Tal-Mem R8: Peter Svidler beats Alexander Morozevich

The Tal Memorial chess festival is being held in Moscow from November 5th to 19th, 2006. It is a round-robin super-tournament of Category 20, with participants from seven countries. The rating favorite is Peter Svidler, 2750, Russia, the dark horse is 15-year-old Magnus Carlsen of Norway, at 2698 the only participant rated below 2700. All games start at 15:00h Moscow time (= 13:00h CET, 12:00 noon London, 7 a.m. New York). There is live broadcast on the official site and on Playchess.com.

Round eight

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Peter Leko analysing their game

Leko-Mamedyarov was a Chigorin in which neither side had any real chances and the game ended in a 39-move draw.

Shirov-Gelfand was a Slav that followed Kacheishvili-Rogic, Kusadasi 2006, up to move 11. That game was horribly misplayed by Rogic, but Israel's top GM Boris Gelfand never got into trouble and the game was drawn in 24 moves.

Aronian-Grischuk was ten moves of Queen's Indian theory, and six moves later, with one pair of pawns off the board, the game was drawn.

Carlsen-Ponomariov was a protracted (60-move) struggle in which the young Norwegian, if anybody, was pressing for the full point. They played it out until both sides had just a knight each left on the board.

Svidler-Morozevich was a wonderful attacking game by the world's number four Peter Svidler from St. Petersburg, who desperately needed a win to break the curse of the late-tournament slump. Svidler picked up a pawn on move 39, then another on move 56, trading his queen for two rooks, and then used these to harass the black king until at move 80 Alexander Morozevich had had enough.

Svidler,P (2750) - Morozevich,A (2747) [C92]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (8), 15.11.2006
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Re8 10.Ng5 Rf8 11.Nf3 Bb7 12.d4 Re8 13.Nbd2 Bf8 14.d5 Nb8 15.Nf1 Nbd7 16.N3h2 Nc5 17.Bc2 c6 18.b4 Ncd7 19.dxc6 Bxc6 20.Bg5 Qc8 21.Ng3 h6 22.Bxf6 Nxf6 23.Bb3 a5 24.bxa5 Bd7 25.Qf3 Be6 26.Nf5 Kh7 27.Ng4 Nxg4 28.hxg4 Rxa5 29.Rad1 Ra6 30.Rd3 g6 31.Ne3 Kg7 32.Rb1 Be7 33.Qe2 Ra5 34.Rd2 Bg5 35.Rxd6 Bxb3 36.axb3 Qxc3 37.Nd5 Qc8 38.Rb6 Ra7 39.Rxb5 Qa6 40.Nb4 Qe6 41.Nd3 Qa6 42.Rd5 Rc7 43.b4 Qc4 44.Qe1 Qc2 45.Nc5 Rc6 46.Qd1 Qa2 47.Qb3 Qe2 48.Qd3 Qa2 49.b5 Rf6 50.Rf1 Ra8 51.Qb3 Qe2 52.Qd1 Qb2 53.Nd3 Qc3 54.Nxe5 Rxf2 55.Rxf2 Ra1 56.Rxf7+ Kg8 57.Rf1 Rxd1 58.Rfxd1 Qg3 59.Nf3 Be3+ 60.Kh1 Qxg4 61.Rd8+ Kg7 62.R1d7+ Kf6 63.Rf8+ Ke6 64.Rd5 Ke7 65.Rf7+ Ke8 66.Rh7 Qf4 67.Re5+ Kd8 68.Re6 Qg4 69.Rh8+ Kc7 70.b6+ Bxb6 71.Rc6+ Kb7 72.Rh7+ Ka8 73.Rxh6 Be3 74.Rh8+ Kb7 75.Rh7+ Kb8 76.Rf6 Bc5 77.Rff7 Qc8 78.Ne5 Bd6 79.Nc6+ Qxc6 80.Rh8+ 1-0.

• All pictures by courtesy of the Russian chess magazine "64". You can visit their web site and find a lot more pictures from round eight here and here.

Standings

The final round

Tomorrow, Thursday, is the final round, and the big match for the title is Ponomariov vs Leko, with Gelfand probably ready to go after Aronian to secure a place on the top of the table. We can run a few simulations:

• If Ponomariov and Leko draw, and Gelfand beats Aronian, then three players tie for first: Leko, Gelfand and Ponomariov.
• If Ponomariov beats Leko and Gelfand beats Aronian, then Ponomariov is the sole winner, and Gelfand is alone in second place, followed by Leko and Aronian who tie for 3-4. Naturally if Leko beats Ponomariov he is first, and Ponomariov ties for 3-4 with Aronian.
• If Ponomariov beats Leko and Gelfand draws Aronian, then Ponomariov is first, Aronian second, and Gelfand and Leko tie for 3-4.
• If Ponomariov and Leko draw, and Aronian beats Gelfand, then Aronian is the sole winner, followed by Leko and Ponomariov, and four players in 4-7th place.

It is going to be an exciting finish, well worth watching. See you on Playchess.com, where you can join world-class grandmasters to catch all the action from Moscow.

Links

• Official web site – slowly improving
• All games so far in PGN

Schedule and results