It was a clash between the co-leaders of a super-tournament, and it was also one of the shortest games played this entire year: Morozevich-Ivanchuk, 1/2 after 12 moves. They're still the co-leaders as the games Gelfand-Vachier Lagrave and Alekseev-Caruana also ended in a draw.

The Biel Chess Festival takes place July 18 to 31 in Biel, Switzerland. The Grandmaster Tournament is a six-player round-robin with Gelfand (2755), Morozevich (2751), Alekseev (2714), Vachier-Lagrave (2703), Ivanchuk (2703) and Caruana (2670).

Round 5

Yesterday it became clear that super-tournaments that don't use the Sofia Rule are still running the risk of some very disappointing moments: already after a few minutes, at move 12, Alexander Morozevich and Vassily Ivanchuk agreed to a draw. White's 7.e3 (allowing the smooth development of Black's queen's bishop) was already not very ambitious - even theoretically speaking, as this of course has been known for decades. The resulting position is just equal and just a few moves later the players shook hands.

The other games were more interesting draws. Against Gelfand's English Opening Vachier Lagrave chose a Grünfeld setup and after some manoeuvering the Frenchman's 23...e5!? changed the character of the game. White held a slight plus by using the stop square e4 and the pin along the diagonal a1-h8, which eventually resulted in an extra pawn, but the rook ending was a clear draw anyway.

The best game of the day was Alekseev-Caruana and how could it have been different, with a Dragon Sicilian on that board? The players followed a game Aginian-Carlsson completely, and then continued where it had ended in a draw (at move 22). In a position with QR-QR only White could hope for some chances due to his better structure, but at the same time his king looked slightly less safe.

Alekseev seems to have missed a good chance with 37.Qe5! but still came very close to a winning position anyway. Then, like in the previous round, Caruana stayed concentrated and defended strongly. The youngest player of the tournament has been showing all-round qualities so far.

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Games round 5

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Biel Chess Festival 2009 | GM Tournament | Round 5 Standings

Biel Chess Festival 2009 | Schedule & results

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