Morozevich pounces

Morozevich and Vachier-Lagrave (official site)

Alexander Morozevich beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave for the second time in Biel, and is hard on the heels of Magnus Carlsen at the top of the table. However, with Carlsen continuing his winning ways, the Russian stays in second place. Fabiano Caruana won his first game, against Yannick Pelletier, and so moves off the bottom.

In the seventh round Alexei Shirov avoided the Berlin Defence with the 'solid' 4.d3, but the game soon became complicated. The Spanish GM found himself nominally a pawn up, but he had a doubled isolated couplet that were well blockaded in an opposite bishop middlegame.

In the late middlegame, a series of tactical flurries gradually tipped the balance in the favour of Carlsen.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave played an enterprising pawn sacrifice against Alexander Morozevich's Russian System. However after he had rounded up his opponent's d-pawn, his rook became trapped in enemy territory. The Frenchman thus had to struggle on the exchange light but, after the exchange of queens, Morozevich could unravel and the result was no longer in doubt.

The sharp 8.Rb1 version of the Exchange variation was tried by Yannick Pelletier in today's other Grünfeld Defence. The Swiss played had an advanced passed pawn, but this was blockaded and Caruana spurned a repetition to try and exploit his active rooks.

The late middlegame didn't look that clear, but Fabiano Caruana was able to grind down his opponent in the Rook and Bishop pseudo-endgame.

The round 7 summary:

White	Rating	Results	Black	Rating	Moves	Opening
Yannick Pelletier	2590	0-1	Fabiano Caruana	2711	66	Grünfeld Exchange Rb1
Alexei Shirov	2714	0-1	Magnus Carlsen	2821	60	Spanish with d3
Alexander Morozevich	2694	1-0	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	2722	43	Grünfeld (Russian System)

The standings after round 7:

Rank	Name	Country	Rating	1w	1b	2w	2b	3w	3b	4w	4b	5w	5b	6w	6b	Points
1	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2821	*	*	.	½	1	1	.	0	1	.	1	1	5.5
2	Alexander Morozevich	RUS	2694	½	.	*	*	½	½	1	1	.	1	½	.	5
3-4	Alexei Shirov	ESP	2714	0	0	½	½	*	*	½	.	1	.	.	½	3
3-4	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	FRA	2722	1	.	0	0	.	½	*	*	½	½	.	½	3
5	Fabiano Caruana	ITA	2711	.	0	0	.	.	0	½	½	*	*	½	1	2.5
5	Yannick Pelletier	SUI	2590	0	0	.	½	½	.	½	.	0	½	*	*	2

The classification according to the Biel points (3 for a win, 1 for a draw) is as follows:

Position	Name	Country	Rating	Biel Points
1	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2815	16
2	Alexander Morozevich	RUS	2694	13
3-4	Alexei Shirov	ESP	2714	7
3-4	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	FRA	2722	7
5	Fabiano Caruana	ITA	2711	6
6	Yannick Pelletier	SUI	2590	4

The rate of play: