Tal Memorial 03: Morozevich beats Kramnik, Leko beats Shirov

Tal Memorial in Moscow

The Tal Memorial is taking place from August 17th to 31st 2008 in the Exhibition Hall of GUM mall, located directly on the Red Square. The players are former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, who won the tournament last year, Alexander Morozevich, currently the world's second highest ranked player, Vassily Ivanchuk, ranked fourth, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (8th), Alexei Shirov (9th), Peter Leko (10th), Gata Kamsky (17th), Boris Gelfand, (18th), Ruslan Ponomariov (19th), and Evgeny Alekseev (26th).

Time controls are two hours for the first 40 moves, one hour for the next 20 moves and 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move after move 61. There is a blitz tournament on August 29th-30th, with a qualifier two days earlier. Magnus Carlsen and Antoly Karpov are seeded invitees.

Round three report

The games of the day

Morozevich,A (2788) - Kramnik,V (2788) [D45]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (3), 20.08.2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.g4 Nxg4 8.Rg1 Nxh2 9.Nxh2 Bxh2 10.Rxg7 Nf8 11.Rg2 Bd6 12.e4

12...Ng6N (apparently the novelty) 13.Bg5 Be7?! This must be home analysis, but it is unclear to us why it is better than 13...f6. 14.Bxe7 Qxe7 15.0-0-0 dxe4 16.Nxe4 f5 17.Nd2 c5 18.dxc5 Bd7 19.b4 0-0-0 20.Rg3 e5 21.Rd3 Be6?! 22.Ra3 a6 23.c6 bxc6 24.c5 Qg5? After some promising moments the game has gone badly for Kramnik. Now he give Morozevich a free hand to attack.

25.Rxa6 (threatening 26.Qa4 with a forced mate) 25...Kd7 26.Bc4 Bxc4 27.Qxc4 Ne7 28.Kc2 Ke8 29.Nf3 Qf6 30.Rd6 Rxd6 31.cxd6

The multiple threats cannot be met. 1-0.

Kamsky,G (2723) - Gelfand,B (2720) [C43]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (3), 20.08.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.Bd3 d5 5.Nxe5 Nd7 6.0-0 Nxe5 7.dxe5 Nc5 8.f4 g6 9.Be3 Be7 10.Be2 0-0 11.Kh1 f6 12.exf6 Rxf6 13.c4 Be6 14.cxd5 Qxd5 15.Nc3 Qxd1 16.Raxd1 Rf7 17.b4 Bf6 18.Bd4 Bxd4 19.Rxd4 Nd7 20.Re4 Bf5 21.Re3 Nb6 22.Rd1 Kf8 23.Kg1 Re7 24.Kf2 Rxe3 25.Kxe3 Re8+ 26.Kf2 c6 27.Rd4 Be6 28.Bf3 Nd5 29.Ne4 Re7 30.Nc5 Nc3 31.Rd8+ Kf7 32.Rh8 Kg7 33.Rb8 Bd5 34.Nxb7 Ne4+ 35.Kg1 Bxa2 36.Nc5 Bd5 37.Bxe4 Bxe4 38.Kf2 Bd5 39.g4 Kf6 40.Rd8 Rc7 41.Ke3 Ke7 42.Rb8 Kd6 43.Nb7+ Ke6 44.Kd4 h5 45.Nc5+ Kf6 46.h3 hxg4 47.hxg4 Rh7 48.Rd8 Rh1 49.Rd6+ Kg7 50.g5 Rc1 51.Rd7+ Kh8 52.Ke5 Rc4 53.Kf6 Rxf4+ 54.Kxg6 Rxb4

Here White had a cut-and-dry win: 55.Re7! and now for instance 55...Bg8 56.Nd7 Re4 57.Rg7 (57.Rxe4? Bh7+=) and the threat of Nf6 cannot be adaquately met. However Kamsky lets Gelfand off the hook: 55.Rxa7? Bg8 56.Re7. Now it is too late. 56...Rh4 57.Re8 Rd4 58.Re7 Rd6+ 59.Kh5 Bh7 60.Nd7 Rd1 61.Re8+ draw. A lucky escape for Boris Gelfand.

Leko,P (2741) - Shirov,A (2741) [B90]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (3), 20.08.2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.Be2 0-0 9.0-0 Be6 10.Qd2 Nbd7 11.a4 Nb6 12.a5 Nc4 13.Bxc4 Bxc4 14.Rfd1 Rc8 15.f3 Rc6 16.Bb6 Rxb6 17.axb6 Bxb3 18.cxb3 Qxb6+ 19.Kh1 Qxb3 20.Rac1 Rd8 21.Nd5 Nxd5 22.Qxd5 Qxd5 23.Rxd5 Rd7 24.g3 Kf8 25.f4 f6 26.Kg2 Bd8 27.Kf3 Ke7 28.b4 Rc7 29.Rxc7+ Bxc7 30.Rd1 Bb6 31.Ke2 Bd4 32.Kd3 Kd7 33.f5 Bb6 34.Rc1 Bd4 35.Rc2 Bb6 36.g4 h6 37.h4 Bd8 38.Kc4 Kc6 39.Kb3+ Kd7 40.Kc4 Kc6 41.b5+ axb5+ 42.Kb4+ Kd7 43.Kxb5 Be7 44.Rd2 Kc7 45.Rd1 1-0.

Current standings

Europe Echecs videos reports

These reports are provided by Europe Echecs.com, which is doing extensive coverage of the Tal Memorial Tournament

Schedule and results

Links Official tournament site (in Russian) All games so far 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 the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse the PGN games.