The Week in Chess

Etienne Bacrot leads the Biel Chess tournament with 10/18 (3pts for a win 1 for a draw) a point clear of Liren Ding. Alexander Moiseenko and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are two points further back. Sunday is a rest day for the players.

Liren Ding defeated Alexander Moiseenko with an impressive victory in 40 moves. Moiseenko set up a Stonewall structure out of a Queen's Gambit. Ding thought Moiseenko should have played 14...Nxe5 15.Bxe5 Bd7 instead of his 14...Bxe5 and quickly fell into a passive position. Ding exploited his superior space and activity to break through just before first time control.

Leader Etienne Bacrot arrived late after discovering last minute problems with his intended try against Ian Nepomniachtchi's Gruenfeld. Instead he played a well known line and the game simplified to a dead draw. White currently has many problems proving any advantage against a well prepared Gruenfeld player.

Richard Rapport played enterprisingly against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in a Bb5 Sicilian with 11.Ra3 even going a pawn up at one stage but his rooks on the h-file were completely misplaced and the time taken to return them to play allowed Vachier-Lagrave to at least equalise and a draw was agreed on move 40.

Round 6 Standings: Bacrot 10pts, Ding Liren 9pts, Moiseenko, Vachier-Lagrave 7pts, Nepomniachtchi 5pts, Rapport 4pts

Round 7 Pairings Mon 29th July 2013: Ding Liren-Bacrot, Moiseenko-Rapport, Vachier-Lagrave-Nepomniachtchi.