6th Tal Memorial 2011 (8)
Aronian takes Tal Memorial lead with one round to go
IM Malcolm Pein - Saturday 26th November 2011
Malcolm Pein takes a look at Levon Aronian's win against Peter Svidler which gave him a half point lead with a round to go in the Tal Memorial.
Levon Aronian takes a half a point into the final round of the Tal Memorial. Photo © | http://www.russiachess.org
The world number three Levon Aronian took the lead of the Tal Memorial with one game to play after a win over Peter Svidler. The Armenian grandmaster moved to 5/8 with Magnus Carlsen, Sergey Karjakin, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Vasily Ivanchuk on 4.5/8
In the game of the round, the battleground was again the Gruenfeld Defence and Aronian played a line which first came to prominence after Karpov played it against Kasparov in their WCC title contest at London's Park Lane Hotel in 1986.
This is a nice example of a positional squeeze. Objectively, Black may be equal for much of the game but he must play with a great degree of accuracy. Aronian's advanced queenside pawns are always a threat and the e4, a7 and b7 pawns need constant attention.
As befits a tournament dedicated to the 'Magician of Riga', Aronian finds a brilliant sacrifice of a knight that forces the creation of two passed pawns and despite a desperate counterattack from Svidler, the pawns advance to victory. Knights can only hop two squares at a time and this one could not be in two places at once.
L Aronian - P Svidler
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.e3 c5 6.dxc5 Qa5 7.Rc1 dxc4 8.Bxc4 0-0 9.Nf3 Qxc5 10.Bb3 Nc6 11.0-0 Qa5 12.h3 Bf5 13.Qe2 Ne4
Peter Svidler
 |  | | | | |  | |
 | | | | | |  | |
| |  | | | | | |
 | | | | | | | |
| | | | |  | | |
| |  | |  | | | |
| | | |  | | | |
| |  | | | |  | |
Levon Aronian
Position after 13...Ne4
14.Nxe4
(A harmless looking move 14.Nd5 e5 15.Rxc6 exf4 was K-K but the line has been analysed to equality)
14...Bxe4 15.Rfd1 Qh5 16.Bc2 Bxc2 17.Qxc2
White is slightly better developed and Svidler now prevents Qc2-b3
17...Qb5 18.a4 Qb4 19.Ne1 e5
(19...Qxb2 20.Qxb2 Bxb2 21.Rb1 Bf6 22.Rxb7 Nd8! 23.Rbd7 Ne6 is close to equality)
20.Bg3 Rfd8 21.Nd3 Qe7 22.Qc5 Rd6 23.b4 Rad8 24.b5 Rd5 25.Qc2 e4 26.Nf4 Rxd1+ 27.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 28.Qxd1 Nb4 29.Qc1
White's position is still easier to play. The e4 pawn needs to be defended and the advanced queenside pawns have displaced the knight
29...Bf6 30.Qc8+ Kg7 31.Qb8 a6 32.b6
(32.Nxg6 Kxg6 33.Bd6 Qd8 34.Qxd8 Bxd8 35.Bxb4 axb5 36.axb5 Kf6 37.Kf1 Ke5 38.Ke2 Kd5=)
32...Nc6 33.Qc8 h5 34.Ne2 Nd8 35.Bc7 Qe6 36.Qb8 Qd7
(36...Qa2 37.Bxd8 Qa1+! 38.Nc1 Bxd8 39.Qxd8 Qxc1+ 40.Kh2 Qb2 41.Qc7 h4!=)
37.Be5 Ne6 38.Nc3 Qc6 39.a5! h4 40.Bxf6+ Kxf6 41.Qh8+ Kf5
Peter Svidler
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
Levon Aronian
Position after 41...Kf5
42.Qxh4!! Qxc3 43.g4+ Ke5 44.Qh8+ f6 45.Qb8+ Kd5 46.Qxb7+ Qc6 47.Qb8!
(47.Qxc6+ Kxc6 48.h4 Ng7 just about holds)
47...Nc5 48.Qg8+ Qe6 49.Qxg6
and the 'h' pawn advanced
49...Kc4 50.h4 Kd3 51.h5 Ke2 52.h6 Qc4 53.h7 Ke1 54.Qxf6 1-0
Peter Svidler
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
Levon Aronian
Final position after 54.Qxf6
In honour of Tal, one of his winning combinations. Not an easy one, but as a clue, I'll tell you it's based on exploiting the pin on the Nd7.
Klaus Darga
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
Mikhail Tal
White to play and win
Answer: 25.Re6!!
25 Be6? Qc6+
25...Rbb8
25...Rb7 26.Rd6
26.Rd6 Rbd8 27.Rd1 1-0
in view of 27.Rd1 Qc8 28.Bf3
