6/19/2013 – Nakamura took down the World Champion, regaining the solo lead in the tournament and achieving 2789 in the live ratings list. Gelfand missed an important chance against an overeager Carlsen. Kramnik held Caruana to a draw in a wacky game. Morozevich and Andreikin played long endgames against Karjakin and Mamedyarov but couldn't bring the full point home. GM Analysis, pictures.
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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, 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 six report
Round 06 – June 19 2013, 15:00h
Alexander Morozevich
2760
½-½
Sergey Karjakin
2782
Fabiano Caruana
2774
½-½
Vladimir Kramnik
2803
Dmitry Andreikin
2713
½-½
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
2753
Vishy Anand
2786
0-1
Hikaru Nakamura
2784
Boris Gelfand
2755
½-½
Magnus Carlsen
2864
Morozevich, Alexander - Karjakin, Sergey½-½
Morozevich as usual employs a bizarre plan. The g4-g5 advance is anything but common in this variation of the Nimzo-Indian, and it was able to put some pressure on Karjakin's position. Morozevich emerged structurally better and eventually netted a pawn, but by that point Black's activity was significant and he was unable to convert his material.
A confident Hikaru has shown superb chess and leads the tournament.
Anand, Vishy - Nakamura, Hikaru 0-1
An off-beat variation in the Spanish gave Nakamura good counterchances. The middlegame was unique and complex, but it seems that the American was more on top of how exactly things should proceed. He managed to shatter the kingside structure of Anand, and though this was not come with a kingside attack, it did give Black a passed h-pawn, one of many advantages that Nakamura had in the endgame. A flawless technical endgame followed and Anand had to resign.
GM Daniel King provides video analysis of Anand vs Nakamura
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 {Not unheard of but certainly not the most usual.
White has two aggressive responses to fight for the advantage.} 4. O-O (4. d4
exd4 5. Bg5 Be7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. Bxc6 dxc6 8. Qxd4 {Was better for white in
Geetha-Sokolov, 2010}) (4. c3 a6 5. Ba4 d6 6. d4 Bd7 7. O-O Bg7 8. h3 h6 {was
the recent game Caruana-Ivanchuk in which the Italian emerged victorious.})
4... Bg7 5. c3 a6 6. Bxc6 {quite uncommon. White usually retreats his bishop
to a4. After the move in the text White obtains the center, but Black's
pressure against it coupled with the pair of bishops should give him adequate
counterchances.} dxc6 7. d4 exd4 8. cxd4 Ne7 9. h3 O-O 10. Nc3 h6 11. Qb3 g5 $5
{Black really wants the g4 square for his bishop, since the knight on f3 is
the only bastion defending the key d4 pawn. If that falls White will have no
defense against Black's bishops.} 12. Rd1 b6 13. a4 a5 14. Be3 Ng6 15. d5 c5
16. Nb5 g4 17. hxg4 Bxg4 18. Bd2 Qd7 {Although both sides have their chances,
Black's position seems easier to play. He has obvious targets to attack and
White has more to worry about in the position, namely that it might bet too
open for the bishops and that his pawn structure on the kingside might get
shattered.} 19. Rac1 c6 20. dxc6 Qxc6 21. Bc3 Bxf3 22. gxf3 Rad8 (22... Nf4 23.
Rd6 Qc8 $1 24. Bd2 Ne2+ 25. Kg2 Nxc1 26. Bxc1 Rd8 {would have won an exchange,
but White's position isn't bad anymore and he has plenty of activity, so
Hikaru chose to not cash in straight away.}) 23. Rxd8 Rxd8 24. Rd1 Rd7 25. Rxd7
Qxd7 26. Qd5 Qxd5 $1 {The correct decision. Despite giving White a passed pawn
and foregoing possible attacks on the kingside, this is the right choice.
Blacks' passed h-pawn will be difficult for White to deal with, as one of his
pieces will have to permanently deal with it.} 27. exd5 Bxc3 28. bxc3 Ne5 (
28... Nf4 29. c4 Kf8 30. Nc3 Nd3 {nets a pawn but Hikaru's way is also good.})
29. Nd6 Kf8 30. Kh2 $2 (30. f4 {was the only way to try to obtain something.
Now Black has the uncomfortable choice between going back to d7 passively or
giving up b6.} Nd3 31. Nc8 Nxf4 32. c4 $1 Ke8 33. Nxb6 Kd8 34. d6 {and nothing
is quite clear yet, even though Black is definitely still better.}) 30... Ke7
31. Nc8+ Kd7 32. Nxb6+ Kc7 33. f4 Nf3+ 34. Kg2 Nd2 $1 {Black's maneouver has
locked in the knight on b6. White must part with his d-pawn to save the
knight's life.} 35. Na8+ Kb7 36. d6 Kc6 37. Nc7 Kxd6 38. Nb5+ Kd5 39. Kg3 Kc4 {
Material is equal, but the difference in king activity and the h-pawn's threat
of running down the board if White abandons it gives Black the decisive edge.}
40. Nd6+ $6 {making things easier for Black.} (40. f3 Kb3 41. Nd6 Kxa4 42. Nxf7
Nc4 $1 {is winning but would have forced Hikaru to find a couple of good moves.
}) 40... Kxc3 41. Nxf7 c4 42. f5 Kd4 43. Nd6 Ke5 44. Nb5 Kxf5 45. f3 h5 {the
technique is now basic. exchange the h pawn for the f pawn, run the king over
to help the c-pawn, win the knight, queen the a-pawn.} 0-1
Anand has had difficulties finding his groove and has lost two games with White.
Caruana, Fabiano - Kramnik Vladimir ½-½
The Berlin defense has brought Kramnik plenty of success. He is of course the one that made it popular by effectively employing it against Kasparov in their 2000 match. Usually the game is a long boring endgame in which either Black loses because his pawn structure is worse and he didn't solve his development problems, he wins because his pair of bishops is tearing the board apart, or more often than not it is a draw when White could simply not make any progress. In today's game Kramnik sacrificed a rook and a piece and the game ended in a wild perpetual. Very interesting resources were available for both sides, but it seems unclear if Caruana missed a real chance to improve.
Another person that is surprisingly in a tie for last place: Vladimir Kramnik.
Gelfand, Boris - Carlsen, Magnus ½-½
Once more Gelfand was unable to obtain anything concrete from the opening. The position was closed and Magnus was very solid. This however did not give Black any reason to play for a win, which he did after declining a three-fold repetition, and slowly but surely his position became worse and worse. Gelfand missed his best chance when on move 40 he could have broken his opponent's pawn structure with 40.f5! After missing this detail Carlsen regained his senses and was able to hold the draw.
Carlsen came close to pushing too hard today.
Andreikin, Dmitry - Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar ½-½
Andreikin obtained the slightly better deal out of the massive simplifications that happened near the beginning of the game. However, Mamedyarov accurately and actively held the balance by consistently applying counterplay, never allowing his opponent to really utilize his structural advantages. The game was eventually drawn but not for lack of trying.
Mamedyarov keeps his +1 score and a good performance in the tournament.
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