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Botvinnik Memorial 100th anniversary, Moscow, Russia Tourney format: double round robin with over six rounds |
Pictures by Anna Burtasova
Vishy Anand picked up the title by keeping a cool head amidst all the rapid action. In the first round of the day an interesting Semi-Slav arose between Kramnik-Anand where Black’s attempts to complicate the position by offering his bishop for a knight did not bear results.
"And then I will smash his king to smithereens..."
During the mid-game commentary, Anand admitted that 17….Bd4 was somewhat committal but hinted that he had plans which might work out. Kramnik’s thoughts remain a mystery to non-Russian speakers as he was commenting in his native tongue. Unfortunately for the Indian, his opponent made all the right moves to stop the advance of the d-pawn and split the point.
It was an offday for Carlsen as he missed chances and struggled to stay focused
Aronian defeated Carlsen with Black after the latter mishandled an exchange-up position. The more focused 28. f4 instead of Qd1 could have tied up Black’s pieces and restricted counterplay.
Cmilyte's aggressive chess once more brought her success after her victory at the
Women's European Championships earlier this year.
As to the women, Cmilyte played an active English opening against Danielian, creating simultaneous threats to capture the e7 pawn and promote the a6 pawn with 23. Qe4. Black’s position crumbled soon after.
Humpy-Kosintseva was a Nimzo-Indian in which White got out of the opening into a dangerous situation with her king in the centre. Subsequent queen exchanges took the bite out of the position and the game was drawn.
A hurricane of tactics followed in the next round which delivered decisive outcomes on all boards. Anand played the Anti-Marshall against Aronian but ended up defending a concentrated kingside attack nevertheless. Black’s enthusiasm turned fatal when White trapped his nosy rook with 38. Qg2, forcing resignation.
Meanwhile Carlsen’s irregular opening choice against Kramnik backfired badly. The Russian showed no mercy and launched a textbook attack, leaving a bishop hanging on g5 while transferring his rook to h3 to join the party. Carlsen looked rather grave before White’s rook maneuver 14.Re3.
It was a first in which the highest rated players of both the men's
section and women's came in dead last.
“I don’t think I got a good position, but I’m hoping to survive,” he told the reporter who interviewed him during the game. The world’s highest rated player threw in the towel shortly before getting mated some moves later. In the post mortem 15….g6 was suggested as Black’s last chance to defend.
The game Cmilyte-Humpy ended abruptly with Black blundering a rook in an even position (31…. Qxe4?? sunk Black’s ship – though she had already erred with Bg4 the move before) Kosintseva’s fight against Danielian was similarly shortlived when she overlooked 22. Rxe6+!
The large screens on the both sides of the stage provided the video transmission, the
same as on the official site.
The commentary could be heard in the headphones provided to all visitors
The children watched in thankful silence
The sixth and final round once again threw up four winners: Anand, Aronian, Danielian and Kosintseva against Carlsen, Kramnik, Humpy and Cmilyte respectively. Carlsen succumbed to Anand for a second straight loss while Aronian overcame Kramnik in a double rook ending with the help of a passed pawn on d7.
Anand was in good form and finished 1.5 points ahead of the rest
The endgame between Humpy-Danielian was far trickier. After passing the initiative back and forth for a while, White finally got her golden chance – overlooked it, and lost! Humpy missed 47. Rg8+ Kf3 48. Kh3! Opening up the defensive h2 square for the bishop and intending an unstoppable h8=Q. A quiet, sweet victory it might have been. Instead the game move 47. f3? eliminated all hopes of a win. White could have still saved the game with 50. Kh3 threatening perpetuals but the second oversight proved costly for her.
Lost the battle (against Kosintseva), but won the war
And in what was possibly the most theoretical game of the tournament, Kosintseva checkmated Cmilyte from the white side of a Sicilian Dragon Yugoslav variation, but the tall Lithuanian held the highest scorecard at the end of the day’s struggles.
This hectic contest was then succeeded by some lighter chess. The participants tested their mind-reading skills in a mixed blitz doubles tournament in the evening, where partners were instructed not to speak to each other except to say “please move” or “faster!” (Women players were also allowed to smile, but men were forbidden to do so because, in the words of the arbiter, it “looks strange”!) The Indian duo Anand-Humpy emerged the winners with 2.5/3.
Russian Chess Federation chariman, Ilya Levitov, launches the blitz
It was all about fun, and the players clearly took it in this spirit
Even so, there must be a winner, and Anand together with Humpy took the top honors
"If I tap two twice and blink three times it means the rook..."
The last moments could be hectic to say the least even with a three-second increment
Cmilyte was paired with Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen is mobbed by Smurfs requesting an autograph
Kramnik also does the honors for the fans
The live and past video coverage is available at the Russian Chess Federation.
| September 2 | |
| 13.00-13.40 | Press conference. Magnus Carlsen is awarded the Chess Oscar for 2010 |
| 13.40-14.10 | Lunch for the participants and journalists |
| 14.15-15.00 | Opening ceremony |
| 15.00-16.15 | 1st round |
| 16.30-17.45 | 2nd round |
| 18.00-19.15 | 3rd round |
| 19.25-20.25 | Analysis of the most interesting games |
| September 3 | |
| 15.00-16.15 | 4th round |
| 16.30-17.45 | 5th round |
| 18.00-19.15 | 6th round |
| 19.25-20.25 | Analysis of the most interesting games |
| 20.30-21.00 | Blitz doubles tournament |
| September 4 | |
| 13.00-13.30 | Opening of a memorial plaque in TSDSH Botvinnik (Gogol Boulevard, 14) |
| 15.00-17.00 | simul for Gifted Children |
| 18.30 | Evening in memory of Mikhail Botvinnik in TSDSH (Gogol Boulevard, 14) |
LinksThe 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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