
The Alekhine Memorial is taking place from April 20th to May 1st 2013.
The first part of the event takes place in Paris, France, (April 21-26,
rounds one to five), the second in Saint Petersburg, Russia, (April, 26-May
1, rounds six to nine). The super tournament is dedicated to a great Russian
chess player Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine, a citizen of Russia and France,
and is held at the initiative and with the support of Russian businessmen
Gennady Timchenko and Andrey Filatov. Ten grandmasters from seven countries
are playing in the Memorial starts with with five rounds in the Louvre Museum
in Paris and ends with four rounds in Saint Michael’s Castle in Saint-Petersburg.
The participants
Seed
|
Player |
Country
|
Rating
|
w-rank
|
1
|
Aronian, Levon |
ARM
|
2809
|
2
|
2
|
Kramnik, Vladimir |
RUS
|
2801
|
3
|
3
|
Anand, Viswanathan |
IND
|
2783
|
6
|
4
|
Svidler, Peter |
RUS
|
2747
|
14
|
5
|
Gelfand, Boris |
ISR
|
2739
|
18
|
6
|
Adams, Michael |
ENG
|
2727
|
22
|
7
|
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime |
FRA
|
2722
|
26
|
8
|
Vitiugov, Nikita |
RUS
|
2712
|
28
|
9
|
Ding, Liren |
CHN
|
2707
|
34
|
10
|
Fressinet, Laurent |
FRA
|
2706
|
35
|
The opening ceremony ceremony took place in a chess pavilion, which was
specially built for the tournament on the territory of the Tuileries Garden
(the Louvre Museum).

Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand (3rd and 2nd from right) at the
press conference, which included Anatoly Karpov (left), main sponsor Andrei
Filatov (2nd from left) and Ilya Levitov (middle), the Russian chess Federation
CEO.

All the players lined up on the stage: Vachier-Lagrave,
Liren, Svidler,
Anand, Aronian, Kramnik, Fressinet, Adams, Vitiugov, Gelfand

The conference was followed by a concert performed by two outstanding Russian
musicians – Nikolai
Lugansky (piano) and Vadim Repin (violin) who offered the audience pieces
composed by the Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Watch the opening ceremony on this video stream
from the official web site
Round one report
Round 01 – April 21 2013, 14:00h |
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave |
2706 |
½-½
|
Laurent Fressinet |
2709 |
Ding Liren |
2707 |
1-0
|
Levon Aronian |
2809 |
Vladimir Kramnik |
2801 |
1-0
|
Nikita Vitiugov |
2712 |
Viswanathan Anand |
2783 |
0-1
|
Michael Adams |
2727 |
Peter Svidler |
2747 |
½-½
|
Boris Gelfand |
2739 |

Svidler, Peter - Gelfand, Boris ½-½

There are portraits of the players in the live
video coverage
The easiest way to summarize this game is tactics, tactics, tactics. If
you're looking to challenge your brain on tactical continuation then simply
put this on a chessboard and have a go at it. With most pieces on the board
White's king was on f4, Black had the disadvantage of a rook for two minor
pieces and after some forced trades the game surprisingly ended peacefully.

Vachier-Lagrave, Maxim - Fressinet, Laurent ½-½
The two strongest Frenchmen (above Vachier-Lagrave) played a very
solid draw and will be thrown into the fire tomorrow.

Ding Liren - Aronian, Levon 1-0

The three-time Chinese champion (above) is currently
missing his appointment in Xinghua, where he could have tried to defend
his title for a fourth consecutive time. However, he is here meddling with
the best, and he begins by proving his invitation was no accident. A nice
positional game led to some fireworks as Ding sacrificed first an exchange
and then a full rook to bust open Black's king position. White needed just
some quiet moves to bring his last attacker to the fray with decisive effect.
Watching the game, Kasparov predicted that that would be exactly Black's
fate... and he predicted it before move 28! Guest annotator GM Giorgi Margvelashvili
has a full report on this game below.


[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2013.04.21"] [Round "?"] [White "Ding,
Liren"] [Black "Aronian, Levon"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D45"] [Annotator
"Margvelashvili, Giorgi"] [PlyCount "87"] [EventDate "2013.??.??"] 1.
d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. e3 e6 6. c5 Nbd7 7. b4 {The main
line. In the World Championship match, Gelfand surprised Anand with the
rare 7. Qc2 Gelfand was able to get a slight advantage from the opening
and eventually convert it into full point.} b6 8. Bb2 a5 9. a3 Be7 10.
Bd3 O-O 11. O-O Ba6 { Black wants to exchange passive c8 bishop.} 12.
Ne1 $5 {I really like this move by Ding. White prepares to retake on d3
with a knight and possibly play f3 with the following e4 in the future.}
Bc4 $6 {a very interesting but risky move. Instead of trading bishops
on d3, Aronian wants to exchange bishops on c4, creating passed pawn and
more dynamic position.} 13. Bxc4 dxc4 14. Qe2 Rb8 15. Ra2 $1 {Defending
b2 bishop in case black chooses to exchange pawns on c5.} b5 16. e4 Rb7
17. Nc2 Nb8 18. Raa1 {As a result of 12...Bc4, Aronian finds himself in
a difficult position with little counterplay. Ding uses his dominance
in center to further increase pressure on black's position.} Qc8 19. Rad1
Rd8 20. Bc1 $1 {Another strong move by Ding. The bishop has nothing to
do on b2, so Ding transfers it to f4, where it controls important squares
in center.} Na6 21. Bf4 Rbd7 22. h3 Ne8 23. Qe3 Bf6 24. e5 Be7 25. Ne4
$1 {The knight goes to d6, where it paralyzes all black pieces.} Nac7
26. Nd6 Qa8 27. Qg3 Nd5 28. Ne3 $1 Nc3 {allows white to demonstrate the
tactical idea of 28. Ne3. Better would be to play 28...Nac7 and continue
defending unpleasant position.} 29. Rde1 Bxd6 30. exd6 Ne4 31. Qh4 Nd2
{looks like black has won an exchange, but...} 32. Nd5 $1 Nxf1 33. Nb6
Qa7 34. Rxf1 Nf6 $2 {this move looks very natural, but it falls to a beautiful
combination.} (34... Rb8 {would be stronger, forcing White to take the
rook on d7, but still after} 35. Nxd7 Qxd7 36. bxa5 Ra8 37. Bd2 {White
has excellent winning chances.}) 35. Be5 $1 Nd5 36. Nxd5 $1 exd5 37. Bxg7
$3 {Amazing!} Kxg7 38. Qg5+ Kf8 39. Qf6 Kg8 40. Re1 $1 { And suddenly
black has no defense against the following Re3 or Re5 deadly rooklift.}
axb4 41. Re5 h6 42. Rh5 Qxa3 43. Qxh6 $1 (43. Rxh6 $4 {would be a huge
mistake, since after} Qc1+ 44. Kh2 Qxh6 $1 45. Qxh6 b3 {White would be
forced to give perpetual check and settle for a draw! This is yet another
example that one should never lose his focus, even in the most winning
positions.}) 43... f6 44. Qxf6 {And black resigned. A very impressive
performance by the Chinese grandmaster and painful lose for Aronian. But
knowing Aronian's resilience, I am sure he will be able to rebound in
the upcoming rounds.} 1-0
Kramnik, Vladimir - Vitiugov, Nikita 1-0
The positional superiority of Kramnik (above) was without question. His
two knights were clearly superior to Vitiugov's bishops and this allowed
him an initiative on the queenside. Under intense pressure, Vitiugov allowed
a surprising but decisive break which let White's a-pawn become unstoppable
as it was being supported by the queen, while Black's g6 bishop was dormant.
Giorgi also has full annotations for us!

[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2013.04.21"] [Round "?"] [White "Kramnik,
Vladimir"] [Black "Vitiugov, Nikita"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Margvelashvili,Giorgi"]
[PlyCount "99"] [EventDate "2013.??.??"] {It is always exciting to watch
world top ten players playing against "lesser" super grandmasters. This
also was Kramnik's first game after his disappointing loss to Ivanchuk
in the last round of the Candidates tournament.} 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 {As Kramnik
often does lately, he chooses sideline variations and tries to outplay
his opponent in the middlegame.} c6 3. Bg2 Bg4 {the most popular set up
against the g3 system.} 4. O-O Nd7 5. d3 Ngf6 6. Qe1 {preparing e4.} e5
7. e4 dxe4 8. dxe4 Bd6 {not the most popular line. 8...Bc5 is the main
line.} 9. Nbd2 O-O 10. h3 Bh5 11. Nc4 Bc7 {The bishop stands passively
on c7, but it defends e5 pawn and might enter the game after b5 and Bb6.}
12. a4 {Preventing the above mentioned b5.} Re8 13. Nh4 {Black only has
one weakness in the position, that is the d6 square. Kramnik transfers
his knight from f3 to f5, trying to take advantage of that weak point.}
Nc5 14. Nf5 Ne6 15. Be3 Nf4 $5 { Vitiugov sacrifices a piece for the initiative.}
16. f3 $1 {Kramnik correctly declines the sacrifice.} (16. gxf4 $6 exf4
{with the following f3 would give black too much counterplay.}) 16...
Nxg2 17. Kxg2 Bg6 18. Rd1 Nd5 $5 19. Nh4 $1 {Vitiugov wants to find his
chances in a tactical battle, but Kramnik is relentless and forces Vitiugov
to defend a slightly worse position with no counterplay.} Nxe3+ 20. Qxe3
Qe7 21. Qb3 Rab8 22. Rf2 $1 {Doubling rooks on the d file.} Red8 23. Rxd8+
Bxd8 24. Rd2 Bc7 25. Rd3 Qe6 26. Qb4 b6 27. b3 { Kramnik slowly improves
his position.} a6 28. Qd2 b5 29. Rd7 $1 bxc4 30. Rxc7 cxb3 31. Rb7 $1
{A nice trick, Kramnik wins back a pawn.} Qc8 32. Rxb3 Rxb3 33. cxb3 {Due
to the passive bishop on g6 and better pawn structure, Kramnik has a slight,
but comfortable advantage. Generally, this position looks defendable for
Vitiugov, but it is very hard to withstand Kramnik's pressure, especially
in this type of positions.} f6 {trying to bring bishop back to game from
f7 or e8.} 34. Qd6 Kf7 (34... Bf7 {does not work here, since after} 35.
Nf5 Qe6 36. Qd8+ Qe8 37. Qc7 {White's knight becomes too active.}) 35.
g4 $1 Ke8 36. Kg3 $1 {Kramnik frees his g2 square for the knight. Kramnik
demonstrates out of this world technique.} Qb7 37. b4 Qc8 {Vitiugov can
only wait and watch.} 38. a5 Kf7 39. Ng2 h5 40. Ne3 hxg4 41. hxg4 Qe6
42. Qd3 Qc8 43. Qc4+ Kf8 44. Qc5+ Kg8 45. b5 $3 {The final blow. Vitiugov
did not make any big mistakes in this game, which makes this win for Kramnik
even more impressive. Vitiugov tried his best to defend the position,
but there is nothing he could do, as Kramnik played one of his best games.}
axb5 46. Qb6 Qf8 47. a6 {The a-pawn decides the game in Kramnik's favor.}
Qb4 48. a7 Qe1+ 49. Kg2 Qd2+ 50. Kg1 {Vitiugov resigned here, since after
50...Qe1+ 51.Nf1 he has no more checks, and Kramnik just promotes his
pawn.} 1-0

Vladimir Kramnik in the press conference after
the game
Anand, Vishy - Adams, Michael 0-1

Kasparov: "I like the bishops!" He was referring
to the position after Black's 21st move, and as expected from the first
man in history to break 2800, he was absolutely right. Black's bishops dominated
the scene and forced Anand to trade them off, but that left him in an inferior
rook endgame. It's possible that White still had a way out of it, but Anand
couldn't find it and Adams converted a full point after his lone rook was
more than a match for White's three passed pawns since two of them were
doubled.
Summary by GM Alejandro Ramirez
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You can watch live video of the games, with GM commentary in English, in
the above player. Video streams of past rounds can be reviewed on this
page. Information and videos provided by Mark Gluhovsky, press attaché
of the Alekhine Memorial
Alekhine Memorial 2013 – Schedule, pairings and results
Round 01 – April 21 2013, 14:00h |
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave |
2706 |
½-½
|
Laurent Fressinet |
2709 |
Ding Liren |
2707 |
1-0
|
Levon Aronian |
2809 |
Vladimir Kramnik |
2801 |
1-0
|
Nikita Vitiugov |
2712 |
Viswanathan Anand |
2783 |
0-1
|
Michael Adams |
2727 |
Peter Svidler |
2747 |
½-½
|
Boris Gelfand |
2739 |
Round 02 – April 22 2013, 14:00h |
Laurent Fressinet |
2706 |
-
|
Boris Gelfand |
2739 |
Michael Adams |
2727 |
-
|
Peter Svidler |
2747 |
Nikita Vitiugov |
2712 |
-
|
Viswanathan Anand |
2783 |
Levon Aronian |
2809 |
-
|
Vladimir Kramnik |
2801 |
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave |
2722 |
-
|
Ding Liren |
2707 |
Round 03 – April 23 2013, 14:00h |
Ding Liren |
2707 |
-
|
Laurent Fressinet |
2706 |
Vladimir Kramnik |
2801 |
-
|
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave |
2722 |
Viswanathan Anand |
2783 |
-
|
Levon Aronian |
2809 |
Peter Svidler |
2747 |
-
|
Nikita Vitiugov |
2712 |
Boris Gelfand |
2739 |
-
|
Michael Adams |
2727 |
Round 04 – April 24 2013, 14:00h |
Laurent Fressinet |
2706 |
-
|
Michael Adams |
2727 |
Nikita Vitiugov |
2712 |
-
|
Boris Gelfand |
2739 |
Levon Aronian |
2809 |
-
|
Peter Svidler |
2747 |
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave |
2722 |
-
|
Viswanathan Anand |
2783 |
Ding Liren |
2707 |
-
|
Vladimir Kramnik |
2801 |
Round 05 – April 25 2013, 14:00h |
Vladimir Kramnik |
2801 |
-
|
Laurent Fressinet |
2706 |
Viswanathan Anand |
2783 |
-
|
Ding Liren |
2707 |
Peter Svidler |
2747 |
-
|
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave |
2722 |
Boris Gelfand |
2739 |
-
|
Levon Aronian |
2809 |
Michael Adams |
2727 |
-
|
Nikita Vitiugov |
2712 |
Round 06 – April 28 2013, 14:00h |
Laurent Fressinet |
2706 |
-
|
Nikita Vitiugov |
2712 |
Levon Aronian |
2809 |
-
|
Michael Adams |
2727 |
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave |
2722 |
-
|
Boris Gelfand |
2739 |
Ding Liren |
2707 |
-
|
Peter Svidler |
2747 |
Vladimir Kramnik |
2801 |
-
|
Viswanathan Anand |
2783 |
Round 07 – April 29 2013, 14:00h |
Viswanathan Anand |
2783 |
-
|
Laurent Fressinet |
2706 |
Peter Svidler |
2747 |
-
|
Vladimir Kramnik |
2801 |
Boris Gelfand |
2739 |
-
|
Ding Liren |
2707 |
Michael Adams |
2727 |
-
|
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave |
2722 |
Nikita Vitiugov |
2712 |
-
|
Levon Aronian |
2809 |
Round 08 – April 30 2013, 14:00h |
Laurent Fressinet |
2706 |
-
|
Levon Aronian |
2809 |
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave |
2722 |
-
|
Nikita Vitiugov |
2712 |
Ding Liren |
2707 |
-
|
Michael Adams |
2727 |
Vladimir Kramnik |
2801 |
-
|
Boris Gelfand |
2739 |
Viswanathan Anand |
2783 |
-
|
Peter Svidler |
2747 |
Round 09 – May 01 2013, 14:00h |
Peter Svidler |
2747 |
-
|
Laurent Fressinet |
2706 |
Boris Gelfand |
2739 |
-
|
Viswanathan Anand |
2783 |
Michael Adams |
2727 |
-
|
Vladimir Kramnik |
2801 |
Nikita Vitiugov |
2712 |
-
|
Ding Liren |
2707 |
Levon Aronian |
2809 |
-
|
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave |
2722 |