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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. |
Results
Round 4:
Saturday, November 19, 2011 |
Magnus Carlsen |
½ ½ |
Sergey Karjakin |
Peter Svidler |
½ ½ |
Boris Gelfand |
Ian Nepomniachtchi |
½ ½ |
Hikaru Nakamura |
Levon Aronian |
½ ½ |
Vishy Anand |
Vladimir Kramnik |
½ ½ |
Vassily Ivanchuk |
Round four
Carlsen-Karjakin: In a game that was incredibly positional,
Carlsen slowly outplayed Karjakin. Although it looked very dangerous for the
Russian, truth was that he was always in an okay situation. The endgame was
visually more dangerous than it really was, and with some good technique he
was able to secure the draw. It is hard to say exactly where Magnus went wrong,
or if he did, as I am unable to pinpoint a position in which he could have greatly
improved on his play.

Sergey Karjakin in the middlegame against his fellow prodigy Magnus Carlsen

Magnus working Sergey in the endgame

Peter Svidler glances over at his friend Vladimir Kramnik playing Vassily
Ivanchuk

Vassily Ivanchuk glances up at his opponent Vladimir Kramnik in their game
Kramnik-Ivanchuk: This game saw a viciously aggressive Kramnik
try to punish Ivanchuk for his lack of development. Although this meant that
Ivanchuk would have a passed pawn on c3 for many, many moves! The gamble payed
off, and Kramnik emerged with a significant advantage from the opening. A combination
of control over the open files and control over key squares meant that Black
was reduced to absolute passivity. However, just when it all looked hopeless,
Ivanchuk struck back by sacrificing an exchange to create some serious practical
problems. Eventually the game withered into an endgame where Kramnik was an
exchange for a pawn ahead, but it was insufficient as his structure was bad
and the pawn count very reduced.

Anand kibitzing (left) while Aronian (middle) thinks
Aronian-Anand: This game saw the current World Champion suffer
for another draw. Although White's opening looked rather meek, it clearly contained
more poison than it let show. Anand quickly saw himself down a pawn from the
opening, although for it he had obtained a strong blockade and immense pressure
against the isolated, but extra, c-pawn. At one point Anand decides it's time
to transpose into an endgame, which he must have been very confident about drawing.
To us mere mortals it seemed that Aronian had a lot of winning chances, but
again it is hard to say where he could have finished of the Indian Super-GM.

Vishy Anand and Levon Aronian in the press conference after the game (with
the
position after move 43 on the board, and Fritz showing its planned continuation)
Addendum: Originally we had written "Fritz showing it's
planned continuation" but corrected our hideous mistake after receiving
the following message from "André Philidor of Lyons, FR." who
wrote:
Heavens! To think that the most erudite minds should partake of such an ignorant
error! If these minds apply the carelessness of their diction to their chess,
they must be bad players indeed. Any schoolboy knows that "it's"
is a contraction of "it is",- the apostrophe replacing the missing
letter-, and that "its" is a third person personal pronoun singular
possessive neuter. This mistake might be overlooked in a high school newspaper;
but in such a prestigious and powerful periodical as ChessBase it is nauseous.
It is depressing to note what errors can be committed by an overworked journalist,
who will naturally be taken to the town square and horsewhipped. And ChessBase
will of course bear the cost of getting "André", who reads
our publications so meticulously, a life. It is something he desperately needs.

Peter Svidler in the middlegame against WCh Challenger Boris Gelfand
Svidler-Gelfand: Probably the only actually dull game of the
day. A quick liquidation of the queen-side resulted in a game where Gelfand
had some minor pressure, but further piece liquidation boiled the game down
into a draw, a direction where it was obviously heading from the start.
All games from round four – select from the dropdown menu on the right
above the JavaScript board. Note that the attached PGN file contains the time
taken for each move (visible in ChessBase or Fritz).
Nepomniachtchi-Nakamura

Magnus Carlsen watching the tense blitz phase of Nepomniachtchi-Nakamura

One of the most dramatic games of round four, annotated below by GM Ramírez

Ian Nepomniachtchi and Hikaru Nakamura in the press conference after the
game
You can relive the entire round, or follow the next, in high definition in
this extraordinary broadcast
page provided by the Russian Chess Federation. All the pictures
above are screen grabs from this video.
Standings after four rounds

Remaining Playchess commentator schedule
Date |
Commentator |
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 |
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 |
½ ½ |
Magnus Carlsen |
Vassily Ivanchuk |
0-1 |
Levon Aronian |
Vishy Anand |
½ ½ |
Ian Nepomniachtchi |
Hikaru Nakamura |
0-1 |
Peter Svidler |
Boris Gelfand |
0-1 |
Sergey Karjakin |
|
Round
4: Saturday, November 19, 2011 |
Magnus Carlsen |
½ ½ |
Sergey Karjakin |
Peter Svidler |
½ ½ |
Boris Gelfand |
Ian Nepomniachtchi |
½ ½ |
Hikaru Nakamura |
Levon Aronian |
½ ½ |
Vishy Anand |
Vladimir Kramnik |
½ ½ |
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 |
|
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