Alekhine R04: Aronian joins the leaders

by ChessBase
4/24/2013 – Tears were certainly shed as a couple of games saw very noticeable blunders. First Svidler missed a simple combination against Aronian that gave the Armenian a decisive advantage. Fressinet kept missing wins against Adams, and the Englishman was lucky enough to survive. The rest of the games were solid draws, although Vitiugov had winning chances against Gelfand. Games inside.

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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.

Round four report

One of the leaders, Adams, ready to defend his black pieces against Fressinet

Today's round featured a few drawn endgames, two important blunders and many regrets for some players.

Round 04 – April 24 2013, 14:00h
Laurent Fressinet 2706
½-½
Michael Adams 2727
Nikita Vitiugov 2712
½-½
Boris Gelfand 2739
Levon Aronian 2809
1-0
Peter Svidler 2747
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2722
½-½
Viswanathan Anand 2783
Ding Liren 2707
½-½
Vladimir Kramnik 2801

"You considered playing what?!" - Vladimir Kramnik and Ding Liren in the postmortem

Ding Liren-Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2-1/2
Kramnik repeats the variation that cost him a full point against Aronian earlier in the tournament. This time Ding Liren was unable to put any real pressure on the Russian and they agreed to a share the point after simplifying to a lifeless draw.

Vitiugov, Nikita - Gelfand, Boris 1/2-1/2
This line of the English has been giving Black some problems in the past few years. The idea of retaking with 8.bxc3 is surprisingly new, as most of the time White has focused their efforts on the variations starting with 8.Qb3. Gelfand seemed to mishandle the position and it was clear after the opening that the pair of bishops more than compensated Vitiugov's weak, but mobile, central hanging pawns. White's initiative looked promising, but at some point Vitiugov let his opponent off the hook and, despite temporarily being up two pawns, eventually had to be happy with a draw.

The most important preparation for a game: getting the tea and water ready!

 

Vachier Lagraeve, Maxim-Anand, Vishy 1/2-1/2
Anand's Semi-Slav continues to be rock solid. Vachier pushed as hard as he could in a position where his advantage was best measured with a nanoscope, and they agreed to a draw when Vachier had an extra pawn in a hopelessly drawn rook endgame, since all of the pawns were on the same side.

 

Aronian, Levon - Svidler, Peter 1-0
Svidler returns to his trusted Gruenfeld defense, but Aronian (above) was well prepared. White obtained a very slight but stable advantage out of the opening, as the pressure that he got against Black's e5 and f5 pawns wasn't easy to deal with. Of course his own position had difficulties, such as Black's potential activity all over the board, but Aronian kept his cool and forced an endgame in which he had some slight pressure against Black's pawns. Svidler's position looked defensible until he blundered with the move 31... b5? probably missing White's maneuver with 33. Nd2-b3 in case of 32... b4.

 

Fressinet, Laurent - Adams, Michael 1/2-1/2
After arguably missing an opportunity to play for a win at the end of his game yesterday against Ding Liren, Fressinet (above, sipping tea) now definitely blundered away his win against Adams. White played a powerful game utilizing the advantage of the pair of bishops to maximum effect. Black's position slowly crumbled until he had to start shedding pawns. On move 39 the Frenchman could have given the coup de grace with Bxf6! but even after missing this he had good winning chances. Adams was resourceful in the defense and took full advantage of Fressinet's slips, eventually salvaging an important half a point.

Standings

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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
½-½
Boris Gelfand 2739
Michael Adams 2727
1-0
Peter Svidler 2747
Nikita Vitiugov 2712
½-½
Viswanathan Anand 2783
Levon Aronian 2809
1-0
Vladimir Kramnik 2801
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2722
1-0
Ding Liren 2707
Round 03 – April 23 2013, 14:00h
Ding Liren 2707
½-½
Laurent Fressinet 2706
Vladimir Kramnik 2801
½-½
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2722
Viswanathan Anand 2783
½-½
Levon Aronian 2809
Peter Svidler 2747
½-½
Nikita Vitiugov 2712
Boris Gelfand 2739
1-0
Michael Adams 2727
Round 04 – April 24 2013, 14:00h
Laurent Fressinet 2706
½-½
Michael Adams 2727
Nikita Vitiugov 2712
½-½
Boris Gelfand 2739
Levon Aronian 2809
1-0
Peter Svidler 2747
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2722
½-½
Viswanathan Anand 2783
Ding Liren 2707
½-½
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

Links

All games will be 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 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.


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