Holding Serve

We are now seven (of 11) rounds into the Biel International, and so far my results have gone:

White v. lower rated: Win

Black v. higher rated: Loss

W v. lower: W

B v. higher: L

W v. lower: W

B v. higher: L

W v. lower: W

7-0 for white!!

So yesterday afternoon in round 7, I had white, and it fell to me to hold my serve. Once again I chose d4. Facing another Nimzo, I rotated around to a somewhat unusual move (4.g3) that I have already used once or twice in tournaments. My opponent was unfamiliar with it, and did not handle it well, granting me a pleasant advantage. But after a ridiculous blunder, I found myself in an approximately equal position. The pressure was on-- my white advantage squandered, could I hold serve??

Meanwhile, Sam drew a very tough endgame against GM Postny. He remains undefeated with 3 wins and 4 draws, only 1/2 point behind the leaders in a very tough field. Today he plays white against GM Georg Meier.

I will have my fourth chance to try to get a break point, with black against GM Milos Pavlovic.

in the elite section, Wang Hao lost his second game of the tournament to Magnus Carlsen (Carlsen's second win with black in two days!!), allowing Mag-town to join him in the lead. Mag-town will now roll to victory in the final 3 rounds, as expected. I hope Hao can recover and play well in the next round. Check out this sick tactic, with which Mag-town turned the tables, seized the lead, and shredded the onions: