[Event "6th Tal Memorial"]
[Site "Moscow, Russia"]
[Date "2011.11.17"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D12"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2744"]
[Annotator "Ramirez, Alejandro"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]
[TimeControl "6000+30"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nh4 Bg6 7. Nxg6 hxg6 8. Bd3
{This move is already a little rare. White has tried basically every move in
this position.} (8. Bd2 {is arguably the main line, but also popular are}) (8.
Qb3 {and}) (8. a3) 8... Nbd7 9. O-O {Despite the open h-file, Black is usually
unable to create any serious threats against the White king, so castling short
is considered relatively safe. The key word in that sentence is "usually".} Bd6
10. h3 dxc4 11. Bxc4 Nb6 12. Bb3 {The bishop here pressures f7 in case of an
eventual e5, somewhat discouraging it.} (12. Be2 e5 13. a4 {was
Zhigalko-Petrosian from the Lake Sevan invitational earlier this year. The
game was quite interesting, but Magnus chooses another route.}) 12... e5 (12...
O-O 13. Qc2 Qe7 14. Bd2 Rac8 {preparing c5 was another, maybe more solid
option.}) 13. Qc2 $1 {I think this is the entire point of the setup. Black
cannot easily castle, which means that he must be a little more creative in
trying to solidify his position. This slight annoyance is actually not so
easily solvable.} Qe7 (13... O-O $2 14. Qxg6 $16) 14. Bd2 O-O-O {This is a
radical way of dealing with the problem. It certainly sparks a wild game! It
is rare that in this relatively solid line of the Slav the parties castle in
opposite sides, and when it happens it usually occurs with White on the
queenside and Black on the kingside, not vice-versa!} 15. d5 {This is a
radical way of dealing with the problem. It certainly sparks a wild game! It
is rare that in this relatively solid line of the Slav the parties castle in
opposite sides, and when it happens it usually occurs with White on the
queenside and Black on the kingside, not vice-versa!} (15. Nb5 {Is the
unanimous engine recommendation.} Bb8 16. a4 Nbd5 (16... a6 $2 17. Ba5 Nfd5 18.
Qc5 $16) 17. Rfd1 a6 {but I think Black should be ok here.}) 15... e4 {
Basically the only move. Black clears a way for the queen to e5, with the
simple hard-to-meet mate threat.} 16. dxc6 Qe5 17. f4 {The reader may be
asking. "Why not take the b7 pawn? It's check!" There's actually an important
detail.} (17. cxb7+ $2 Kxb7 18. f4 exf3 19. Rxf3 g5 $1 {And the threat of g4
is hard to meet. This isn't possible of White doesn't use up his intermezzo!}
20. Qf5 $2 Qh2+ 21. Kf2 Bg3+ $1 $19) 17... exf3 18. Rxf3 Ng4 $5 {An amazing
looking move! This is designed to take away f2 from the white king in the most
forceful way. The knight must now be taken, White will run out of defensive
resources if he lets these pieces roam freely.} (18... g5 $2 {Is no longer
possible.} 19. Qf5+ $16) 19. cxb7+ Kb8 (19... Kxb7 $2 20. Qe4+ {And with the
attack having evaporated completely, White is just a pawn ahead.}) 20. hxg4 (
20. Rf4 $2 Nxe3 {Is winning for Black.}) 20... Rh1+ {The point of the
combination, but this does't mean that White is toast.} 21. Kf2 Rxa1 22. Ne2 {
The material is balanced, and the positoin is chaos. It is unclear which of
the two kings is safer. Sure, a single check would checkmate the white king,
but there doesn't seem to be any angles of attack, especially since the poor
knight on b6 is far away from the action. On the other hand, the king on b8
isn't feeling that safe either.} Bc5 {White had a bunch of options. Nd4, Rxf7,
Bxf7 were all worth considering, but I won't exhaust the possibilities in this
entry.} 23. Bc3 Qe7 {The queen angles herself to check on h4. Magnus puts a
stop to that.} 24. g5 Rdd1 (24... Qxg5 $6 25. Qe4 {and it is now White's queen
dominating the board. This looks quite dangerous for Black.}) 25. Ng3 Bd6 26.
Qe2 {White's last couple of moves have been forced, but sufficient.} Rg1 (26...
Bxg3+ 27. Rxg3 Rf1+ 28. Qxf1 Rxf1+ 29. Kxf1 {is a very unclear endgame, but at
a first glance it seems nicer to play with White.}) 27. Qd3 (27. Qb5 $1 {Is
apparently winning. This is not only a move only a computer could tell you is
actually winning, but it would reqiure an exhaustive amount of analysis. Look
forward to that in an upcoming issue of Chessbase Magazine!}) 27... Bc7 28. Ne4
Raf1+ $6 {As a human, I can actually pinpoint to this move as one I do not
like. It seems unnatural to exchange a pair of rooks and fix White's pawn
structure. The problem is that every other move looks just as unnatural!} 29.
Ke2 Rxf3 30. gxf3 f5 31. gxf6 gxf6 32. Bxf6 Qh7 33. Qb5 Rg2+ (33... a6 {was
the last glimmer of hope, as if any human would consider this.}) 34. Kd3 {It's
ok. Magnus's king is perfectly safe in d3. That's bad news for Gelfand, as now
that his attack has evaporated, he has uncoordinated pieces, a weak king and a
material disadvantage.} Qd7+ {This is NOT a move he wanted to play, but there
was no choice.} 35. Qxd7 Nxd7 36. Bd5 {Sometimes this happens: A pawn that you
thought was dead for sure is suddenly not dead, and not only is it resurrected,
it creeps from the grave threatening to queen and setting up mating patterns.
This is the story of the b7 pawn.} Be5 $2 {A bad move but the position was
very unpleasant.} 37. f4 Bc7 38. Bc6 {The knight can't move and it cannot be
defended, so Boris resigned. This was a wild, crazy game. Magnus' defense was
superb, and as much as it seemed that Black was on the verge of winning, he
held on to dear life to his positional advantages and when the attack faltered,
he was there to deliver a killing blow. Fabulous chess!} 1-0

[Event "6th Tal Memorial"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2011.11.17"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Aronian, L."]
[Black "Kramnik, V."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D41"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2800"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2011.11.16"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 cxd4 6. Qxd4 exd5 7. e3 Nc6 8.
Qd3 Bc5 9. Be2 d4 10. exd4 Nxd4 11. O-O O-O 12. Nxd4 Qxd4 13. Qg3 Ne4 14. Nxe4
Qxe4 15. Bf3 Qb4 16. Bf4 Be6 17. a3 Qb3 18. Rac1 Bd4 19. Rc7 Qxb2 20. Rxb7 Qxa3
21. Bd6 Qa5 22. Bb4 Qf5 23. Bxf8 Rxf8 24. Rd1 Bb6 25. Rb8 g6 26. Rxf8+ Kxf8 27.
Qd6+ Kg8 28. Qd2 h5 29. Qc3 Kh7 30. h3 Qf4 31. Re1 Bxh3 32. Re4 Qd6 33. Qe5
Qxe5 34. Rxe5 Be6 35. Bd5 Bd4 36. Bxe6 Bxe5 37. Bxf7 h4 38. Kf1 Kg7 39. Be8 g5
40. Ke2 Kf6 41. Ke3 g4 42. Bd7 Kg5 43. Ke2 Kf4 44. Kf1 a5 45. Ke2 Bd4 46. Kf1
Bc5 47. Ke2 Bd4 48. Kf1 Bc5 49. Ke2 Bd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "6th Tal Memorial"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2011.11.17"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, I."]
[Black "Ivanchuk, V."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B32"]
[WhiteElo "2730"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "151"]
[EventDate "2011.11.16"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. N1c3 a6 7. Na3 Be7 8.
Nc4 b5 9. Ne3 Nf6 10. g3 O-O 11. Bg2 b4 12. Ncd5 Nxd5 13. Nxd5 Bg5 14. Bxg5
Qxg5 15. O-O Rb8 16. Qd3 a5 17. a3 Be6 18. axb4 axb4 19. Ra6 Rfc8 20. c3 Qd8
21. Rd1 g6 22. Ne3 Rb6 23. h4 h5 24. Kh2 bxc3 25. bxc3 Ne7 26. Rxb6 Qxb6 27.
Bh3 Bxh3 28. Kxh3 Kg7 29. Kg2 Qc6 30. c4 Ng8 31. f3 Qc5 32. Nf1 Rb8 33. Qd5
Rb2+ 34. Rd2 Rxd2+ 35. Nxd2 Qb4 36. Nf1 Nf6 37. Qd3 Nd7 38. Qd2 Qc5 39. Ne3 Nf8
40. f4 Nd7 41. f5 Nf6 42. fxg6 fxg6 43. Kf3 Qa3 44. c5 Qxc5 45. Qd3 Qc7 46. Ke2
Qc6 47. Qc4 Qd7 48. Qb4 Qc7 49. Qc4 Qb7 50. Kf3 Qf7 51. Ke2 Ng4 52. Qxf7+ Kxf7
53. Nc4 Ke6 54. Nd2 Nf6 55. Ke3 Kd7 56. Nf3 Nh7 57. Nh2 Nf6 58. Nf3 Ng4+ 59.
Ke2 d5 60. exd5 Kd6 61. Ng5 Kxd5 62. Kf3 Nf6 63. Ke3 Nd7 64. Kd3 Kd6 65. Ke4
Nc5+ 66. Kf3 Ne6 67. Ne4+ Ke7 68. g4 Nd4+ 69. Kf2 Kf7 70. Ng5+ Kg7 71. gxh5
gxh5 72. Ke3 Kf6 73. Ke4 Nc6 74. Nf3 Ke6 75. Ng5+ Kf6 76. Nf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "6th Tal Memorial"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2011.11.17"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hi"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2763"]
[BlackElo "2758"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2011.11.16"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Bg5
Be6 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. Qd3 Nc6 11. O-O-O Qb6 12. Nd5 Bxd5 13. exd5 Nd4 14. Nxd4
Qxd4 15. Qxd4 exd4 16. f4 h5 17. a4 Kd7 18. a5 Rae8 19. Bd3 h4 20. g4 hxg3 21.
hxg3 g5 22. b4 gxf4 23. gxf4 Kc7 24. Kb2 Rxh1 25. Rxh1 Rh8 26. Rf1 b5 27. axb6+
Kxb6 28. Kb3 Ra8 29. Ra1 Bg7 30. Re1 Bf6 31. Rg1 Rb8 32. Re1 Ra8 33. Kb2 Rh8
34. Ra1 Ra8 35. Kc1 Bg7 36. Kd1 Bh6 37. f5 Bg7 38. Ra5 Ra7 39. Ke2 Bf6 40. Kf3
Ra8 41. Ra1 a5 42. bxa5+ Rxa5 43. Rxa5 1/2-1/2

[Event "6th Tal Memorial"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2011.11.17"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Svidler,P"]
[Black "Anand,V"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2755"]
[BlackElo "2811"]
[EventDate "2011.11.16"]
[ECO "B12"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 Ne7 6. O-O c5 7. Na3 Nec6 8.
c4 cxd4 9. Nb5 a6 10. Bg5 Qd7 11. Nbxd4 Be4 12. Rc1 h6 13. Bh4 Be7 14. Bxe7
Nxe7 15. Nd2 Nbc6 16. N4b3 Qc7 17. Nxe4 dxe4 18. Qd6 Qb6 19. Rfd1 O-O 20.
Qc5 Qc7 21. Qd6 Qb6 22. Qc5 Qc7 23. Qd6 1/2-1/2

