Tal R03: Anand, Aronian, Kramnik draw first blood

by ChessBase
11/7/2009 – At last: after ten drawn games in the first two rounds the public suddenly had three decisive games on the third day. Vishy Anand piled the pressure on Peter Svidler in an Exchange Grünfeld until the latter cracked; Levon Aronian outplayed Peter Leko in a Semi-Slav; and Vladimir Kramnik played another splendid game, defeating Alexander Morozevich with the black pieces. Round three report.

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Tal Memorial 2009

The Tal Memorial, which is taking place from November 4th to 19th, is the strongest tournament of the year, and at category 21 (average Elo 2764) one of the strongest of all time. It is a ten-player round robin with classical time controls – 40 moves in two hours, then 20 moves in one hour and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game with 30 seconds increment per move in this phase. The first four games take place in the National Hotel (Mokhovaya Street D15), the last five in the mall GUM (Red Square 3). The games start at 15:00h local Moscow time, which is 13:00h EST (Berlin, Paris), 12:00h London, 7:00 a.m. New York, 5:30 p.m. New Delhi, 11:00 p.m. Sydney. You can find the exact starting time at your location here. The World Blitz Championship (see below) will be staged after the main event, from November 16-18 2009 in GUM.

Round three report

Round 3: Saturday, November 7, 2009
Alex. Morozevich 
0-1
 Vladimir Kramnik
Boris Gelfand 
½-½
 Magnus Carlsen
Levon Aronian 
1-0
 Peter Leko
Vassily Ivanchuk 
½-½
 Ruslan Ponomariov
Vishy Anand 
1-0
 Peter Svidler

Anand,V (2788) - Svidler,P (2754) [D85]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (3), 07.11.2009
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bd2 Bg7 6.e4 Nb6 7.Be3 0-0 8.h3 e5 9.Nf3 exd4 10.Bxd4 Bxd4 11.Qxd4 Qe7 12.Qe3 Nc6 13.Bb5 Nb4. A new move, we believe. Peter Svidler deviates in this Exchange Grunfeld from a 2007 game played in Khanty Mansiysk. 14.Rc1 Be6 15.b3 a6 16.Be2 Nc6 17.0-0 f6 18.Rfe1 Rad8 19.Bf1 Bf7 20.Nh2 Be6 21.f4 Nd4 22.f5! Bf7 23.Ng4 gxf5 24.Nh6+ Kh8 25.Qf2

Anand has been steadily exerting pressure, while Svidler, who is lower on the clock, has been trying to relieve it (e.g.with 23...gxf5). Now he breaks down, since the next logical looking move simply loses. 25...fxe4?? 26.Rxe4 Qd6 27.Rd1 c5 28.Nxf7+ Rxf7 29.b4

Black will lose a piece, for example 29...Rc8 30.bxc5 Qxc5 31.Rexd4 Qxc3 32.Rd8+ Rxd8 33.Rxd8+ Kg7 34.Qxb6. Peter Svidler tries something trickier: 29...f5 30.bxc5 fxe4 31.Qxf7 Nf3+ 32.Qxf3. It was of no avail. 1-0. [Click to replay]

Morozevich,A (2750) - Kramnik,V (2772) [E32]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (3), 07.11.2009
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 d5 7.Nf3 dxc4 8.Qxc4 b6 9.Bf4 Ba6 10.Qc2 Nbd7 11.e4 Bxf1 12.Kxf1 c5N. Kramnik has improved over a predecessor game from 2007. 13.Bd6 Re8 14.e5 Nd5 15.h4 cxd4 16.Ng5 f5 17.Qc4 Qc8 18.Qxd4

18...Nc5. So where do you think that knight is going? Just watch. 19.Rd1 Nb3 20.Qd3 (forced) 20...Nc1 21.Qb5 Qc2 22.Rxd5

White is giving the exchange, but there is also a diabolical trap. If Black now thoughtlessly plays 22...exd5?? White can execute the famous once-in-a-lifetime smothered mate: 23.Qxd5+ Kh8 24.Nf7+ Kg8 25.Nh6+ Kh8 26.Qg8+ Rxg8 27.Nf7#. But Kramnik has known the mate since his childhood and plays an important zwischenzug: 22...a6 23.Qxb6 Qc4+ 24.Kg1 exd5 25.g3 h6 26.Nf3 f4 27.g4 Qe4 28.Kg2 Nd3 29.Qb3 Qc4 30.Qb7?

White's last move was suicidal. Our chess engines tell us that his only real defence was Qb3-d1. Now Kramnik can decide things tactically: 30...Nxf2 31.Kxf2 Qc2+ 32.Kg1 Qd1+ 33.Kf2. Giving up the rook. 33.Kg2 Qe2+ 34.Kg1 Qxf3 is even worse. 33...Qxh1 34.e6 Rac8 35.Qf7+ Kh8 36.Bc5 Qc1 37.b4 Qc2+ 38.Kg1 Qe2 39.Nd4 Qxg4+ 40.Kf2 Qxh4+ 41.Ke2 f3+ 42.Kxf3 Rf8 43.Bxf8 Rc3+ 44.Kg2 Qg3+ 45.Kf1 Rc1+ and it is mate in five more moves. 0-1. Splendidly played by Kramnik.

Levon Aronian simply outplayed Peter Leko in a Semi Slav Anti-Meran, winning a pawn and accepting his opponent's resignation after 43 moves.

Aronian,L (2786) - Leko,P (2752) [D43]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (3), 07.11.2009
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Ne5 Bb7 10.h4 g4 11.Nxg4 Nxg4 12.Qxg4 Qxd4 13.Rd1 Qf6 14.a4 h5 15.Qg5 Qxg5 16.hxg5 a6 17.Be5 Rg8 18.Rxh5 Nd7 19.Bf4 b4 20.Nb1 c5 21.f3 Bg7 22.Rh7 Bd4 23.Bxc4 Nf8 24.Rh5 Ng6 25.Bc1 0-0-0 26.b3 Ne5 27.Be2 Rd7 28.Rd2 Rgd8 29.Rc2 Ng6 30.Kf1 Kb8 31.g3 Ka7 32.Nd2 Ne5 33.Nc4 Nc6 34.Rd2 a5 35.Rd1 Ba6 36.f4 Bc3 37.Rxd7+ Rxd7 38.Rh7 Bc8 39.Be3 Bd4 40.Bxd4 cxd4 41.Bd3 Kb8 42.e5 f5 43.gxf6 1-0.

Standings after three rounds


Schedule and results

Round 1: Thursday, November 5, 2009
Magnus Carlsen 
½-½
 Vladimir Kramnik
Alex. Morozevich 
½-½
 Peter Leko
Boris Gelfand 
½-½
 Ruslan Ponomariov
Levon Aronian 
½-½
 Peter Svidler
Vassily Ivanchuk 
½-½
 Vishy Anand
Round 2: Friday, November 6, 2009
Vladimir Kramnik 
½-½
 Vishy Anand
Peter Svidler 
½-½
 Vassily Ivanchuk
Ruslan Ponomariov 
½-½
 Levon Aronian
Peter Leko 
½-½
 Boris Gelfand
Magnus Carlsen 
½-½
 Alex. Morozevich
Round 3: Saturday, November 7, 2009
Alex. Morozevich 
0-1
 Vladimir Kramnik
Boris Gelfand 
½-½
 Magnus Carlsen
Levon Aronian 
1-0
 Peter Leko
Vassily Ivanchuk 
½-½
 Ruslan Ponomariov
Vishy Anand 
1-0
 Peter Svidler
Round 4: Sunday, November 8, 2009
Vladimir Kramnik 
-
 Peter Svidler
Ruslan Ponomariov 
-
 Vishy Anand
Peter Leko 
-
 Vassily Ivanchuk
Magnus Carlsen 
-
 Levon Aronian
Alex. Morozevich 
-
 Boris Gelfand
Games – Report
Monday, November 9, 2009 Free day
M T W T F S S
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 27 27 29 29
Round 5: Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Boris Gelfand 
-
 Vladimir Kramnik
Levon Aronian 
-
 Alex. Morozevich
Vassily Ivanchuk 
-
 Magnus Carlsen
Vishy Anand 
-
 Peter Leko
Peter Svidler 
-
 Ruslan Ponomariov
Games – Report
Round 6: Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Vladimir Kramnik 
-
 Ruslan Ponomariov
Peter Leko 
-
 Peter Svidler
Magnus Carlsen 
-
 Vishy Anand
Alex. Morozevich 
-
 Vassily Ivanchuk
Boris Gelfand 
-
 Levon Aronian
Games – Report
Round 7: Thursday, November 12, 2009
Levon Aronian 
-
 Vladimir Kramnik
Vassily Ivanchuk 
-
 Boris Gelfand
Vishy Anand 
-
 Alex. Morozevich
Peter Svidler 
-
 Magnus Carlsen
Ruslan Ponomariov 
-
 Peter Leko
Games – Report
Round 8: Friday, November 13, 2009
Vladimir Kramnik 
-
 Peter Leko
Magnus Carlsen 
-
 Ruslan Ponomariov
Alex. Morozevich 
-
 Peter Svidler
Boris Gelfand 
-
 Vishy Anand
Levon Aronian 
-
 Vassily Ivanchuk
Games – Report
Round 9: Saturday, November 14, 2009
Vassily Ivanchuk 
-
 Vladimir Kramnik
Vishy Anand 
-
 Levon Aronian
Peter Svidler 
-
 Boris Gelfand
Ruslan Ponomariov 
-
 Alex. Morozevich
Peter Leko 
-
 Magnus Carlsen
Games – Report

Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!


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