Chess for Wednesday November 8th 2006

The Mikhail Tal Memorial at Moscow started with several decisive games The 15 year old Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen suffered a defeat to Israeli number one Boris Gelfand who taught the youngster a stern lesson after he gambitted a pawn rather optimistically.

Alexei Shirov tested Shakriyaz Mamedyarov in the same sacrificial line of the Ruy Lopez we saw last week in the game Polgar – Mamedyarov. Mamedyarov’s home analysis proved sound and Shirov found nothing better than perpetual check. There was only one quiet game as Peter Svidler, who arrived hot foot from the Spanish Team Championship, drew with Peter Leko.

It wasn’t a god day for the Russians, they scored 0.5/3 with Alexander Grischuk being ushered into a untenable endgame by Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov and Alexander Morozevich falling to another remarkable tactical idea conjured up by Levon Aronian.

The prize fund is 100,000 Dollars with another 100,000 at stake in a blitz event which follows the Classical Chess tournament. Anatoly Karpov and Judit Polgar are expected to participate.

Aronian 1-0 Morozevich Queen’s Gambit Accepted, 42 moves;
Ponomariov 1-0 Grischuk Slav Defence, 48;
Shirov draw Mamedyarov Ruy Lopez Breyer, 34;
Svidler draw Leko Ruy Lopez Anti Marshall 24;
Carlsen 0-1 Gelfand Slav Defence, 38;

Annotated Game in PGN

Aronian,L (2741) - Morozevich,A (2747) [D27]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (1), 06.11.2006

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 dxc4 4.e3 a6 5.a4 Nf6 6.Bxc4 c5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.Qe2 Be7 9.Rd1 Qc7 10.dxc5 0-0 11.b3 e5! Morozevich strives for the advantage and offer the c5 pawn as bait. 12.h3 [12.Nc3 e4 13.Nd4 Bg4 14.f3 exf3 15.gxf3 Bh5 16.Ba3 Rfe8 17.b4 Ne5 18.Bb3 Rad8 19.Rf1 Bxc5 20.bxc5 Rxd4 21.exd4 Nxf3+ 22.Qxf3 Bxf3 23.Rxf3 Ng4 24.Bxf7+ Kh8 25.Bxe8 Qxh2+ 26.Kf1 Qh1+ 27.Ke2 Qg2+ 28.Kd3 Qxf3+ 29.Kc4 Ne3+ 30.Kb3 Qf5 31.Ra2 Qe6+ 32.d5 Nxd5 33.Re2 Ne3+ 34.Kb2 Qxe8 35.c6 Qxc6 0-1 Riazantsev,A (2608)-Rublevsky,S (2645)/Warsaw POL 2005/The Week in Chess 556] 12...e4 13.Nd4 Ne5 14.b4 b6! 15.Nd2 bxc5 16.bxc5 Bxc5 17.Ba3 Bxa3 18.Rxa3 Ng6 19.Nf1 Qc5! 20.Rc3 Qg5 21.Ng3 h5 22.Kh1 Nh4 Black has more than equalised and now. [22...h4 23.Nf1 Bd7 24.Rdc1 (Not 24.Bxa6? Qa5!) 24...Bxa4 25.Bxa6= was possible. Instead Morozevich opts for mayhem.] 23.Qc2 Nxg2 24.Kxg2 h4 25.Bxf7+! Aronian is one of the few players who can match Morozevich creatively and he has conjured up some tactics of his own. 25...Kxf7 [25...Rxf7? 26.Rxc8+ Rxc8 27.Qxc8+ Rf8 (27...Kh7 28.Qf5+) 28.Qxf8+ Kxf8 29.Ne6+] 26.Rc5 Bxh3+! [26...Nd5? 27.Qb3] 27.Kxh3 Qg4+ 28.Kg2

28...hxg3? It was very far from obvious but Black needed to swap a pair of rooks before capturing on g3. After [28...Rfc8 29.Rc1 Rxc5 30.Qxc5 hxg3 31.Qc7+ Kg8 32.Qxg3 and White is slightly better but Black should hold on.] 29.f3!! An astonishing riposte, suddenly the White king is safe behind the black pawn on g3 while his counterpart is assaulted on the b3-g8 diagonal and down the h file . White is winning. 29...exf3+ 30.Nxf3 Kg8 31.Qa2+ Kh8 32.Rc4! Qf5 33.Rf4! Qh7 34.Rh4 Nh5 35.Rd5 Rf5 [35...g6 36.Rhxh5 gxh5 37.Qb2+ Qg7 38.Rxh5+ Kg8 39.Rg5 wins.] 36.e4! Nf4+ [36...Rxd5 37.Qxd5 wins.] 37.Kxg3 Rh5 38.Rxf4 Rh3+ 39.Kg4 Re8 40.Rdf5 Rg8 41.Qxg8+ Qxg8 42.Rf8 1-0