6/9/2012 – Kramnik once said that the biggest lesson he learned from the elite was how resiliently they defended. Today Carlsen showed the same gumption as he saved a nightmare position in which Morozevich had doubled rooks on his seventh. McShane cracked at move 40 against Radjabov, while Kramnik played a model game in an impressive win over Grischuk. Illustrated report with GM analysis.
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Seventh Tal Memorial in Moscow
The event is a ten-player round robin event, is taking place from June
8th to 18th in the Pashkov House (Vozdvizhenka Street 3/5, p.1), Moscow,
Russia. Rest days are June 11 and 15. Time control: 100
minutes for the first 40 moves, 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, and
15 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per
move starting from move one. Games start at 15:00h
local time (last round 13:00h).
Draw offers are not allowed until after the first time control. The participants
are required to comment on their games in the press center after each
round. The prize fund is 100,000 Euros.
Round 2:
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Fabiano Caruana
½-½
Hikaru Nakamura
Ev. Tomashevsky
½-½
Levon Aronian
Luke McShane
0-1
Teimour Radjabov
Vladimir Kramnik
1-0
Alexander Grischuk
Alex. Morozevich
½-½
Magnus Carlsen
Round two
After an opening blunder by Magnus Carlsen, Alexander Morozevich soon reached
a nearly decisive advantage in which he doubled his rooks on Black’s seventh
rank. It was literally a textbook position on the deadliness of rooks on the
seventh, and it was all Black could do to avoid drifting into outright zugzwang.
Magnus in deep thought after being on the ropes for nearly the entire game
Yet, in his DVD My
Path to the Top, Kramnik explained that the foremost lesson he learned on
what separated the top players from the rest were their defensive skills and
ability to continuously find ways to keep a game alive. Magnus had to show that
in spades to survive today, and eventually Morozevich slipped after which the
danger passed.
Morozevich realizing the magnitude of his blunder
Carlsen was out of danger, and even had threats of his own – what
a crazy game!
While the Russian will understandably be disappointed, Magnus also has to be
a bit concerned that he got into serious trouble in the opening in both his
first two games.
Luke McShane was not so fortunate as he managed to keep Teimor Radjabov at
bay for most of the game, only to blunder it right before the time control.
The Azeri found the winning shot on move 40 after which the shellshocked Brit
stared at the board for the next 38 minutes before making a move.
Poor McShane just could not get over the last move and just stared and stared
for
over a half an hour. It took him 38 minutes to shake out of it and play a move.
For Radjabov, it marks a perfect 2.0/2 start
The other win of the day was Vladimir Kramnik’s white win over Alexander
Grischuk. Not many players have the courage to play a King’s Indian against
Kramnik after the latter scared off even Garry Kasparov from the opening.
Vladimir Kramnik was in scintillating form as he made his win seem effortless
Kramnik had said that after his game yesterday, he felt he was now in sync
and ready to play, and he showed it as he played a model game combining all
the themes with poetic harmony.
Annotated game by GM Alejandro Ramirez
Levon Aronian, and Evgeny Tomashevsky drew quietly, while Hikaru Nakmaura kept
his younger rival, Fabiano Caruana, under pressure trying to wring water from
stone until giving up after 107 moves and shaking hands.
Complete round two games
Pictures by Eteri Kublashvili and official video feed
Tal
Memorial 2012 Round 2 Play of the day by Daniel King: Kramnik - Grischuk
Every day, GM Daniel King will be selecting a "play of the day"
that he will analyze
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 a free Playchess client there
and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase
11 or any of our Fritz
compatible chess programs.
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