[Event "Tal Memorial"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2009.11.14"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Ivanchuk, V."]
[Black "Kramnik, V."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D39"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[Annotator "Humphreys,Michael"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2009.11.05"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e4 Bb4 6. Bg5 h6 {Kramnik repeats
the variation which brought him an easy draw in round seven of this tournament
against Levon Aronian.} 7. Bxf6 Qxf6 8. e5 Qd8 9. Qa4+ $5 {A possible nt over
9.Bxc4 c5 would have transposed to the previously mentioned game against
Aronian. By forcing 9...Nc6 Ivanchuk hopes to prevent or delay the pawn
advance c7-c5.} Nc6 10. Bxc4 Bd7 11. Qc2 Na5 12. Bd3 c5 {Kramnik accomplis hes
this freeing-lever anyway, but his queenside pieces are loosely placed.} 13.
dxc5 Rc8 14. a3 Bxc5 15. O-O {15.b4 would simply be a strategic error: Black
can simply retreat with 15...Be7 when 16.bxa5 doesn't work since after 16...
Qxa5, Black will regain his piece due to the pin on the c-file, while after
the relatively better 16.0-0, Black can take advantage of the weakened
c4-square with 16...Nc4.} O-O 16. Rad1 Be7 17. Qe2 $1 {Played after half an
hour by the Ukrainian. Ivanchuk intends 18.Qe4 with an attack. This action is
justified by the badly placed knight on a5.} Qc7 18. Qe4 g6 19. Qg4 Kg7 20. Ne2
$1 {By transferring his knight to f4, sacrifices on g6 and e6 begin to emerge
as possibilities.} Bc6 21. Nf4 Rg8 {A sad necessity. Black doesn't have time
to exchange pieces with 21...Bxf3 since there would follow 22.Nxe6+! winning.}
22. Nd4 $5 {While there's nothing wrong with this move, 23.Bxg6 would simply
have won a pawn, since capturing the bishop would allow mate in two.} Kh7 23.
h4 $2 {This is one preparatory move too many, and allows Black to escape.
Spectators were expecting either 23.Ndxe6! or 23.b4! when in either case,
Black is in serious trouble. It's important to note however, that by this
point Ivanchuk was experiencing considerable time-pressure.} Qxe5 24. h5 {24.
Ndxe6 was the last try for an attack, although this is very unclear.} Kh8 $1
25. Nxc6 Nxc6 26. hxg6 f5 27. g7+ Rxg7 28. Ng6+ Kg8 29. Nxe5 {Here the players
agreed to a draw. After 29...fxg4 30 Bc4 Black's extra pawn is unlikely to
mean much in view of White's active pieces.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tal Memorial"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2009.11.14"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Anand, V."]
[Black "Aronian, L."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2788"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[Annotator "Humphreys,Michael"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2009.11.05"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. e3 b5 6. c5 Nbd7 7. Bd3 e5 8. Nxe5
Nxe5 9. dxe5 Nd7 10. e6 $6 {Although this move looks natural, maintaining a
presence in the centre with 10.f4 might have been better.} Nxc5 11. exf7+ Kxf7
12. b3 $2 {White's problem's stem from this move. Either 12.Bc2 or 12.0-0 were
preferable, though in any case Black has emerged the opening with an excellent
position.} Nxd3+ 13. Qxd3 Qg5 14. g3 Qf6 15. Bb2 Qf3 16. Rg1 Bg4 17. a3 Re8 18.
Rc1 b4 19. axb4 Bxb4 20. h3 Bxh3 21. g4 {This sort of desperation is something
more frequently seen in online blitz games. Of course White is losing.} Bxg4
22. Rg3 Qf5 23. Qd4 Re4 24. Qa7+ Qd7 25. Qb6 c5 0-1

[Event "Tal Memorial"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2009.11.14"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Leko, P."]
[Black "Carlsen, M."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[Annotator "Humphreys,Michael"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2009.11.05"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4
g5 9. Bg3 Bg7 10. h3 Nf6 11. Qf3 Qb6 12. O-O-O Nc6 13. Nxc6 Qxc6 14. Be2 Qc5
15. Rhe1 g4 $5 {Played after nearly half an hour's thought. Carlsen deviates
from Lutz-Judit Polgar Budapest 2003 which continued after 15...Be6 with a
level game.} 16. hxg4 Bxg4 17. Qd3 Be6 18. e5 $1 {Leko opens a diagonal for
his light-squared bishop, which will be posted on f3, as well as a file for
his e1-rook.} dxe5 19. Bf3 e4 $1 {Carlsen does similarly.} 20. Nxe4 Nxe4 21.
Rxe4 {The motivation behind this move will be explained on the note to White's
next move. 21.Bxe4 would also have been possible, with a complicated game to
follow.} O-O 22. Qe3 {With this move and his last, Leko probably thought that
he could force Magnus into a favourable endgame, since if Black avoids the
exchange of queens, suppose with 22...Qa5??, White would win with the
sacrifice 23.Rxe6!} Rac8 23. Qxc5 {White enters an endgame in which he has two
pawn islands to Black's three, but this turns out to be not as troublsome for
Carlsen as Leko probably intended.} Rxc5 24. Bg4 {By exchanging Black's
e6-bishop, Leko intends to infiltrate with his rook on d7.} Bxg4 25. Rxg4 f5
26. Rb4 b5 27. a4 Rfc8 28. c3 Rc4 29. Rxc4 Rxc4 30. axb5 axb5 31. Rd8+ Kh7 32.
Rd7 Rg4 $1 {White's g-pawn is doomed. Once it is removed, Black will have a
very useful passed h-pawn.} 33. Bb8 Rxg2 34. Rxe7 Kg6 35. Bg3 h5 36. Kd1 $2 {
36.Rb7 was better with approximate equality.} Bf6 37. Re6 Kf7 38. Re3 h4 39.
Bc7 Rxf2 40. b3 Rf1+ 41. Ke2 Rc1 42. c4 bxc4 43. bxc4 Rxc4 {Without bishops,
the endgame would be a known draw (provided white can bring his king to f3).
It should be mentioned that even grandmasters can have difficulty holding that
rook-endgame, with no less a player than Aronian failing to do so against
Kramnik in Wijk aan Zee 2008. With bishops on the board however, the engame is
made even more difficult and probably lost for Leko.} 44. Bb8 Rc2+ 45. Kf1 Kg6
46. Re2 Rc8 {The exchange of rooks would have been a tablebase win, though
that may have been difficult to work out over the board.} 47. Bd6 Rc6 48. Be7
Bxe7 $1 {The situation has changed since the note on move 43.} 49. Rxe7 Rc2 $1
{With White's king confined to the first rank, Black is winning.} 50. Re3 Kg5
51. Kg1 Kg4 52. Ra3 f4 53. Ra8 Rd2 54. Ra7 Kg3 55. Rg7+ Kf3 56. Ra7 Rd1+ 57.
Kh2 Ke2 58. Kh3 f3 59. Ra2+ Rd2 {Black's f-pawn will queen.} 0-1

[Event "Tal Memorial"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2009.11.14"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Ponomariov, R."]
[Black "Morozevich, A."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[Annotator "Humphreys,Michael"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2009.11.05"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 a6 6. O-O Nc6 7. Bg5 $5 {Both 7.
Nc3 and 7.e3 are considerably more popular. Considering how quickly the
five-time Russian champion falls into trouble, Ponomariov's move may gain in
popularity.} Be7 8. e3 O-O $6 {The most natural move on the board, but
possibly a mistake. It could be that Black's best is to continue 8...Bd7
followed by b7-b5 when play is similar to positions after 7.e3 but with
White's bishop developed on g5. Whether or not this is advantageous for White
is unclear.} 9. Nbd2 e5 10. Nxc4 exd4 11. Nxd4 {Usually when accepting an
isolated queen's pawn, it is best to leave as many minor pieces on the board
as possible. In this position however, the exchange of White's f3-knight for
Black's c6-knight and the subsequent exchange of queens, highlight the power
of White's g2-bishop which will dominate it's counterpart.} Nxd4 12. Qxd4 Qxd4
13. exd4 Rd8 14. Rfd1 $1 Bg4 $2 {14...Be6 might have kept White's advantage to
a minimum.} 15. Re1 $1 Bb4 16. Rec1 $1 {Despite having moved the same piece
three time in a row, White's position has improved considerably! Black must
now deal with the threats of Bg2xb7, Nc4-e3 followed by Rc1xc7, as well as
Bg5xf6 inflicting further weaknesses. Not an easy task!} Rab8 17. a3 Bf8 18.
Ne3 Rxd4 19. Rxc7 Be2 20. Rxb7 Rxb7 21. Bxb7 Nd7 22. Nf5 Ra4 23. Re1 Bb5 24.
Re8 h6 25. Be7 g6 26. b3 {Black's rook is trapped.} Ra5 27. Bb4 1-0

[Event "Tal Memorial"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2009.11.14"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Svidler, P."]
[Black "Gelfand, B."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2758"]
[Annotator "Humphreys,Michael"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2009.11.05"]

{The first game of the round to finish was Svidler-Gelfand which ended in an
uneventful 30-move draw from a petroff opening.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6
4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. Re1 Bg4 9. c4 Nf6 10. Nc3 Bxf3
11. Qxf3 Nxd4 12. Qd1 Ne6 13. cxd5 Nxd5 14. Bb5+ c6 15. Nxd5 cxb5 16. Qb3 O-O
17. Be3 Bc5 18. Rad1 Bxe3 19. Rxe3 Qa5 20. Qc2 Rfe8 21. f4 b4 22. f5 Nf8 23.
Ne7+ Kh8 24. Qc4 Ne6 25. Nd5 Rad8 26. Ree1 Qc5+ 27. Qxc5 Nxc5 28. Rxe8+ Rxe8
29. Nxb4 g6 30. fxg6 1/2-1/2

