Tal Memorial 2009 (9)
Anxious moments for winner Kramnik
IM Malcolm Pein - Thursday 19th November 2009
Vladimir Kramnik had some anxious moments in the final round of the Tal Memorial but emerged a worthy winner after a draw with black against Vasily Ivanchuk took his score to 6/9. The former world champion was unbeaten, half a point ahead of Ivanchuk and Magnus Carlsen.
Vladimir Kramnik had some anxious moments in the final round of the Tal Memorial but emerged a worthy winner after a draw with black against Vasily Ivanchuk took his score to 6/9. The former world champion was unbeaten, half a point ahead of Ivanchuk and Magnus Carlsen.
Kramnik's position looked critical as his king was attacked by queen, two knights and bishop but Ivanchuk decided against sacrificing material when the opportunity arose and Kramnik engineered an escape.
Carlsen defeated Peter Leko with black and consigned the latter to the bottom of the score table. I was amazed Leko lost this game, the ending was a fairly easy draw.
There were two other decisive games. The world champion Vishy Anand lost horribly with white in a miniature to Levon Aronian. Anand seemed to be paralysed after the opening. Ruslan Ponomariov won a nice Catalan against Alexander Morozevich who did not show the requisite solidity to compete successfully at the very top level.
Final scores
Scores: 1 Kramnik 6/9 2-3 Ivanchuk, Carlsen 5.5; 4-5 Aronian, Anand 5;
6 Gelfand 4.5; 7 Ponomariov 4; 8 Svidler 3.5; 9-10 Leko, Morozevich 3
V Anand - L Aronian
a6 Slav
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.e3 b5 6.c5 Nbd7 7.Bd3 e5 8.Nxe5 Nxe5 9.dxe5 Nd7
(9...Ng4 10.f4 Bxc5 11.Qf3 Qb6 12.Ke2 Gelfand - Aronian 2008 was very unclear)
10.e6 Nxc5!
(10...fxe6 11.Qh5+ Ke7 12.0-0 with more than enough play for the pawn)
11.exf7+ Kxf7 12.b3
(12.Bc2 Qf6 13.0-0 was best now Black's pieces come flooding out. Not 12.Bc2 Qf6 13.Nxd5 cxd5 14.Qxd5+ Be6 15.Qxa8 Nd3+! 16.Bxd3 Bb4+ or 13.Nxd5 cxd5 14.Qxd5+ Be6 15.Qxa8 Nd3+ 16.Ke2 Qxf2+ 17.Kxd3 Bc4+ 18.Kd4 Bc5+)
12...Nxd3+ 13.Qxd3 Qg5 14.g3 Qf6 15.Bb2 Qf3 16.Rg1 Bg4 17.a3
(17.Qe2 Bb4 18.Qxf3+ Bxf3 and White is still in a tangle)
17...Re8 18.Rc1 b4 19.axb4 Bxb4 20.h3
(White's position is so desperate he will give up 2 pawns to escape)
20...Bxh3 21.g4 Bxg4 22.Rg3 Qf5 23.Qd4 Re4 24.Qa7+ Qd7 25.Qb6 c5 0-1
Levon Aronian
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Viswanathan Anand
Final position after 25...c5
R Ponomariov - A Morozevich
Catalan
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 a6 6.0-0 Nc6 7.Bg5 Be7 8.e3 0-0
(8...b5 9.Ne5 Nxe5 10.Bxa8)
9.Nbd2 e5 10.Nxc4 exd4 11.Nxd4 Nxd4 12.Qxd4 Qxd4
(12...Be6!?)
13.exd4 Rd8 14.Rfd1 Bg4 15.Re1! Bb4
(15...Rxd4 16.Rxe7 Rxc4 17.Bxf6 gxf6 18.Bd5!)
16.Rec1! Rab8
(16...Rxd4 17.Bxb7)
17.a3 Bf8 18.Ne3 Rxd4 19.Rxc7 Be2
(19...b5 the Catalan bishop on g2 is too powerful 20.Bxf6 gxf6 21.Nxg4 Rxg4 22.Bd5)
20.Rxb7 Rxb7 21.Bxb7 Nd7 22.Nf5 Ra4 23.Re1 Bb5 24.Re8 h6 25.Be7 g6 26.b3 Ra5 27.Bb4 1-0
