Tal Memorial 2009 (2)
More draws in Round 2
IM Malcolm Pein - Monday 9th November 2009
The first two rounds of the Tal Memorial at Moscow have seen ten draws and were the 'Magician from Riga' alive today he would not have approved. To be fair to the ten players, there have been sacrifices and aggressive intent but on no occasion has the balance been seriously disturbed.
The first two rounds of the Tal Memorial at Moscow have seen ten draws and were the 'Magician from Riga' alive today he would not have approved. To be fair to the ten players, there have been sacrifices and aggressive intent but on no occasion has the balance been seriously disturbed.
Vladimir Kramnik sacrificed his queen against Vishy Anand's Gruenfeld Defence but I suspect the whole 29 move game was home analysis and the result was a drawn endgame. Boris Gelfand sacrificed rook for bishop and passed pawn against Peter Leko and expertly secured a draw in the endgame despite the small material deficit.
Alexander Morozevich invested a pawn playing black against Magnus Carlsen and was comfortably placed throughout while Vasily Ivanchuk played very aggressively against Peter Svidler's Ruy Lopez and even castled queenside but could not develop his initiative.
Round two results
Carlsen draw Morozevich, Nimzo-Indian Defence; Kramnik draw Anand, Gruenfeld Defence; Ponomariov draw Aronian, Gruenfeld Defence; Leko draw Gelfand, Petroff Defence; Svidler, draw Ivanchuk, Ruy Lopez. Everyone has 1/2
I have been playing this line with both colours for 35 years and had always thought Black's position slightly precarious so I was surprised by the calm 12...b6 and 13...Rb8. White exerts some pressure but after 25...Rg7 Black's position is solid and his queen well placed.
R Ponomariov - L Aronian
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 0-0 8.Ne2 c5 9.0-0 Nc6 10.Be3 Qc7 11.Rc1 Rd8 12.Qd2 b6
(12...Qa5 13.Bh6 cxd4 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.Qf4)
13.Bh6 Rb8 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.Qe3
(15.f4 b5 16.Bb3 Qb6 17.f5 cxd4!)
15...e5 16.Qg3! cxd4
(16...b5 17.Bd3 f6 18.d5 Ne7 19.f4)
17.cxd4 Qd6 18.d5 Na5 19.Bd3 Rb7 20.f4 exf4 21.Nxf4 Kg8 22.Qg5
(22.Rc3 to double on the c file was possible as 22...Rc7 23.Rxc7 Qxc7 24.Qg5 with Nh5 to follow is strong so 22...Re7)
22...f6 23.Qh6 Rf7
Levon Aronian
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Ruslan Ponomariov
Position after 23...Rf7
24.Rf3
(Computers like 24.Nxg6 hxg6 25.Qxg6+ Rg7 26.Qxf6 Qxf6 27.Rxf6 but it doesn't look like much for White)
24...Qe5 25.Rg3 Rg7 26.Nxg6 hxg6 27.Rxg6 Rxg6 28.Qxg6+ Kh8
(28...Kf8 29.Rf1 Rd6 30.Qh6+ and Ke7 or 30...Kf7 are too dangerous)
29.Qh6+ Kg8 30.Qg6+ Kh8 31.Qh6+ Kg8 32.Qg6+ draw
V Kramnik - V Anand
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.Rb1 0-0 9.Be2 cxd4 10.cxd4 Qa5+ 11.Bd2 Qxa2 12.0-0 Bg4 13.Bg5 h6 14.Bh4 g5 15.Bg3 Nc6 16.d5 Rad8 17.Rxb7 e6 18.Bc7 Bxf3 19.Bxf3 Rd7 20.dxc6 Rxd1 21.Rxd1 Qc2 22.Bd6 g4 23.Bxg4 Qxc6 24.Rc7 Qb6 25.Rd7 Rd8 26.Bc7 Rxd7 27.Bxb6 Rxd1+ 28.Bxd1 axb6 29.Kf1 draw
