Tal 02: Nakamura and Gelfand win with Black

by ChessBase
6/14/2013 – In an unusual turn of events, black has won four of the five decisive games played in this tournament. Today Nakamura was able to complicate matters in a terrible position against Kramnik, and then eventually outplay him and take the full point. Gelfand's Najdorf comprehension was simply better than Caruana's. The rest of the games were relatively quiet affairs. Pictures and games.

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The Eighth International Tal Memorial Chess Tournament is being held from June, 13 to 24, 2013, with a rest days on June 16 and June 20. The rounds generally start at 15:00h (=3 p.m.) Moscow time, with the first round starting at 6 p.m. and the final round at 1 p.m. Accommodation is in the Ritz-Carlton, Moscow, Tverskaya str. 3, while the event takes place in the in New Technologies Center Digital October, Bersenevskaya Embankment 6, in Moscow. The tournament has ten invited players and is a round robin with time controls of one hour and 40 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds for each move starting from move one. Full information on special rules, regulation, prize money, etc. can be found in our initial report.

Round two report

Round 02 –June 14 2013, 15:00h
Alexander Morozevich 2760
½-½
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2753
Vladimir Kramnik 2755
0-1
Hikaru Nakamura 2784
Sergey Karjakin 2782
½-½
Magnus Carlsen 2864
Fabiano Caruana 2774
0-1
Boris Gelfand 2755
Dmitry Andreikin 2713
½-½
Vishy Anand 2786

Andreikin, Dmitry - Anand, Vishy ½-½
Andreikin's aggressive style put him behind three pawns at some stage, only to recover them with interest and emerge up one! However this was insufficient for a win, as Anand's rook was active in the endgame and White's pawns were a conglomerate of targets.

If one isn't familiar with Gelfand's facial expressions, it might be easy to assume that he is in deep trouble. The truth is that he had the game under control the entire time.

Caruana, Fabiano - Gelfand, Boris 0-1
Caruana got outplayed in this sharp variation of the Najdorf. Gelfand had comfortably equalized and this was especially clear when he was able to break with d5, but that did not mean that Caruana should allow the pawn to push forward onto d4. After the pawn took key squares from his opponent, Black's advantage was without question. A blunder on move 32 only allowed Gelfand to collect the point quicker. Caruana does not enter the 2800 club just yet.

[Event "8th Tal Mem"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2013.06.14"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Caruana, F."]
[Black "Gelfand, B."]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2774"]
[BlackElo "2755"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2013.06.13"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Be3
Be7 9. Qd2 O-O 10. O-O-O Nbd7 11. g4 b5 12. g5 b4 13. Ne2 Ne8 14. f4 a5 15. f5
a4 16. fxe6 axb3 {Normally I would have made a lot of explanations by now, but
the truth is that this is all theory. White has been trying out the move 17.
cxb3 lately, though 17.exf7+ remains more popular.} 17. cxb3 fxe6 18. Bh3 Rxa2
(18... Nc7 19. Kb1 Qc8 20. Rhf1 Qa6 21. Nc1 {was slightly better for White,
though Black eventually won the game in Kryovoruchko-Wojtaszek 2012}) 19. Bxe6+
Kh8 20. Ng3 Nc7 21. Bc4 Qa8 {White's queenside is not as exposed as it seems,
but he still has to be careful. He is banking on his pair of bishops, more
space and control of d5 will be more valuable than Black's activity. As more
pieces get traded off the more likely this is to happen.} 22. Rhf1 Rxf1 23.
Rxf1 Ra1+ 24. Kc2 Rxf1 25. Bxf1 d5 26. h4 $2 {Allowing the d-pawn to push
forward is a serious mistake.} (26. exd5 Nxd5 27. Bf2 {is a position in which
I prefer White. Despite Black having the upper hand in the structure, White's
bishops cannot be underestimated and his king is out of danger.}) 26... d4 27.
Bg1 Ne6 {Now that White's darksquared bishop has no activity, it is hard to
come up with a constructive plan. If the blockade on d3 evaporates, White is
lost.} 28. Qe2 Ndc5 29. Qc4 Nf4 30. Qf7 Qf8 31. Qc4 (31. Qxf8+ Bxf8 32. Nf5 d3+
33. Kd1 Nxe4 {seems hopeless but actually White has the resource} 34. Bh2 $1 {
and Black can't hold on to all his pawns. This is rather hard to see in
advance though.}) 31... g6 32. Bf2 $2 {A tactical blunder. White's position
required precise calculation, but Caruana did not have the time to do it all
appropiately.} (32. Qxb4 {a brave move, but it works.} Nxe4 $2 (32... d3+ 33.
Kb1 Nh5 $1 $15) (32... Ncd3 33. Qb5 $1 Ne1+ 34. Kd1 Nf3 35. Be2 $1 $15) 33. Qe1
$1 {And White solves his problems.}) 32... Ne2 $1 {A beautiful move. The
knight cannot be captured in any way.} 33. Nh1 (33. Bxe2 Qxf2 {and both the
knight on g3 and d3 are threats.}) (33. Nxe2 Qxf2 {and now it is f1 and d3.}) (
33. Qxe2 d3+ {loses immediately.}) (33. Be1 d3+ 34. Kb1 Nxg3 {wins the bishop
on f1.}) 33... d3+ 34. Kd1 Qf3 {White is losing a piece regardless, and his
king is getting mated in every variation.} 35. Bxc5 Qxf1+ 36. Kd2 Nf4 37. Ng3
Qg2+ 38. Kc1 Qxg3 39. Kb1 Ne2 40. Qf7 Qe1+ 41. Ka2 Nc3+ (41... Nc3+ 42. bxc3
Qd2+ 43. Kb1 Qc2+ 44. Ka1 Qxc3+ 45. Ka2 Qc2+ 46. Ka1 Qxc5 {puts an end to
White's resistance. A wonderful game by Gelfand.}) *

 

GM Daniel King provides video analysis of Caruana vs Gelfand 

Karjakin's response to Carlsen's opening was not enough for the Russian to attempt a win.

Karjakin, Sergey - Carlsen, Magnus ½-½
Karjakin got absolutely nothing from the opening and Carlsen simply obtained a nice and smooth draw. Karjakin for some reason did not want to go into the Berlin and his sideline held no poison.

The people who suffer most at chess tournaments are never the players: Carlsen's father Henrik and his second Peter Heine Nielsen

Morozevich, Alexander - Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar ½-½
Morozevich played a very strong opening against Mamedyarov's Caro-Kann. Black was forced into an unfavorable queen exchange which gave the Russian a strong initiative on the queenside and better development. However, slowly but surely Morozevich let go of the thread of the game, and the Mamedyarov started to obtain serious counterplay.

"Oh man, he actually showed up...?"

"...yeah, he showed up..." Morozevich and Mamedyarov shake hands before the round starts.

Kramnik, Vladimir - Nakamura, Hikaru 0-1
Kramnik convincingly obtained an advantage against the King's Indian by employing the Fianchetto variation. He was up a pawn without any significant compensation, but a series of questionable moves allowed the American fully back in the game, and after the strong retort 27...Nc4! the position became very muddy. Hikaru not only regained his lost pawn but he also obtained a second one. His passed pawns on the queenside became difficult to stop. Kramnik attempted some kind of kingside counterplay but it was clearly insufficient.

Nakamura stayed his cool in the face of problems and emerged victorious.

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Schedule

Round 01 – June 13 2013, 15:00h
Dmitry Andreikin 2713
½-½
Alexander Morozevich 2760
Vishy Anand 2786
0-1
Fabiano Caruana 2774
Boris Gelfand 2755
½-½
Sergey Karjakin 2782
Magnus Carlsen 2864
1-0
Vladimir Kramnik 2803
Hikaru Nakamura 2784
0-1
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2753
Round 02 –June 14 2013, 15:00h
Alexander Morozevich 2760
½-½
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2753
Vladimir Kramnik 2755
0-1
Hikaru Nakamura 2784
Sergey Karjakin 2782
½-½
Magnus Carlsen 2864
Fabiano Caruana 2774
0-1
Boris Gelfand 2755
Dmitry Andreikin 2713
½-½
Vishy Anand 2786
Round 03 – June 15 2013, 15:00h
Vishy Anand 2786
-
Alexander Morozevich 2760
Boris Gelfand 2755
-
Dmitry Andreikin 2713
Magnus Carlsen 2864
-
Fabiano Caruana 2774
Hikaru Nakamura 2784
-
Sergey Karjakin 2782
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2753
-
Vladimir Kramnik 2803
Round 04 – June 17 2013, 15:00h
Alexander Morozevich 2760
-
Vladimir Kramnik 2803
Sergey Karjakin 2782
-
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2753
Fabiano Caruana 2774
-
Hikaru Nakamura 2784
Dmitry Andreikin 2713
-
Magnus Carlsen 2864
Vishy Anand 2786
-
Boris Gelfand 2755
Round 05 – June 18 2013, 15:00h
Boris Gelfand 2755
-
Alexander Morozevich 2760
Magnus Carlsen 2864
-
Vishy Anand 2786
Hikaru Nakamura 2784
-
Dmitry Andreikin 2713
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2753
-
Fabiano Caruana 2774
Vladimir Kramnik 2727
-
Sergey Karjakin 2782
Round 06 – June 19 2013, 15:00h
Alexander Morozevich 2760
-
Sergey Karjakin 2782
Fabiano Caruana 2774
-
Vladimir Kramnik 2803
Dmitry Andreikin 2713
-
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2753
Vishy Anand 2786
-
Hikaru Nakamura 2784
Boris Gelfand 2755
-
Magnus Carlsen 2864
Round 07 – June 21 2013, 15:00h
Magnus Carlsen 2864
-
Alexander Morozevich 2760
Hikaru Nakamura 2784
-
Boris Gelfand 2755
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2753
-
Vishy Anand 2786
Vladimir Kramnik 2803
-
Dmitry Andreikin 2713
Sergey Karjakin 2782
-
Fabiano Caruana 2774
Round 08 – June 22 2013, 15:00h
Alexander Morozevich 2760
-
Fabiano Caruana 2774
Dmitry Andreikin 2713
-
Sergey Karjakin 2782
Vishy Anand 2786
-
Vladimir Kramnik 2803
Boris Gelfand 2755
-
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2753
Magnus Carlsen 2864
-
Hikaru Nakamura 2784
Round 09 – June 23 2013, 13:00h
Hikaru Nakamura 2784
-
Alexander Morozevich 2760
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2753
-
Magnus Carlsen 2864
Vladimir Kramnik 2803
-
Boris Gelfand 2755
Sergey Karjakin 2782
-
Vishy Anand 2786
Fabiano Caruana 2774
-
Dmitry Andreikin 2713

All pictures by Etery Kublashvili

 


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