Tal Round 2: Anand, Giri show power

X Jubilee Tal Memorial is taking place from 25 September to 6 October 2016 in the Moscow Museum of Russian Impressionism. The tournament will be a continuation of the program "Chess in Museums", which is being implemented by the Russian Chess Federation together with the Charitable Foundation of Elena and Gennady Timchenko. The General Partner of the Russian Chess Federation for the X Tal Memorial is the state company "Russian Highways" ("Avtodor").

The prize fund for the event is 200 thousand USD.

The tournament is a round-robin over nine rounds played at 100 minutes for 40 moves plus 50 minutes for 20 moves and 15 minutes until the end of the game with 30 seconds for each move starting from the first. The chief arbiter is International Arbiter Anatoly Bykhovsky.

Round Two

Photos by Eteri Kublashvili

Chess wasn't the only activity in the museum today. These girls are learning Russian Impressionism.

Two victories marked a very, very long round.

Kramnik, Vladimir ½-½ Li Chao
When Vladimir Kramnik plays a symmetrical structure, especially with white, you can be guaranteed that he is not trying for any sort of draw. Indeed, the Russian kept pushing an insignificant advantage against Li Chao, who had to sit down and suffer a draw for the duration of all the time controls. Eventually, though, the Chinese player held. As commentator Daniil Dubov pointed out, either of Kramnik's games in this year's Tal Memorial have lasted longer than Nepomniachtchi's two games put together.

"+0.11? I will be here for seven more hours!"
Defending against Kramnik even a small disadvantage is no joke.

Anand, Viswanathan 1-0 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
Perhaps the inclusion of a dubious a4 break was mistake enough for the Tiger of Madras to bring home a great point, culminating with a study-like finish.

Anand puts a little more distance between himself and Harikrishna! India's number two crossed into the top-10 in the live ratings today after beating Cheparinov. Anand is still 15 points ahead after today's win.

Gelfand, Boris 0-1 Giri, Anish
The Dutch player showed some excellent feel for the initiative, first sacrificing a pawn and then an exchange. An attacking and powerful victory on the Black side of a King's Indian.

Gelfand technically flagged, but his position was already hopeless. A nice onslaught by Giri.

Tomashevsky, Evgeny ½-½ Aronian, Levon
Tomashevsky and Aronian found a quick repetition in a known line of the Orthodox Queen's Gambit.

Svidler, Peter ½-½ Nepomniachtchi, Ian
Sometimes, it is difficult to play against your own pet opening. Svidler was unable to find much against Nepomniachtchi's Grunfeld, in which, in typical fashion for this defense, Black sacrificed a pawn for piece activity. White accepted a draw in an about even position.

Easy win with white, easy draw with black. Life is good for Nepo.

After Svidler's short game, he went to hang out with Miroshnichenko in the official commentary

Replay today's games

Select games from the list below the board

Standings after Round Two

Final blitz standings

Schedule and pairings

Links Official tournament site All blitz games in PGN All games in PGN 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 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.