Tal Memorial Rd2 – Carlsen beats Gelfand

by ChessBase
11/18/2011 – It was a combative round, and once again, Carlsen and Ivanchuk were right there in the mix of it. Ivanchuk played a hard endgame against Nepomniachtchi, but was unable to exploit his extra pawn. Carlsen once more played the most complex game of the round, and eventually beat Gelfand after mindboggling complications. Illustrated report with GM commentary by Alejandro Ramirez.

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Sixth Tal Memorial in Moscow

This event is a ten-player round robin event, is taking place from November 16th to 25th in Moscow, Russia. Time control: 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, and 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move one.

Round 2: Thursday, November 17, 2011
Magnus Carlsen
1-0
Boris Gelfand
Sergey Karjakin
½ ½
Hikaru Nakamura
Peter Svidler
½ ½
Vishy Anand
Ian Nepomniachtchi
½ ½
Vassily Ivanchuk
Levon Aronian
½ ½
Vladimir Kramnik

Round two

After a first round that bore an almost eerie resemblance to the Grand Slam Masters almost a month ago, the second round wiped that impression off right away. Though not all the games were of equal measure, the audience certainly had nothing to complain about.


Svidler was content to contain Anand, and chose not to challenge his Caro-Kann

The shortest game of the round was between Anand and Svidler, and whether still licking his wounds after his first-round loss, or not wishing to challenge the World Champion in the Caro-Kann, Svidler was content to draw relatively quickly against Anand, and leave it at that.

Carlsen on the other hand unpacked the guns and started shooting in Gefland's direction very soon into the game. Though he is certainly capable of outplaying the very elite in simple technical positions, it is often a very difficult affair, and his chances of tripping an opponent are certainly better when the paths are not as clear-cut.


Carlsen studies his position...


...while his friend, world champion Anand, casts a professional look at it.


Magnus acknowledges his presence for a half-second before going back to the bloodiest
game of the round.

His game against Gelfand was a bit of a see-saw affair, and though he was never in danger of losing, the chances he took could have left him in trouble, but his ambitous play was rewarded as the Israeli missed his best chance to hold, and eventually went under.


Although he tried his best, Ivanchuk was unable to get Nepomniachtchi to crack

Ivanchuk played a very long game against Nepomniachtchi, as he emerged in a knight endgame with an extra pawn. Despite his best efforts, he was unable to trick the Russian, and they eventually drew when the last drop of blood had been squeezed out of the position.

Karjakin and Nakamura quickly found themselves in a dead equal queenless middlegame, with rooks and opposite-colored bishops, and neither found any way to break the balance.

Kramnik and Aronian also fought a good fight, as Kramnik sacrificed the exchange to try and leverage his bishop pair and distant passed a-pawn to his advantage. Aronian was having none of it, and carefully neutralized Vladimir's play, never giving the Russian a chance to move his passed pawn so much as a singkle square. He eventually gave back the exchange to end in a dead opposite-colored bishop ending.

Playchess commentator schedule

Date
Commentator
16.11.2011
Daniel King
17.11.2011
Dejan Bojkov
18.11.2011
Robert Ris
19.11.2011
Lawrence Trent
20.11.2011
Sam Collins
21.11.2011
Free day
22.11.2011
Daniel King
23.11.2011
Robert Ris
24.11.2011
Dejan Bojkov
25.11.2011
Daniel King


GM Daniel King provides commentary on Kramnik-Nepomniachtchi on Playchess

Schedule and Results

Round 1: Wednesday November 16, 2011
Levon Aronian
½ ½
Magnus Carlsen
Vladimir Kramnik
0-1
Ian Nepomniachtchi  
Vassily Ivanchuk
1-0
Peter Svidler
Vishy Anand
½ ½
Sergey Karjakin
Hikaru Nakamura
½ ½
Boris Gelfand
Round 2: Thursday, November 17, 2011
Magnus Carlsen
1-0
Boris Gelfand
Sergey Karjakin
½ ½
Hikaru Nakamura
Peter Svidler
½ ½
Vishy Anand
Ian Nepomniachtchi
½ ½
Vassily Ivanchuk
Levon Aronian
½ ½
Vladimir Kramnik
Round 3: Friday, November 18, 2011
Vladimir Kramnik
  Magnus Carlsen
Vassily Ivanchuk
  Levon Aronian
Vishy Anand
  Ian Nepomniachtchi
Hikaru Nakamura
  Peter Svidler
Boris Gelfand
  Sergey Karjakin
Round 4: Saturday, November 19, 2011
Magnus Carlsen
  Sergey Karjakin
Peter Svidler
  Boris Gelfand
Ian Nepomniachtchi
  Hikaru Nakamura
Levon Aronian
  Vishy Anand
Vladimir Kramnik
  Vassily Ivanchuk
Round 5: Sunday, November 20, 2011
Vassily Ivanchuk
  Magnus Carlsen
Vishy Anand
  Vladimir Kramnik
Hikaru Nakamura
  Levon Aronian
Boris Gelfand
  Ian Nepomniachtchi
Sergey Karjakin
  Peter Svidler
Round 6: Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Magnus Carlsen
  Peter Svidler
Ian Nepomniachtchi
  Sergey Karjakin
Levon Aronian
  Boris Gelfand
Vladimir Kramnik
  Hikaru Nakamura
Vassily Ivanchuk
  Vishy Anand
Round 7: Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Vishy Anand
  Magnus Carlsen
Hikaru Nakamura
  Vassily Ivanchuk
Boris Gelfand
  Vladimir Kramnik
Sergey Karjakin
  Levon Aronian
Peter Svidler
  Ian Nepomniachtchi
Round 8: Thursday, November 24, 2011
Magnus Carlsen
  Ian Nepomniachtchi
Levon Aronian
  Peter Svidler
Vladimir Kramnik
  Sergey Karjakin
Vassily Ivanchuk
  Boris Gelfand
Vishy Anand
  Hikaru Nakamura
Round 9: Friday, November 25, 2011
Hikaru Nakamura
  Magnus Carlsen
Boris Gelfand
  Vishy Anand
Sergey Karjakin
  Vassily Ivanchuk
Peter Svidler
  Vladimir Kramnik
Ian Nepomniachtchi
  Levon Aronian

Links

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 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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