Tashir 01: Grischuk cleans up

by Alejandro Ramirez
11/5/2014 – Making it look very easy, Grischuk was able to dispatch Inarkiev by obtaining a strong position from the opening and nursing his advantage into a winning endgame. The other three games were draws where neither side had any particularly good winning chance, except perhaps Leko who obtained a slight edge against Morozevich's 2...a6 Sicilian. Annotated games and report of round one.
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The International tournament Tashir memory Tigran Petrosian held in Moscow from 3 to 11 November 2014. Round Robin, seven rounds. Time control: 100 minutes for 40 moves + 50 minutes for 20 moves + 15 minutes to the end of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from the first. Match days: 4-6, November 8-11. November 7 - the day off. The tours start at 15.00, the last 7 tour will begin at 13.00 Moscow time. Limit of delay - 60 minutes. Players are forbidden to enter into negotiations for a draw before the 40th move, inclusive. The prize fund - 100 thousand euros. Chief Judge of the tournament - Boris Postovsky. The Chairman of the Appeals Committee - Rafael Vaganyan (Armenia).

Round One

Round 01 – November 04
Ding Liren 2730
½-½;
 Kramnik, Vladimir 2760
Leko, Peter 2731
 ½-½;
 Morozevich, Alexander 2724
Aronian, Levon 2797
½-½; 
 Gelfand, Boris 2759
Grischuk, Alexander 2795
1-0 
 Inarkiev, Ernesto 2688

The hostesses greet the players and the spectators and show the way to the playing hall

Everything's ready for the games to start, with a gorgeous set up for live commentary

Ding Liren ½-½ Kramnik, Vladimir
Kramnik essayed a variation of the Exchange Queen's Gambit Declined that is ultra solid. The doubled f-pawns seem to be no problem in this variation and Black has been holding on very solidly in the recent past. Hopefully this does not become a trend.

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 6.Qc2 is a way to prevent the variation that happened in the game, but it also allows its own side variations. 6...Bf5 Much to my personal displeasure people are starting to figure out that this endgame with the double-pawns on f6 and f7 is not that bad for Black. 7.Qf3 Bg6 8.Bxf6 Qxf6 9.Qxf6 gxf6 10.Nf3 Nd7 11.Nh4 There isn't much in the way of set theory in this variation. White has long-term pressure against the f-pawns but Black is very solid, he has the pair of bishops and he will have many active pieces after maneuvering to the right spots. Be7 12.g3 Nb6 The knight is going to d6 where it can later choose on e4 or c4 depending on the circumstances. 13.0-0-0 Nc8 14.Bd3 Nd6 15.Kc2 Kd7 16.f3 Bxd3+ You know that White must have a hard time converting anything in this position, or even proving an advantage, when Black can get away with just trading off the g6 bishop. 17.Kxd3 f5 18.Ng2 h5 19.h4 Rag8 20.Rh3 Black has pressure on g3 and it's very hard to do anything with White besides have a pretty knight on f4. Ding Liren simply doesn't find a way forward from him. Ne8 21.Ke2 Bd6 22.Kf2 Nf6 23.Ne2 a5 24.b3 Re8 25.Rhh1 Re7 26.Nef4 Rg8 27.Rd2 Ree8 28.Rc2 Kc7 29.a4 Kd7 30.Rh3 Rg7 31.Nd3 Kc7 32.Ngf4 Reg8 33.Rc1 Kb8 34.Rg1 Kc7 35.Rh2 Rb8 36.Rc1 Rbg8 37.Rg2 Kb8 38.Rcg1 Kc7 39.Rb1 Re8 40.Rgg1 Reg8 41.Rbc1 ½–½
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Ding,L2730Kramnik,V2760½–½2014D35Petrosian Memorial 20141.1

Kramnik comfortably held this endgame. Which is honestly quite boring.

Leko, Peter ½-½ Morozevich, Alexander
Morozevich's 2...a6?! is not the wildest thing he has done in chess, but it was strange. Leko decided to transpose into a c3-Sicilian and obtained a pleasant advantage. Morozevich went for some kind of counterattack that would have been fine if left alone and ignored, but Leko devoted too many resources to "stopping" it. At the end he didn't have enough resources to push forward any advantage.

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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 a6 Morozevich changing it up. This move isn't terrible, but it's hard to justify. 3.c3 3.d4? is a known trap. cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5! and now White can't go to f5 or b5. 6.Nf5?! d5 3...d5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.d4 Nf6 6.Be2 White is playing a normal c3 Sicilian, but Black doesn't always want to play a6. 6.Be3 scores well. 6...e6 7.0-0 cxd4 8.cxd4 Nc6 9.Nc3 Qd6 10.Be3 Be7 11.Nd2 Nd5 11...Nb4 12.Nc4 Qd8 is an old game between Gufeld-Taimanov, 1963. 12.Nde4 Qd8 13.Nxd5 exd5 14.Nc5 White has the better side of this symmetrical pawn structure as he is better developed. 0-0 15.Rc1 f5!? Mixing it up! This will cause long-term weaknesses but the immediate activity might be uncomfortable to deal with for White. 16.Nd3 16.g3 f4 17.Bxf4 Rxf4 18.gxf4 Bd6∞ 16...Bd6 17.f4?! It wasn't necessary to play the same game. 17.Bf3 f4 18.Bd2 kind of asking Black "so what". Be6 18...Nxd4 19.Bxd5+ Kh8 20.Rc4! Is "the point" as Black cannot save his f4 pawn. Ne6 21.Qh5 and White's clearly controlling the board. 19.Bc3 Qf6 20.Re1 White's knight is going to e5 and he has good pressure on d5. 17...Qb6 18.Kh1 Be6 19.Qd2 Rfe8 20.Ne5 Rac8 21.a3 a5 22.Bd1 Nxe5 23.dxe5 23.fxe5 23...Bc5 24.Rxc5 Rxc5 25.Bxc5 Qxc5 26.Bf3 White still retains an edge in this endgame with the passed pawn and pressure on d5, but with only one weakness to protect Morozevich's defenseive task is not the hardest. Rc8 27.Rd1 Kf8 28.h3 b6 29.Kh2 h6 30.Kg3 Qb5 31.Kh2 Qc5 32.h4 Rc7 33.h5 Rc8 34.Kg3 Qb5 35.Kh2 Qc4 36.Qe3 Qb5 37.Qd2 Qc4 38.Qe3 Qb5 39.Qd2 ½–½
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Leko,P2731Morozevich,A2724½–½2014B28Petrosian Memorial 20141.2

Morozevich came up with something unusual, as usual

Aronian, Levon ½-½ Gelfand, Boris
Aronian's attempt to play a normal game against the isolated pawn didn't pan out so well. Gelfand comfortably resisted any pressure that was put against his structure and drew an endgame that was equal, but which he probably messed up just a little bit.

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1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.d4 d5 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Bb5 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bd7 9.0-0 Bd6 10.b3 0-0 11.Bb2 Re8 In this particular version of the isolated pawn Black should have relative few problems. With so many pieces still on the board and as much development as Black has there must be a way to obtain enough counterplay to justify the weakness in the center of the board. 12.Nce2 Be5 13.Nxc6 bxc6 14.Bxe5 Rxe5 15.Ba4 c5 16.Bxd7 Qxd7 The hanging pawns are a liability in the endgame, but we are not quite there yet and White does not have too much to work with. 17.Rc1 Rc8 18.Qd2 Ree8 19.Rfd1 Qb7 20.Nc3 c4 21.bxc4 dxc4 22.Rb1 Qe7 23.Qd6 Qxd6 24.Rxd6 Ne4 25.Nxe4 Rxe4 26.Rc6 Tricky, but insufficient for an advantage. Ree8 27.Rxc8 Rxc8 28.Kf1 g6 29.Ke2 Rc5 30.Rb2 Ra5 31.Kf3 Ra4 32.Rc2 c3 33.Ke2 h5 34.Kd3 Ra3 35.Kc4 a5 Black's little fortress on the queenside means that the game isn't going anywhere. 36.g3 Kg7 37.f4 Kf6 38.Kd5 Ra4 39.e4 Ke7 40.Ke5 Ra3 41.h4 f6+ 42.Kd5 Kf7 43.e5 Ke7 44.e6 Ra4 45.Rxc3 Rxa2 46.Rc7+ Ke8 47.Rf7 Rd2+ 48.Kc5 f5 ½–½
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Aronian,L2797Gelfand,B2759½–½2014A35Petrosian Memorial 20141.3

Gelfand counting how many games in a row he has to play

The commentary team in action

Grischuk, Alexander 1-0 Inarkiev, Ernesto
A positional massacre that proves that the Catalan structures can be extremely dangerous for Black.

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1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 dxc4 5.0-0 Be7 6.Na3 c5 7.Nxc4 Nc6 8.b3 0-0 9.Bb2 Bd7 10.d4 Rc8 11.dxc5 Bxc5 12.Nd6 Only twelve moves into the game it is clear that something went very wrong in Inarkiev's position. White has everything he could possibly want from a Catalan. Rc7 13.Rc1 b6 14.Ng5 The bishop on c5 is about to feel very uncomfortable. Qe7 15.Nge4 Nxe4 16.Nxe4 Rd8 17.Nxc5 bxc5 18.Qe1 White has the pair of bishops, pressure against the c5 pawn and Black has no counterplay. Rcc8 19.Qc3 Nd4 20.Rfe1 This knight on d4 will be expelled very quickly. f6 20...Bc6 was hte last chance to put up a fight. 21.Qxc5 Nxe2+! 22.Rxe2 Rd1+ is the point. 23.Bf1 Rxf1+! 24.Kxf1 Bg2+ 21.e3 Nb5 22.Qa5 Be8 23.Red1 Qc7 24.Qxc7 Rxd1+ 25.Rxd1 Nxc7 26.Rc1 The endgame is pretty hopeless. Rd8 27.Bc3 Nd5 28.Ba5 Nb6 29.Bf1 Bg6 30.f3 Rc8 31.Ba6 Rc6 32.Bb5 Rc8 Black is getting kicked around and he has no way of improving his position. Grischuk simply needs to improve his position slowly. 33.b4 c4 33...cxb4 34.Rxc8+ Nxc8 35.Bd7 Nb6 36.Bxe6+ Bf7 37.Bxf7+ Kxf7 38.Bxb4 should be winning somehow. 34.Bxb6 axb6 35.Rxc4 This endgame is without a doubt winning. Rd8 36.Rd4 Rc8 37.a4 Rc3 38.Rd6 Rxe3 39.Kf2 Rb3 40.Rxb6 Rb2+ 40...Rxb4 41.Rb8+ Kf7 42.Be8+ is just not a choice. 41.Ke3 Rb3+ 42.Kd4 e5+ 43.Kc5 Rxf3 44.Bc4+ Kf8 45.Kd6 Be8 46.Rb8 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Grischuk,A2795Inarkiev,E26881–02014A13Petrosian Memorial 20141.4

Grischuk with the early lead after a relatively easy game

Inarkiev had a tough time today

Photos by Eteri Kublashvili and Boris Dolmatovsky

Standings

Schedule

Round 01 – November 04
Ding Liren 2730
½-½;
 Kramnik, Vladimir 2760
Leko, Peter 2731
 ½-½;
 Morozevich, Alexander 2724
Aronian, Levon 2797
½-½; 
 Gelfand, Boris 2759
Grischuk, Alexander 2795
1-0 
 Inarkiev, Ernesto 2688
Round 02 – November 05
Kramnik, Vladimir 2760   Inarkiev, Ernesto 2688
Gelfand, Boris 2759   Grischuk, Alexander 2795
Morozevich, Alexander 2724   Aronian, Levon 2797
Ding Liren 2730   Leko, Peter 2731
Round 03 – November 06
Leko, Peter 2731   Kramnik, Vladimir 2760
Aronian, Levon 2797   Ding Liren 2730
Grischuk, Alexander 2795   Morozevich, Alexander 2724
Inarkiev, Ernesto 2688   Gelfand, Boris 2759
Round 04 –November 08
Kramnik, Vladimir 2760   Gelfand, Boris 2759
Morozevich, Alexander 2724   Inarkiev, Ernesto 2688
Ding Liren 2730   Grischuk, Alexander 2795
Leko, Peter 2731   Aronian, Levon 2797
Round 05 – November 09
Aronian, Levon 2797   Kramnik, Vladimir 2760
Grischuk, Alexander 2795   Leko, Peter 2731
Inarkiev, Ernesto 2688   Ding Liren 2730
Gelfand, Boris 2759   Morozevich, Alexander 2724
Round 06 – November 10
Kramnik, Vladimir 2760   Morozevich, Alexander 2724
Ding Liren 2730   Gelfand, Boris 2759
Leko, Peter 2731   Inarkiev, Ernesto 2688
Aronian, Levon 2797   Grischuk, Alexander 2795
Round 07 – November 11
Grischuk, Alexander 2795   Kramnik, Vladimir 2760
Inarkiev, Ernesto 2688   Aronian, Levon 2797
Gelfand, Boris 2759   Leko, Peter 2731
Morozevich, Alexander 2724   Ding Liren 2730

Links

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Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

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