6/10/2012 – It was a round of sacrifices all round with all the results possible. The first was McShane's brilliant exchange sacrifice that stranded Aronian's king with deadly effect. Then came Kramnik's exchange sacrifice to neutralize Radjabov, and hold the balance. Finally, it was Grischuk who went for broke against Morozevich in a crazy game, but lost. Round three report with GM commentary and video.
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Seventh Tal Memorial in Moscow
The event is a ten-player round robin event, is taking place from June
8th to 18th in the Pashkov House (Vozdvizhenka Street 3/5, p.1), Moscow,
Russia. Rest days are June 11 and 15. 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. Games start at 15:00h
local time (last round 13:00h).
Draw offers are not allowed until after the first time control. The participants
are required to comment on their games in the press center after each
round. The prize fund is 100,000 Euros.
Round
3: Sunday, June 10, 2012
Magnus Carlsen
½-½
Fabiano Caruana
Alexander Grischuk
0-1
Alex. Morozevich
Teimour Radjabov
½-½
Vladimir Kramnik
Levon Aronian
0-1
Luke McShane
Hikaru Nakamura
½-½
Ev. Tomashevsky
Round three
It was a fun and exciting round for those watching on Sunday, and sacrifices seemed to be on the minds of most of the players one way or the other. The only game that did not was Magnus Carlsen’s game against Fabiano Caruana, in which they drew after an uneventful game. At least this time, Magnus did not have to worry about digging himself out of trouble, even if he did not pose the Italian any real problems either.
Carlsen-Caruana: a tame draw
Hikaru Nakamura’s sacrifice came in the form of the King’s Gambit against Evgeny Tomashevsky, showing that the opening was not a one-of in his repertoire, but something others will have to be prepared for.
Hikaru Nakamura searches for inspiration
Still, it did not quite explode into the fireworks as some other games and the American was forced to accept the draw.
Vladimir Kramnik sacrificed an exchange in the Berlin, and neutralized Teimour Radjabov’s play quite effectively, though not more. They shook hands after 25 moves.
The biggest surprise was the hitherto luckless Luke McShane, who had looked crushed after his disaster the day before, who came back with an incredibly inspired win over Levon Aronian. Early in a Semi-Slav, the Englishman offered an exchange sacrifice of his own on a8, which the Armenian took, perhaps unwisely. White’s king was soon stuck in the center and McShane showed his great attacking talent once again, justifying the popular poll that brought him to the event. This time there was no late blunder, and Aronian had to resign before the time control.
This jovial smile was actually before the game started, so one can only take one's
hat off to such a good recovery.
Annotated game by GM Alejandro Ramirez
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1.d4d52.Nf3Nf63.c4c64.Nc3a65.Bg5White has tried basically every
legal move in this position, but Bg5 has never been that popular.dxc45...Ne4is more popular, but the move in the game scores far better.6.a4h67.Bh47.Bxf6exf68.e3regains the pawn but promises no advantage.7...b5This move is new in grandmaster games, but the idea behind it is common for
this variation.8.axb5cxb59.Nxb59.e4Bb710.e5g511.Bg3Ne412.e6
is very messy and quite unforced.9...axb510.Rxa8Bb711.Ra1g512.Bg3e6The point of Black's exchange sacrifice is that there is no good way of
meeting Bb4+. White is already forced to forego castling and that will make
his development quite awkward.13.e3Bb4+14.Ke2Nc615.Ne1Na516.Be50-017.h4White is trying to get as much activity as possible. If he untangles,
he will win with his extra exchange, otherwise his position will be nothing
but suffering.g418.Nc2Be719.Ke1Nb320.Ra2h521.Be2?!This move is
bad but I can't find alternatives. White went wrong somewhere before this but
a deeper analysis is needed to realize where.21.f3gxf322.gxf3Ng421...Bd6!A very strong move. Black eliminates that active bishop and
emphasizes the weakness on g2. There was no need to take the pawn immediately,
this is much stronger. After this Black is simply better.22.f322.Bxf6Qxf6leaves White helpless against the threats on the kingside.22.Bxd6Qxd623.Kf1Ne4with a clear black initiative.22.Ra7was maybe the
last chance to bail out, but Black doesn't have to cooperate.Bxg222...Be4!is better.23.Rg1Be424.Bxg4Nxg425.Rxg4+hxg426.Qxg4+Bg627.h5Bxe528.hxg6Bg729.Qh3and White seems to achieve a draw.22...Nd522...Bxe523.dxe5Nd524.fxg4Qb6!transposes to the game, but was a
more accurate move order. Wait for Chessbase Magazine for more variations!23.fxg423.Ra7Bc624.f4∞23...Bxe524.dxe5Qb625.Bf3Nxe326.Nxe3Qxe3+26...Rd8!is even stronger but so, so inhuman.27.Qe2Qc1+28.Qd1Qe3+29.Qe2Qc1+30.Qd1Bxf3Black's attack is winning, no need to
repeat again. The queens cannot be traded so the attack continues.31.gxf3Qe3+32.Qe2Qc1+33.Qd1Qe3+34.Qe2Qf4Once the rook joins the fray there
will be no stopping Black. Aronian keeps hitting the queen but this game is
over.35.Qh2Qxf336.Rf1Qe4+37.Kf2Nd238.Rg1Qf3+38...Qf3+39.Ke1Qe3+40.Kd1Nb3and mate will follow shortly after White's spite check. A
very powerful and convincing show my McShane. As I said in the notes, I'm not
even sure where Aronian went decisively wrong!0–1
That said, the greatest surprise was the crazy game between the two Alexanders, Grischuk and Morozevich. It was a strange game in which Morozevich declined to go for the bold g-pawn and h-pawn advances the computers suggested, allowing Grischuk to position his pieces menacingly around his king.
Whether this was a form of bait, is hard to say, but Grischuk was unable to resist and soon plunked a piece to try and overwhelm Morozevich. There was possibly enough compensation to hold the game, but somewhere he failed to find the best continuations, and the volatility blew up in his face as he found himself lost. Whatever the story (the post-game was spoken in Russian – and the writer here does not), Morozevich is now tied with Radjabov for first with 2.5/3.
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