5th Tal Memorial: Mamedyarov takes lead; Karjakin crushes Kramnik

by ChessBase
11/14/2010 – It was an enthralling round, in which fans were able to see it all, enjoy it all. Going into the eighth round, there was a three-way tie for first, which was broken after Mamedyarov overcame his rival, Wang Hao, in a fine game, and took the lead. Shirov also won an explosive game against Pavel Eljanov, but the game of the round was Karjakin's crushing victory over Kramnik. Round eight report.

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The 5th Tal Memorial takes place from November 5th to November 14th, in Moscow, Russia. It is a nine-round round-robin event.

Time control: 40 moves in 100 minutes followed by 20 moves in 50 minutes followed by the game in 15 minutes with a 30 second increment as of move one.

Game start: 3 PM local time (5 AM Pacific daylight / 8 AM New York / 1 PM Paris) - rest day on November 9th (Mikhail Tal's birthday)

Video coverage: The Russian Federation is providing exceptional daily coverage, with full replays available at the right of the page.


The onset of the fifth round

Round five

Round 8: Saturday, November 13th, 2010
S. Mamedyarov 
1-0
 Wang Hao
S. Karjakin 
1-0
 V. Kramnik
A. Shirov 
1-0
 P. Eljanov
L. Aronian 
½-½
 A. Grischuk
H. Nakamura 
½-½
 B. Gelfand

The penultimate round was enthralling in terms of sport and chess. Aronian drew fairly quickly against Grischuk in a QGD, while Nakamura and Gelfand traded blows with few fireworks and a just draw. Among the decisive games, Shirov was the first to dispatch his opponent, the luckless Eljanov, with whom he had shared last place after the first rounds. After an error in the opening, Shirov pressed forward an attack with his characteristic energy and won in style.


Shirov won his game in his trademark style, and one he commented on at length in
the post-mortem.

Shirov,A (2735) - Eljanov,P (2742) [B12]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (8), 13.11.2010

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 c5 6.Be3 Nd7 7.0-0 Ne7 8.c4 dxc4 9.Na3 c3 10.Nb5 Nd5 11.Nxc3 Nxc3. 11...Nxe3 12.fxe3 Be7 13.Qb3 0-0 14.Qxb7 Rb8 15.Qxa7 cxd4 16.exd4 Ra8 17.Qb7 Rb8 18.Qa7 Rxb2 19.Bb5 Nb6 20.a4 Bg4 0-1 Morozevich,A (2788)-Kamsky,G (2723)/Moscow 2008/CBM 126 (69) 12.bxc3 Be7 13.dxc5








13...Bxc5?? A blunder, and a strange one. It isn't just that Eljanov missed the fairly obvious pin with Qa4-Rd1-Bb5, but that the c5 pawn is going nowhere and there was absolutely no hurry to capture it. 13...0-0 was the simple and correct continuation. 14.Qa4 Bxe3 15.Rad1! a6 16.fxe3 b5 17.Qf4 Qc7 18.g4 Bg6 19.h4 h5 20.Rd6 hxg4 21.Nd4 Nc5. Black could also try castling now 21...0-0 but it would still not prevent White from building up a huge initiative with 22.Bxg4 Nc5 (22...Bd3? 23.Rf2 Nc5 24.Rg2 With a very strong attack.) 23.Bf3 Rae8 24.Nc6 (The immediate 24.h5?! is less efficient. 24...Bd3 25.Rf2 f6 26.Rg2 Kh8 and if 27.h6 g5!) 24...Kh8 25.h5! Bf5 26.h6! And White's attack is very strong. 22.Qxg4 Qe7 23.Bf3 Rxh4 24.Bc6+ Kf8 25.Qxg6 1-0. [Click to replay]

Karjakin played an extremely inspired game against Kramnik, and not only scored his first win against the ex-Wrold Champion at tournament time controls, but did so spectacularly.

Karjakin,Sergey (2760) - Kramnik,V (2791) [C42]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (8), 13.11.2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Be3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nd7 9.0-0-0 Again this line, and again Kramnik joins Gelfand to seek an adequate plan for black. Although he drew against Nakamura, it was after landing himself in a heap of trouble, so he deviates from that line and instead tries 9...Ne5 10.h4 c6 11.c4 Be6 12.Ng5 Bf5N








A theoretical novelty, but can this be good? Just one move before Black played Be6, and now Bf5? Aside from the risk that this may be wasting a much needed tempo, it also places the bishop directly in the line of fire of White's kingside pawn phallanx. 12...Nxc4 13.Qd3 Bxg5 14.hxg5 g6 15.Bf4 Qb6 16.Qd4 Qxd4 17.Rxd4 d5 18.Bxc4 dxc4 19.Be5 f5 20.gxf6 Rae8 21.Rh6 c3 22.Rxh7 cxb2+ 23.Kxb2 Kxh7 24.Rh4+ Kg8 25.f7+ Kxf7 26.Rh7+ Kg8 27.Rh8+ Kf7 28.Rh7+ Kg8 29.Rh8+ 1/2-1/2 Gashimov,V (2734)-Gelfand,B (2741)/Astrakhan 2010/CB20_2010 13.Kb1 Re8 14.f3 h6 15.Be2!








The exclamation is for courage and ambition. The move is not winning per se, at least no win presents itself, but nor is it losing by any means.

15...d5 The obvious question is what happens if black takes. It looks risky, but still, one should never let looks be the sole deciding factor. 15...hxg5 16.hxg5 Qd7 is worse, and after (16...Qc8 is Black's best option, which would lead to an equal game after 17.g4 Bg6 18.Rdg1 (18.Bd4 c5) 18...Qe6 19.f4 Be4 20.Rh3 Bxg5 21.fxg5 c5) 17.g4 Bg6 18.Bd4! would be in trouble. Aside from placing the bishop on a better diagonal, the immediate threat is Bxe5, atfer which White would get a strong attack with f4. 16.g4 Bg6?!








17.f4! dxc4 18.Qc3 Nd3. Black has no choice since his queen is also under attack. 19.f5! Outstanding! Karjakin is extremely inspired today. In any case, the d3 knight is going nowhere. 19...Bxg5 20.fxg6 Rxe3








21.gxf7+? An inaccuracy that might have let Kramnik survive. 21.Qxc4! was best. 21...Bxh4 22.Bxd3 Qe7 23.Bf5 and Black is in trouble. 21...Kf8

22.Qxc4 Rxe2? 22...Bxh4! 23.Bxd3 Bf6 23.hxg5 Qxg5? 23...b5 was best, keeping the queen covering d3 still. 24.Qb3 Qd5 25.Qxd5 cxd5 26.Rxd3 Kxf7 27.gxh6 gxh6 28.Rxd5 24.Qxd3+- Qe3 25.Qh7 Qe4 26.Qg8+ Ke7 27.Qxg7 Qxc2+ 28.Ka1 Rf8 29.Rhf1 Rd2 30.Rfe1+


Wang Hao gives Karjakin a knowing smile after seeing the board

Re2 31.Qc3 Kxf7 32.Qf3+ and White wins a rook, so... 1-0

Since Aronian had drawn fairly early, it was up to Mamedyarov and Wang Hao, who shared first place with the Armenian, to see whether either might take sole lead. In a fairly tame queenless middlegame, the Azerbaijani managed to work his way in little by little, and finally broke through with a beautiful shot that soon ended the game. With his win, he will be the sole leader entering the last round, and is furthermore closing in on Kramnik in the provisional ratings.

Mamedyarov,S (2763) - Wang Hao (2727) [D38]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (8), 13.11.2010

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 0-0 8.Rc1 dxc4 9.Bxc4 c5 10.0-0 cxd4 11.exd4 Nc6 12.Ne4 Qe7 13.Qe2. 13.Qc2 Rd8 14.Rfd1 Bd7 15.a3 Ba5 16.b4 Bb6 17.Nc5 Be8 18.d5 exd5 19.Bxd5 a5 20.Na4 Ba7 21.b5 Nd4 22.Nxd4 Rxd5 23.Nf5 Rxd1+ 24.Rxd1 Qxa3 0-1 Aronian,L (2786)-Kramnik,V (2772)/Moscow 2009/EXT 2010 (52) 13...Rd8 14.Rfd1 Bd7 15.Bd3N Be8 16.Bb1 Ba5 17.Nc5 Bb6 18.a3 Bxc5 19.Qc2 f5 20.Qxc5 Qxc5 21.Rxc5 Rd6 22.d5 Bh5?! 23.Rd3 exd5 24.Rcxd5 Rf6 25.b4 Bf7 26.Rd7 Bc4 27.Rd2 Re8 28.h4 b5 29.Rc7 Ne5 30.Nxe5 Rxe5


Shak Mamedyarov is now ahead of the rest, barely, with a 2895 performance

31.Kh2 a6 Shak has been weaving his way in, bit by bit, slowly outplaying his rival.








32.g4!! Brilliant! 32...Be6 33.g5! hxg5 34.hxg5








Now White is threatening one nasty shot after the other. 34...Rf8. 34...Rf7? 35.g6! And if 35...Rxc7? 36.Rd8#; 34...Rg6 35.f4 Rd5 (35...Re3 36.Rd8+ Kh7 37.Re7) 36.Rxd5 Bxd5 37.Bxf5+- 35.Re7 Re1. 35...Rf7? 36.g6! and again if 36...Rxe7 37.Rd8+ 36.Ba2 1-0. [Click to replay]

Pictures by Anna Burtasova (Russian Chess Federation)

Standings and Crosstable

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Schedule and results

Round 1: Friday, November 5th, 2010
S. Mamedyarov 
½-½
 H. Nakamura
S. Karjakin 
1-0
 B. Gelfand
A. Shirov 
0-1
 Wang Hao 
L. Aronian 
1-0
 V. Kramnik 
A. Grischuk 
1-0
 P. Eljanov
Round 2: Saturday, November 6th, 2010
S. Mamedyarov 
½-½
 S. Karjakin
B. Gelfand 
1-0
 A. Shirov
Wang Hao 
½-½  L. Aronian
V. Kramnik 
½-½
 A. Grischuk
 H. Nakamura 
1-0
 P. Eljanov
Round 3: Sunday, November 7th, 2009
A. Shirov 
0-1
 S. Mamedyarov 
S. Karjakin 
½-½
 H. Nakamura
L. Aronian 
1-0
 B. Gelfand
A. Grischuk 
½-½
 Wang Hao
P. Eljanov 
0-1
 V. Kramnik
Round 4: Monday, November 8th, 2010
S. Mamedyarov 
½-½
 L. Aronian
S. Karjakin 
½-½
 A. Shirov
B. Gelfand 
½-½
 A. Grischuk
Wang Hao 
½-½
 P. Eljanov
H. Nakamura 
½-½
 V. Kramnik
Round 5: Wednesday, November 10th, 2010
A. Grischuk 
½-½
 S. Mamedyarov 
L. Aronian 
½-½
 S. Karjakin
A. Shirov 
½-½
 H. Nakamura
P.Eljanov 
1-0
 B. Gelfand
V. Kramnik 
½-½
 Wang Hao
Round 6: Thursday, November 11th, 2010
S. Mamedyarov 
1-0
 P. Eljanov
S. Karjakin 
½-½
 A. Grischuk
A. Shirov 
½-½
 L. Aronian
B. Gelfand 
½-½
 V. Kramnik
H. Nakamura 
½-½
 Wang Hao
Round 7: Friday, November 12th, 2010
V. Kramnik 
½-½
 S. Mamedyarov 
P. Eljanov 
½-½
 S. Karjakin
A. Grischuk 
½-½
 A. Shirov
L. Aronian 
½-½
 H. Nakamura
Wang Hao 
1-0
 B. Gelfand
Round 8: Saturday, November 13th, 2010
S. Mamedyarov 
1-0
 Wang Hao
S. Karjakin 
1-0
 V. Kramnik
A. Shirov 
1-0
 P. Eljanov
L. Aronian 
½-½
 A. Grischuk
H. Nakamura 
½-½
 B. Gelfand
Round 9: Sunday, November 14th, 2010
B. Gelfand 
 
 S. Mamedyarov 
Wang Hao 
   S. Karjakin
V. Kramnik 
   A. Shirov
P. Eljanov 
   L. Aronian
A. Grischuk 
   H. Nakamura
Games – Report

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