Alekhine R08: Vachier falls, Gelfand leads solo

by ChessBase
4/30/2013 – Vitiugov held an advantage against Vachier, but it was mainly due to mistakes by the latter that the Russian broke through. Kramnik missed a win against Gelfand, who now leads by himself with one round to go. Fressinet sacrificed two pawns against Aronian but the game ended peacefully. The other games were uneventful draws. Games and pictures here.

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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 eight report

Round 08 – April 30 2013, 14:00h
Laurent Fressinet 2706
½-½
Levon Aronian 2809
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2722
0-1
Nikita Vitiugov 2712
Ding Liren 2707
½-½
Michael Adams 2727
Vladimir Kramnik 2801
½-½
Boris Gelfand 2739
Viswanathan Anand 2783
½-½
Peter Svidler 2747

Important guests: commentator Judit Polgar, her mother Klara and Anand's wife Aruna all watching the games

Kramnik, Vladimir - Gelfand, Boris 1/2-1/2
Kramnik obtained an early extra exchange at the cost of a pawn, while Gelfand's position remained very solid. White never found a convincing plan to break through, but slowly as more pawns came off the board his rooks gained activity. Kramnik missed a win on move 64 with Rh8! after which Gelfand would have had to lose his knight. After that the game was simply drawn because of the very reduced material.

More than prepared for the game: one full glass of water AND a full water bottle

Ding Liren - Adams, Michael 1/2-1/2
The battle between White's pair of bishops and Black's superior pawn structure is a common one in the Nimzo-Indian. In this case Ding was the one that obtained the better part of the deal as slowly he was able to fix his structure and even obtain pressure against Black's weak e5 pawn while retaining the only bishop on an open board. Ding played a combination that won a pawn but dis-coordinated his pieces, at which point Adams pounced and forced simplifications into a drawn ending.

Anand, Vishy - Svidler, Peter 1/2-1/2
An equal game through and through. The piece exchanges accelerated the inevitable draw.

Fressinet takes some liquid courage before sacrificing those two pawns

Fressinet, Laurent - Aronian, Levon 1/2-1/2
White played an interesting double pawn sacrifice against the a6 Semi-Slav, and he obtained full compensation for them. Unfortunately it was only good enough to regain the pawns, at which point the positional advantages dissipated and Aronian was able to complete his development. White enjoyed the better pawn structure against the pair of bishops and the game was soon drawn.

Aronian doesn't seem as impressed with the computer's analysis as Fressinet is

Vachier Lagrave, Maxime - Vitiugov, Nikita 0-1
Vitiugov returns to the Caro-Kann and obtained a slight edge from the opening with Black. Vachier slowly repelled the threats and it seemed that he was well on his way to equalizing. However starting on move 31.Bd1?! he started giving Black opportunities to improve his position, which the Russian slowly but surely did. A subsequent mistake showed how powerful a knight and a queen can be against a weak king.

Vitiugov struck an important blow to Vachier, who will need to win tomorrow for a chance at first place

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
0-1
Laurent Fressinet 2706
Viswanathan Anand 2783
1-0
Ding Liren 2707
Peter Svidler 2747
0-1
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2722
Boris Gelfand 2739
½-½
Levon Aronian 2809
Michael Adams 2727
½-½
Nikita Vitiugov 2712
Round 06 – April 28 2013, 14:00h
Laurent Fressinet 2706
½-½
Nikita Vitiugov 2712
Levon Aronian 2809
½-½
Michael Adams 2727
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2722
½-½
Boris Gelfand 2739
Ding Liren 2707
½-½
Peter Svidler 2747
Vladimir Kramnik 2801
½-½
Viswanathan Anand 2783
Round 07 – April 29 2013, 14:00h
Viswanathan Anand 2783
1-0
Laurent Fressinet 2706
Peter Svidler 2747
½-½
Vladimir Kramnik 2801
Boris Gelfand 2739
1-0
Ding Liren 2707
Michael Adams 2727
½-½
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2722
Nikita Vitiugov 2712
½-½
Levon Aronian 2809
Round 08 – April 30 2013, 14:00h
Laurent Fressinet 2706
½-½
Levon Aronian 2809
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2722
0-1
Nikita Vitiugov 2712
Ding Liren 2707
½-½
Michael Adams 2727
Vladimir Kramnik 2801
½-½
Boris Gelfand 2739
Viswanathan Anand 2783
½-½
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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