43. Bc2 c3 44. bxc3 bxc3 45. Bf5 Nd2 46. Bd4 Ne4+ 47. Kg1 ( 47. Ke3 Nd6 48. Bd3 Bxg2 49. Bxc3 Kf7 $11) 47... Kf7 48. Bxe4 Bxe4 49. Bxc3 1/2-1/2 [Event "45th Biel GM"] [Site "Biel SUI"] [Date "2012.07.27"] [Round "5"] [White "Wang, Hao"] [Black "Bologan, Viktor"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A58"] [WhiteElo "2739"] [BlackElo "2732"] [Annotator "I.M. Javier Gil"] [PlyCount "93"] [EventDate "2012.07.23"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 {Benko gambit.} 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bxa6 7. g3 d6 8. Nf3 Bg7 9. Bg2 O-O 10. Rb1 Bc8 $5 {Quite an interesting idea. Black wants to play ...Bf5 and if white goes e4, then the B can return to c8 and then Ba6 again, as the a6-f1 diagonal has become weaker. 10...Nbd7 is the usual move.} 11. Nd2 Bf5 12. e4 Bc8 13. O-O Ba6 14. Re1 {Was it worth the time invested? well, white's N would like to get to c4, but with the black B on a6, that's rather unlikely. This means that the d2 N isn't that useful on d2. In fact, from f3 it did support e4-e5.} Nfd7 15. Nf3 Bc4 16. Bf4 Nb6 (16... Bxa2 $2 17. Ra1 Bxc3 18. bxc3 Ra3 19. Qd2 Qa5 20. e5 $1 dxe5 21. Nxe5 Nxe5 22. Bxe5 {And white has a clear advantage despite material equality.}) 17. e5 $1 {No hesitation from Wang! He's sending out a very clear message: in the Benko, white should focus on the e4-e5 P break, and the best black can do is get his P back on the Qside whilst white gets the advantage playin in the center.} Bxa2 18. Ra1 Bxd5 19. Nxd5 Rxa1 20. Nxe7+ Qxe7 21. Qxa1 d5 (21... dxe5 22. Nxe5 Re8 23. Re3 $16) 22. e6 $1 fxe6 23. Bh3 e5 24. Nxe5 $16 Qf6 25. Qa7 Kh8 (25... g5 26. Ng4 Qxb2 27. Nh6+ $3 (27. Bxb8 $18) 27... Bxh6 (27... Kh8 28. Nf7+ Kg8 29. Nxg5 $18) 28. Be6+ Kh8 29. Be5+ Qxe5 30. Rxe5 Nc6 31. Qxb6 Nxe5 32. Qxc5 $18) 26. Re2 $2 {Wang probably expected ...g5 now, after which Bxg5! Qxg5, Nf7+ Rxf7, Qxf7 wins, because Re8 is unstoppable. But Black still has a defensive resource...} (26. Nd3 $1 {I think this would have won outright. Black can't defend the N on b8, the P on c5 and the N on b6 if the black Q moves. d5 is also on. Be5 is a possility as well. It's curtains!}) 26... Nc6 $1 (26... g5 $2 27. Bxg5 Qxg5 28. Nf7+ Rxf7 29. Qxf7 $18) 27. Nxc6 Qxc6 28. Re6 Qa4 $1 {This is the move that Wang probably missed. Who wouldn't? it involves sacrificing the N and the exchange on f4!} 29. Qxb6 Qd1+ 30. Bf1 Rxf4 $1 {Suddenly black gets excellent drawing chances.} 31. Qxc5 (31. gxf4 $4 Qg4+ 32. Kh1 Qf3+ 33. Kg1 Qg4+ 34. Bg2 Qd1+ $11) 31... Bd4 32. Qc8+ {Note that after this check, when the white R goes to e7 next move, the g4 square will be covered...} Kg7 33. Re7+ Rf7 (33... Kh6 $4 34. gxf4 $18) (33... Kf6 $4 34. Qf8+ $18) 34. Rxf7+ Kxf7 35. Qb7+ Ke6 $4 (35... Kf8 $1 {I'm not sure if white can win any more after this move. d5 can't be captured due to the discovered check ...Bxf2, and there's a lot of pressure against f2. I'm not sure if 35...Kf6 works also, but 35...Ke6 jus seems to lose.} 36. Qxh7 $2 Qd2 $1 {And it is white who's fighting for the draw!}) 36. Qxh7 {Now the difference is that white threatens to take on g6 with check.} Qb1 (36... Bxf2+ {The problem with this is that white can give back his B at the right time and reach a winning Q ending.} 37. Kxf2 Qd4+ 38. Ke1 (38. Kg2 Qe4+ 39. Kh3 Qf5+) 38... Qb4+ 39. Kd1 Qb3+ 40. Ke2 Qc4+ 41. Kd2 $1 Qxf1 42. Qxg6+ $18) 37. b4 Kd6 (37... Qc2 38. Bh3+ $1 Kf6 ( 38... Ke5 39. Qe7#) (38... Kd6 39. Qd7+ Ke5 40. Qe7#) 39. Qh8+ $18) 38. Qh6 Qf5 39. Qd2 Qe5 40. b5 (40. h4 $4 Qxg3+) 40... g5 41. Qc2 Qe4 42. Qd2 Qg4 43. Bg2 Kc5 44. Qc2+ Kxb5 45. Qb3+ Ka6 46. Qd3+ Kb6 47. h3 {Bologan resigned. He's losing his B.} 1-0