Tal 05: Carlsen beats Anand, Gelfand catches Nakamura

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, 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 four report

Gelfand, Boris - Morozevich, Alexander 1-0
Morozevich's delayed Benoni allowed Gelfand to obtain a set-up that is known to be advantageous for White. To evaporate this advantage and cause significant structural damage the Russian sacrificed an exchange, but it is unlikely that it was fully compensated in this variation. Gelfand resourcefully gave back the material to obtain a strong passed pawn in the center and then finished off the game with a precisely calculated sequence that forced it through to queening.

A cheerful Carlsen steamrolled over Anand in today's game.

Carlsen, Magnus - Anand, Vishy 1-0
Carlsen obtained a pleasant advantage out of the opening - truthfully more than he deserved considering the variation choice. Anand (above) had some aggressive choices to try to liberate his position early on, but instead he decided to hold with a more passive set up. Anand's problems intensified when he allowed Carlsen to achieve e4 without much of a fight, but it became especially terrible when Anand missed a very clever sequence that netted White a decisive advantage. Probably miscalculating the consequences of 22.d5 was what cost the World Champion the game. In the final position Black wasn't even down a single pawn, but his position was completely dominated. Not a good omen for the match in November.

GM Daniel King provides video analysis of Carlsen vs Anand 

Nakamura, Hikaru - Andreikin, Dmitry ½-½
It is very commendable to see Andreikin's fine preparation for this tournament. He has had no opening problems, and he has given no one a chance to obtain a position that is better or even very playable against him. On the other hand, his ambition seems to be completely lacking and draw after draw it would appear as if he is happy with obtaining a 50% score and calling it a day. Nakamura was definitely uncomfortable out of the opening, and in the final position it is hard to say that Andreikin really had any advantage, but he definitely held the more pleasant side of equality and could have played on even if it was just a few moves.

The best scoring Russian has not lost a single game, but he hasn't won one either.

Kramnik, Vladimir - Karjakin, Sergey ½-½
The reverse Dragon gives Black good chances of equalizing. In today's' game Karjakin took advantage of all of those opportunities and after the trade of queens White's position was only marginally better. After more trades the draw was obvious.

Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar - Caruana, Fabiano ½-½
When White breaks the center with e4 in the super solid Schlecter set-ups, his d4 pawn becomes a big liability. Despite having more space and the pair of bishops, this pawn usually holds White from doing anything active. In this game, Mamedyarov was able to push the pawn down to d7, but it was isolated from the rest of White's pieces, its only lifeline being the bishop on h3. After some piece trades the players agreed to a draw in a position that would end up being an opposite colored bishop endgame.

At 50% Caruana is still having a good tournament.

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All pictures by Etery Kublashvili

Links Official tournament site All 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 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.