Huge congratulations go to Polish Grandmaster, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, who recently won the showcase event at the 53rd Biel Chess Festival, in Switzerland. Held between July 18th and 29th, Biel has been seen as a bit of an over-the-board test case, as chess looks to get back to some level of normality after the disruption of COVID-19 – as does the rest of the world, of course.
Although the horrible pandemic that we are all having to live through obviously made its presence felt, the Biel organising committee still managed to put on a packed event. The open this year was the aptly named Corona Amateur Tournament, which also doubled up as a team tournament, allowing individuals to join forces. There was a 70-player youth tournament and the finals of the Swiss Junior Championships were also held during the festival. Of course, all this took place with social distancing in place, and in certain quarters, anti-virus measures saw a clear screen of Perspex situated in the middle of the board. This served as partition between the players and I am sure this was rather inhibiting for some.
The 2020 Biel Chess Festival, featuring an elite international field, starts today with a Chess960 rapid tournament and some novel anti-virus measures! https://t.co/ftoPDuMVR7
photo: @BielFestival #c24live pic.twitter.com/VFsAUWr7n5— chess24.com (@chess24com) July 18, 2020
The festival’s showcase event, was the invitational Grandmaster Triathlon. This combined classical chess, rapid chess, and blitz. Competing were: Pentala Harikrishna (2719), Radoslaw Wojtaszek (2719), David Anton Guijarro (2703), Michael Adams (2701), Romain Edouard (2649), Arkadij Naiditsch (2626), Noel Studer (2580), and Vincent Keymer (2558). They would all be fighting for a share of the 30’500 Swiss Francs (€28’229 / £25’510) prize fund, 10’000 (€9255 / £8364) of it going to the winner.
The format saw the players opening with 7-rounds of rapid chess, in which they had 15-minutes for the game plus 5-seconds increment per move. Wojtaszek showed his promise right off, with an impressive 5 wins and 2 draws out of the 7 games. Starting as he meant to go on, he opened his score in the very first game, with the black pieces, against Romain Edouard.
[Event “53rd Biel GMT Rapid 2020”]
[Site “Biel SUI”]
[Date “2020.07.19”]
[Round “1.4”]
[White “Edouard, Romain”]
[Black “Wojtaszek, Radoslaw”]
[Result “0-1”]
[BlackElo “2719”]
[BlackFideId “1118358”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[ECO “A28”]
[EventDate “2020.07.19”]
[Opening “English”]
[Variation “four knights, Capablanca variation”]
[WhiteElo “2649”]
[WhiteFideId “633429”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
{ Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. } 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.d3 { A perfectly valid move, but one has to be careful when approaching the English Opening this way, as it is so easy to become passive. } 4…d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nf6 7.h3 Bc5 8.Be3 Qe7 { I think that Wojtaszek will already be feeling encouraged, here. He is developed nicely and ready to castle if he wishes. } 9.Be2 O-O 10.O-O Rd8 { Not only situating the rook on the semi-open d-file, but also opposite the white Queen. } 11.Rc1 Nd4 { A generally good square to plonk a knight on, taking space and keeping White’s d-pawn backward. } 12.Bxd4 { Logical — the bishop was not going anywhere on e3 anyway. } 12…Bxd4 13.Nxd4 Rxd4 { The position is about equal, here, but if we look at potential, Black looks to have the more promise when it comes to activity. } 14.Qd2 { ? A little slow, 14.Nb5 was more in context. } ( 14.Nb5 Rd7 15.Qc2 c6 16.Na3 { Keeping the c-pawn under the thumb — Nc3 would enable …c5 or even …b6. This means that Black must invest a move if he wants to develop the Bc8. } 16…Rd8 17.Nc4 { is about equal. } ) 14…c5 { Making hay while the sun shines and completely taking the sting out of any Nb5. } 15.f4 { I think that Romain probably felt compelled to do this, because his active scope in the position was being gradually reduced. It is not easy to see how else he impacts the position. } 15…b6 16.Qe3 exf4 { Saddling White with 3 pawn islands to defend, along with the backwards d-pawn. The fact that the e-pawn is now pinned to the white Queen is also something that will have to be watched closely also. } 17.Rxf4 Be6 { Good, but also perhaps a little hasty. …Qe5 was interesting, here. The Queen is more ‘alive’ on e5 and it would also keep its tension towards its opposite number on e3. } 18.Rcf1 Rad8 19.a3 a6 20.e5 { Provoking some liquidation, which is very much what White needs. } 20…Nd5 21.Nxd5 R8xd5 22.Rxd4 Rxd4 23.Rf4 Qg5 { It was almost inevitable that White’s Queen placement was going to get a nod at some stage. Here it allows Black to force the endgame, in which he will have a small but evident edge. In Rapid chess, such an edge can be drastically magnified. } 24.Re4 Qxe3+ 25.Rxe3 Kf8 { It’s time for the black King to do a bit of work, on its way to target the e5-pawn. A big feature of the position, here, is the Rd4, which is keeping the e5-pawn isolated. This is a very long-term problem. } 26.Kf2 Ke7 27.Bf3 { Trying to make something of the bishop, but the piece is actually not a good piece at all, even along this long diagonal. Black has a fabulous control of the position here. } 27…g6 28.Bb7 { The beginnings of an elaborate manoeuvre to relocate the bishop to the a2-g8 diagonal. } 28…a5 29.Ba6 Bd7 30.Bc4 b5 31.Ba2 { I thought the bishop was a sorry piece on f3, but it must be phoning helplines here on a2. } 31…h5 32.Ke2 Bf5 33.Bb3 a4 34.Ba2 h4 35.Rf3 c4 { In a way, it looks a bit strange for Black to be helping White in exchanging off the backward d-pawn, but this is really the beginning of the end for Romain. } 36.dxc4 { There was nothing better. } 36…bxc4 37.Rc3 Bd3+ { Very nice — everything is now just working for Wojtaszek, the result of a very well played strategic game. } 38.Kf3 g5 39.Ke3 Re4+ 40.Kf3 Rf4+ 41.Ke3 Bf1 { ! There is no rush to go for the e-pawn, that belongs to Black and will fall eventually. So Wojtaszek looks to the White Kingside pawns and now Romain’s position crumbles quickly. He is simply over-burdened. } 42.Rc2 Ke6 43.Rd2 Kxe5 44.Bb1 g4 { And here, Romain Edouard resigned. } 0-1
[/pgn]
This opening result set Wojtaszek up for a great section. He took points from all of his opponents, apart from Michael Adams and Pentala Harikrishna, who held him to draws. The scoring of the tournament awards 2-points for a win and 1-point for a draw in this section, which put Radoslaw on 12-points going into the opening rounds of classical chess. Just behind him, however, were Pentala Harikrishna (+3 =4) and Vincent Keymer (+4 =2 -1), with 10-points each. Michael Adams, was also right up there, with 8-points on the board (+3 =2 -2).
After the Rapid section, the players switched to classical chess. This gave them 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game. They also had increments of 30 seconds per move starting from move one. A win would net them 4-points and a draw 1.5. All-in-all, the star of this section was India’s Pentala Harikrishna, who won 4 of his seven games and was the only player to not drop a point.
[Event “53rd Biel GMT 2020”]
[Site “Biel SUI”]
[Date “2020.07.24”]
[Round “4.4”]
[White “Harikrishna, Pentala”]
[Black “Keymer, Vincent”]
[Result “1-0”]
[BlackElo “2558”]
[BlackFideId “12940690”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[ECO “D47”]
[EventDate “2020.07.21”]
[Opening “QGD semi-Slav”]
[Variation “Meran variation”]
[WhiteElo “2719”]
[WhiteFideId “5007003”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
{ Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. } 1.c4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 { I’ll make no secret of being quite a fan of Vincent Keymer, I think he has a very bright chess future ahead of him. The fact that he is willing to invite the Meran doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm one bit. } 6.Bd3 { Harikrishna goes for the Meran. Here, he invests a tempo in order to tempt his opponent to take on c4. } 6…dxc4 { Surrendering the centre, but Black will get compensation on the Queenside. } 7.Bxc4 b5 { Wasting no time to launch on the Queenside, a very potent idea. } 8.Bb3 { Harikrishna is one of the leading players of 8.Bb3, though 8.Bd3 and 8.Be2 are more common here. Personally, I like putting the bishop on b3, where it slices across the board towards e6 and f7. } 8…b4 { Vincent sticks with the mainline, 8…Bb7 and 8…a6 are also common. } 9.Ne2 Be7 10.O-O Bb7 11.Nf4 c5 { A good move. It’s important that Black doesn’t hang around with his expansion on the Queenside if he wants to compete in the Meran. } 12.Ng5 { Putting further pressure on e6, obviously, with the bishop on b3 and Black’s King still in the centre of the board, this is a serious prospect. } 12…O-O { A new move, practically begging White’s next. 12…Qb6 had been played in Annakov-Nevostrujev, Moscow Open 1995, which was a win for White in 37. } 13.Ngxe6 fxe6 14.Nxe6 Qc8 15.Nxc5+ { The best continuation. Black would be quite content after 15.Nxf8 Kxf8. While a couple of knights might seem poor return for a rook and two pawns, the extra pieces are rather more relevant at this time. } 15…Kh8 { It looks rather obligatory this move, but 15…Bd5 was also playable. } ( 15…Bd5 16.Ne6 Bxe6 17.Bxe6+ Kh8 { = } ) 16.Nxb7 { Getting rid of a feature of Black’s position and also taking the two bishops. } 16…Qxb7 17.f3 { Preparing to get the central pawns moving. } 17…a5 18.e4 Nb6 19.Qe2 a4 20.Bc2 Rfc8 21.Bd3 a3 { I must admit, I don’t really understand Vincent’s undertakings, here. It just doesn’t seem to ‘do’ anything. After Harikrishna’s 22.b3, the Queenside is largely resolved and this then leaves White with a lot of freedom to work with his central pawns. } 22.b3 Qd7 23.Be3 Rc3 { Perhaps this was Keymer’s idea when provoking b3, he now has the c3-square as a point of entry into the White camp. However, this seems to be neither here nor there when it comes to the grand scheme of things. } 24.Rad1 Rd8 25.Kh1 { A useful waiting move. The players begin a bit of positional shuffling, here, White wanting to set his pieces optimally in order to support the advance of his d and e pawns, while Black wants his pieces placed to defend and hinder it. } 25…Qe8 26.Bg1 Bf8 27.Qe1 Nbd7 28.Bb1 Nh5 { ? There is a lot of logic behind this move, but is is positionally unsound. It is clear that White wants to march his central pawns, his whole manoeuvring has been to that end. Black’s strategy should really be to blockade. The knight was better on f6, from where it could hop to d5 should White play e5. Also, the knight is rather exposed there on h5, as Harikrishna is about to demonstrate. } 29.e5 { ! A good move, responding to what his opponent has given him. This advance would be a lot less potent with the knight on f6, when Black would have …Nd5, beginning the blockade. } 29…Qe6 { ? Missing the point of the situation. Black does not have time for this, due to the vulnerability of his pieces. } ( 29…g6 30.d5 Nxe5 { (…Bc5, e6 would see Black really suffering) } 31.Bd4 Bg7 32.Bxc3 bxc3 33.Qxc3 { and with no good discoveries available for Black, this is a very nice situation for White. } ) 30.Qh4 { ! Forking knight and rook. } 30…Qh6 31.g4 Nf4 { Surrendering the rook without fight or compensation. } ( 31…Nhf6 32.Qxh6 gxh6 33.exf6 Nxf6 34.d5 { is of course utterly winning. } ) 32.Qxd8 Qh3 33.Rf2 { Forced. } 33…Rxf3 34.Qa8 { Rdf1 was also good here, (arguably slightly better), but I personally like this move, controlling the h1-a8 diagonal. } 34…Rxf2 { Acknowledging that there is nothing. } 35.Bxf2 Qxg4 36.Rg1 Qh5 37.Re1 { And Keymer resigned here, his material disadvantage is just the tip of the iceberg with those central pawns on their way up the board. A nice game by Harikrishna. } 1-0
[/pgn]
Interestingly, the blitz section of the tournament, was played on July 25th, after four rounds of the classical section. This saw a double round-robin of lightning fast chess (G3 + 2s) played over the day. The day belonged to Wojtaszek and Adams, who were in a league of their own, earning themselves 11-points each, (regular scoring in this section). In the 14-games, Wojtaszek did not drop a single point.
At the end of it, the standings were as shown below. However, with 3 rounds of classical chess to be played – and 12 points still up for grabs – 4 players found themselves within striking distance of the title.
Wojtaszek – 31.5
Adams – 27.5
Harikrishna – 24.5
Keymer – 22.5
Guijarro – 18
Naiditsch – 17
Studer – 15
Edouard — 12
Of course, it all depended on Radoslaw Wojtaszek, who had the tournament all but in his grasp. A full loss ahead of his nearest rivals, the Pole could not exactly relax, but at least did not have to push the boat out too much. By contrast, those within reach who still had their eyes set on the win, had to roll their sleeves up and go for it.
The players had a rest day before resuming the classical section, and I think they needed it after all the chess they had played. When they returned, Wojtaszek found himself up against a very determined Pentala Harirkrishna, who fancied a fight with the Black pieces. There was very little between the players for most of the game, but Radoslaw went awry with his 26th move.
In the position, above, Harikrishna has just gone for the exchange of dark-squared bishops, with 25…Bxe1. And here, Wojtaszek is probably guilty of over-complicating unnecessarily. Instead of playing the straight forward and perfectly good 26.Rdxe1, he got a bit excited and went for 26.h6. This loses a tempo. Of course, the idea behind 26.h6 is sound in that White is threatening hxg7 and then Qh7, which in this case would be mate.
However, after Harikrishna’s 26…Rfc8, we see that after any 27.hxg7 Black has 27…Bh4, closing the h-file that White has taken the trouble to open. Then, if 28.g3 Qb6 White is in a lot of trouble on the Queenside and there is of course the immediate threat of a discovery by Black’s Nc6 to watch out for. This is really not good.
So, one must conclude that there is nothing better than 27.Rdxe1, here, and this is what Radoslaw played. But now, (due to having got …Rfc8 in), Harikrishna has the initiative on the Queenside, and this he demonstrated with 27…Nb4. Had Wojtaszek played 26.Rdxe1 and Black had played the logical 26…Rfc8 still, then White would have 27.Rc1 (with Bf3 looming next) to keep his edge.
As it was, after 27…Nb4, 28.Qxc7 was an acknowledgement that White had come undone a little. There followed: 28…Rxc7 29.hxg7 Nc2+ 30.Kxa2 Nxe1 31.Rh8+ Kxg7 32.Rxa8 Nxg2 33.Rxa6 Nxe3 and Black was better. 34.Ra3 Nf5 35.Rd3 Rd7 36.d5 Rxd5 37.Rxd5 exd5 saw further deterioration when it became clear that Black had White’s passed b-pawn under control the point (or points as it was in this case) for Harikrishna looked inevitable. And this it was, with Wojtaszek resigning on move 50, with his King and bishop facing the impossible task of defending against Harikrishna’s King, knight and 3 passed pawns.
This win took Harikrishna to within 3-points of Wojtaszek, who will no doubt have been kicking himself as a win, even a draw for that matter, would have really taken him close to sealing the tournament. Also keeping things spicey, was Vincent Keymer, who beat Noel Studer. Also frozen in place, was Michael Adams, who lost to David Anton Guijarro. This meant that only 4-points separated the leader from the 3 players chasing him – it was still very much game on.
Wojtaszek – 31.5
Harikrishna – 28.5
Adams – 27.5
Keymer – 26.5
Guijarro – 22
Naiditsch – 18.5
Studer – 15
Edouard – 13.5
And in the following round, which was the penultimate round 6, Harikrishna edged even closer to Wojtaszek by defeating Romain Edouard. Wojtaszek’s draw against Vincent Keymer, (who unfortunately needed to win to stay in contention), meant that his lead over Harikrishna would be just a half point going into the final round. Not only this, but if Radoslaw’s game against Noel Studer would go wrong, he could still be pipped by Michael Adams also. Adams himself won his 6th-round game against Studer and would have the white pieces against Arkadij Naiditsch in round 7.
Wojtaszek – 33
Harikrishna – 32.5
Adams – 31.5
Keymer – 28
Naiditsch – 22.5
Guijarro – 22
Studer – 15
Edouard – 13.5
The final round was extremely bloody and saw every game decided. It saw Pentala Harikrishna earn himself 4-points by beating David Anton Guijarro, which meant that Radoslaw Wojtaszek was being kept honest right up to the last. If the Pole wanted to take the title, he would have to win his game against Noel Studer. And this he did, to achieve a final score of 37-points, which was insurmountable.
Grandmaster Triathlon Final Standings:
Wojtaszek – 37
Harikrishna – 36.5
Adams – 35.5
Keymer – 28
Naiditsch – 22.5
Guijarro – 22
Edouard – 17.5
Studer — 15
The other wins of the round went to Michael Adams against Arkadij Naiditsch. The clear veteran of this tournament, Adams showed in the clearest manner possible, that he is as sharp as ever at the grand old age of 48. Romain Edouard also got some consolation points, winning with white against Vincent Keymer. The young German still finished in 4th place, however, and should be very proud of his performance.
Congratulations once again to Radoslaw Wojtaszek for his victory, then, and to all competitors and organisers for pulling off a nice tournament under the most trying of circumstances. I should also mention, that as far as I know there have been no COVID-19 troubles connected with the tournament, which is the best news of all!
