Botvinnik Memorial Rapid Day one – Comedy of errors

Botvinnik Memorial 100th anniversary, Moscow, Russia Tourney format: double round robin with over six rounds Time control: 25 minutes + 10 seconds/move Game start: 13:00 - 14:30 and 16:00 Tiebreak: 1st Direct game result; 2nd Number of wins; 3rd Berger scoring Special mode: in the middle of the game the clocks will be stopped and the players will give a live commentary during the match. The opponent has to wear headphones and will listen to music while his opponent giving the comment.

Day one

The opening ceremony

Pictures by Anna Burtasova

Everything is ready in the “Digital October” center to start the great show

Before the opening ceremony there was a press conference with some of the players.

Vishy Anand commented how much he enjoys Moscow as a chess city, while Vladimir Kramnik, once a pupil of Botvinnik's famous chess school, shared his memories of the legendary player. Magnus Carlsen noted that it is very important for any generation to study the games of the past champions.

In his presentation he noted how symbolic it was that the memorial of the champion, who spent half of his life creating a computer chess program, is held in the Digital Center for high technology.

Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian and Vladimir Kramnik

The spectators of the event can observe the players, listen to commentary in the
headphones and enjoy the video zoom-ins on the two screens on the both sides of
the stage. Entry is totally free.

The Russian chess federation made a special gift to 80 talented children from around
the country (all dressed in blue t-shirts) to enjoy the event, and participate in the simul
against the grandmasters.

Young and talented Triapitsyna sisters waiting for the event to start. While preparing
to become like the Kosintsevas, they brush up on their Super Mario skills.

Arkady Dvorkovich and Alexander Zhukov open the event – both of whom are members
of the Supervisory Board of Russian chess federation and high-ranked Russian politicians.

Elina Danielian shows her number to the chief arbiter Andrei Filippovich

World Champion Viswanathan Anand

The tournament

Round one saw Levon Aronian stumble before Magnus Carlsen in the Queen’s Indian Defence. Aronian, playing white, made a gross blunder with the overoptimistic 22.f6. Carlsen’s reply 23. Qxc5 is easy to find, but the world number one threw away his windfall with 35. Rxf6 leading to a forced draw. 35….Rfg5 would have picked up the point.

Levon Aronian gets ready to sweat and suffer against Magnus Carlsen

In the women’s section, Elina Danielian crushed Viktorija Cmilyte after the latter played the dubious 15…Nbc4 in place of 15. Nac4 in the Fianchetto Gruenfeld. Some opening confusion, perhaps? Meanwhile the world’s second highest rated woman, Koneru Humpy, opened her account with a convincing win with Black over Tatiana Kosintseva in a Ruy Lopez.

Koneru Humpy began strongly with a win against Tatiana Kosintseva

Danielian and European Champion Cmilyte start their game

The stage is set and the action begins

Things heated up in the second round when Vladimir Kramnik made a well-evaluated positional knight sacrifice on move fifteen. The ensuing complications ended in pretty draw. Kramnik could have maintained the initiative with 18….Qc2, keeping the queens on board; alas! rapid games don’t always produce the best moves!

In Aronian-Anand, Black outplayed White in a Gruenfeld middlegame without much fuss.

However the other Indian, Humpy, lost her nerve against Cmilyte’s Modern Benoni. The white pieces were not enough to help her as she played the panicky 17. f4, giving up the e4 pawn for nothing. A possible alternative was 17. exf5  gxf5 18. g3 buffering White’s kingside.

Kosintseva sprang back from her first round loss to beat Danielian in the Caro Kann Advance Variation. White launched a slightly reckless pawn offensive with 12. c4 (perhaps 12. g4 f5 13. c4 was wiser) but reaped the fruits after Black squandered away the advantage with 28….Rxh2. The obvious pawn recapture 28….cxb3 would have put Tatiana in a tight spot, but as it was, she walked away with an extra rook and piece.

Round three saw Carlsen’s second big slip-up. Playing black versus Anand in a Ruy Lopez Berlin, he won a pawn quite early in the game but failed to convert. The game move 21….Rxf6 is much weaker than the direct Nxb2. Anand used the extra tempi to secure a draw. Vishy has played the most solid chess in the tournament so far.

On the other board, Kramnik and Aronian settled their score peaceably in a Sicilian Dragon.

The ladies once more provided some interesting drama. Koneru Humpy had an almost-certain victory snatched from her by a patient and crafty Danielian, who pounced at 51….Re3? with 52.Rxb3! sealing the draw.

Cmilyte, meanwhile, had smashed Kosintseva’s kingside with white pieces in a Queen’s Gambit Ragozin, and won in 33 moves.

As promised, the players have been pausing their clocks soon after the opening to offer a few quick words on their games. A reporter came to the board and would question one player while the other put on large headphones covering his or her ears.

Anand comments on his surprise that Kramnik opted for 12...d4 (see 15:23:00)

Both players would take this opportunity to study the position deeper, during which the other spoke, though carefully avoiding any visual cues that might give something away. For non-Russian speakers, there were moments where this was essentially lost on the viewer, but overall it was a fascinating glimpse into the players' minds in the heat of battle.

The live and past video coverage is available at the Russian Chess Federation.

Men's standings after three rounds

Women's standings after three rounds

Event schedule

Links Official tournament site All men's games in PGN All women's games in PGN The games are being 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 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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