The #2 article in Chess Life Online's Best of 2007 competition is "Onischuk on Biel Tiebreak" by Alexander Onischuk. Readers and judges were struck by the one of a kind insight into the world of elite chess. Although Onischuk is not invited to elite round robins as often as many of his Biel opponents', Alexander tied for first in the event. In an impressive show of modesty, Alex chose to annotate and describe the low point of his fantastic result: the tiebreak for first that he lost to Norweigian teenager, Magnus Carlsen. Alexander Onischuk was the 2006 U.S. Champion and the runner-up in 2007. He also seconded Veselin Topalov in his controversial World Championship match against Kramnik. Alexander wrote a three part article for CLO on that. (Read parts I , II and III .) For more reminiscing about Biel, read GM Pal Benko's "Endgame Lab-Biel 2007 " from the recent issue of Chess Life Magazine.
The judges sound off
To learn more about the judges, read "Meet the Judges."
This was an outstanding article ... and was as appealing to me when I re-read it this week as it was when it first appeared. The photos of the tie-break with Carlsen, all of the games of that tie-break, the tremendous amount of analysis that GM Onischuk provided, and his thoughts before, during, and after the tie-break concluded and he had lost ... amazing. I would never have thought one of the world’s top GMs would take the considerable amount of time and effort it obviously took to produce this account of this event. I remember being shocked as I read it. I remember watching the tie-break being played live over the internet and quietly cheering for Onischuk as I tried to get some work done at the office. How Carlsen kept escaping was beyond me, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing what was going on inside one of my favorite GM’s mind in this account. This was a gem, and a rare one--Mike Cornett
Personal perspective from Onischuck nicely done as a glimpse into the world of high level chess- Michael Atkins
This article I really felt was by far the best in terms of giving readers a chance to really learn something with its very detailed analysis and annotations of games played by the author himself- Arun Sharma
Onischuk's article takes the reader inside his tiebreak match with Carlsen, from setting to rules to preparation to the games themselves- Alexey Root