Magnus Carlsen wins Biel 2007

Carlsen blasted Radjabov in the last round to tie the first place with Onischuk

Fantastic twist in the last round of Biel super-tournament! After two loses in a row, Magnus Carlsen resurrected to crash then-leading Teimour Radjabov in 28 moves only! Wild battle enraged all over the board and then Magnus lift his Rook to e3. It never looked clumsy though, even if Radjabov opens central diagonals for his Bishops. After the first Black's inaccuracy, 15...Qc7 and 16...Bd8, Carlsen took firm initiative and with couple of resolving moves, like 21. de5, 22.e6! and 23.e7!, blasted Black King away.

Decisive game: Carlsen and Radjabov

This win brought Carlsen to the first place tie, as Alexander Onischuk couldn't achieve more than a draw with Marschall gambit against Motylev. Unusual choice of opening in situation when he had to play for win. van Wely and Grischuk won against Bu and Avrukh respectively, while Pelletier-Polgar was draw for the funny final points distribution.

Round 9 results:

Judit Polgar - Yannick Pelletier draw
Magnus Carlsen - Teimour Radjabov 1 - 0
Bu Xianghzi - Loek van Wely 0 - 1
Boris Avrukh - Alexander Grischuk 0 - 1
Alexander Motylev - Alexander Onischuk draw

Round 9 standings:

1-2. Alexander Onischuk (USA 2650) and Magnus Carlsen (Norway 2710) 5.5
3-6. Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan 2746), Yannick Pelletier (Switzerland 2583), Alexander Grischuk (Russia 2726) and Judit Polgar (Hungary 2707) 5.0
7-10. Bu Xianghzi (China 2685), Loek van Wely (Netherlands 2679), Alexander Motylev (Russia 2648) and Boris Avrukh (Israel 2645) 3.5

According to the tournament rules - "If two or more players tie the first place at the end, there will be a tie-break on the same day (with the two best players) to promote the official winner of the Tournament - two rapid games (15 minutes) and, if necessary, blitz". This meant Carlsen and Onischuk had to play additional games for the winner's trophy.

Tiebreak: Magnus Carlsen and Alexander Onischuk

First two rapid games, full of excitement, were ended in draws. Next to follow were two blitz games, again to finish in draws, although it looked like Carlsen had winning Rook endgame in the 4th game. Decisive match was Armageddon, Onischuk had White and 5 minutes on clock, Carlsen had 4 minutes and draw odds. He never needed those, the cute combination, which he spotted in a sec, brought him the title of Biel 2007 champion.

Tie-Break

1st game (15 minutes)
Alexander Onischuk - Magnus Carlsen draw

2nd game (15 minutes)
Magnus Carlsen - Alexander Onischuk draw

3rd game (5 minutes)
Alexander Onischuk - Magnus Carlsen draw

4th game (5 minutes)
Magnus Carlsen - Alexander Onischuk draw

5th game (Armagedon, draw odds for Black)
Alexander Onischuk - Magnus Carlsen 0 - 1