6/13/2012 – The fifth round finally saw one player pull ahead for the clear lead: Alexander Morozevich. Aronian played a risky strategy when he sacrificed a piece for a number of pawns. With very little time, he could not find the best moves, and was lost by the time control. Radjabov allowed Carlsen to equalize, and in a slightly unpleasant endgame, overreacted and lost. Report, video, and GM commentary.
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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
5: Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Alexander Grischuk
½-½
Fabiano Caruana
Teimour Radjabov
0-1
Magnus Carlsen
Levon Aronian
0-1
Alex. Morozevich
Hikaru Nakamura
½-½
Vladimir Kramnik
Ev. Tomashevsky
½-½
Luke McShane
Round five
The stage with the players and cameras
So far the Tal Memorial has not only lived up to its promise, but it has lived up to the name of the player it is giving tribute to. It is somewhat fitting that the player leading the tournament , has also played the gutsiest and most creative chess, in a way that would have made Tal smile.
Magnus Carlsen successfully made his first step towards the podium. Can he catch Moro?
After his kamikaze game against Grischuk the day before, no one had any doubts as to Magnus Carlsen’s intentions or resolve, least of all Teimour Radjabov. Despite his great tournament start, it was clear he felt the pressure against Carlsen, and his play left him with a slightly unpleasant endgame. There was nothing clearly decided yet, but the threat is often worse than the execution, and the Azeri panicked as the world number one pushed forward, and lost.
Morozevich: master in the art of taking opponents out of their comfort zone
Alexander Morozevich showed his intentions against Levon Aronian in a directness that was breathtaking. In a Dutch defense with a stonewall structure, he positioned all his pieces against Aronian’s king, and with 9…Rf6 there was little doubt what he had in mind. The Armenian prepared to lock things up when Morozevich uncorked an extremely double-edged pawn sacrifice that left the game in utter chaos. With four pawns for the piece, Aronian had enough compensation in theory, but by move 27 was down to less than a minute and nowhere near solving his problems. This proved fatal as errors crept in and he was suddenly dead. With his victory, Morozevich moved into clear first with 4.0/5 and a hefty 3000+ performance.
Annotated game by GM Alejandro Ramirez
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1.d4d52.c4e63.Nc3c64.e3Nd75.Nf3f56.Bd3Nh6The stonewall
setup isn't the most popular nowadays, even with this move order where White
cannot properly develop his bishop on c1 to f4 or trade it off on a3 too
easily. Even so, Moro makes sure that the setup is just bizarre. The knight
almost never goes to h6, and I am assuming he had a couple of good reasons for
doing so. First he allows himself to take with the e pawn if White captures on
d5, which he couldn't have done since his knight was on d7, and it allows him
to play nf7 and in a rare turn of events for the stonewall, control e5.7.b3Bd68.Bb20-09.0-0Rf6From a purely objective point of view, White can't
complain too much about the result of the opening. He has a nice position and
Black's pieces are placed somewhat strangely. But strange is Morozevich's
favorite battleground.10.Qc2Nf711.Nd2e5!?White has many replies, but
how to decide on the best move in this situation?12.Bxf512.cxd5e413.Bc4Bxh2+14.Kxh2Rh6+15.Kg1Qh416.f3Nf6gives Black a strong attack
that is at the very least good enough for a draw.12.g3!At a glance it
seems that this is the best move.e413.Be2seems slightly better for White
since it is awkward to defend the pawn on d5.12...e413.Bxh7+!?
Sacrifice after sacrifice. Aronian jettisons the bishop to destroy the pawn
center. But a piece is a piece...13.Bh3Ng514.Bg4Rh6Gives Black more
than enough compensation for his pawn. He might already be winning.13.Bxd7Bxd714.cxd5Rh6Gives Black strong compensation. White must weaken himself
with g3 and those light squares look very tasty for that d7 bishop.13...Kxh714.cxd5Rg6!15.Ndxe4Nf616.Nxf6+Qxf617.f4Nh618.Ne4Qf519.dxc6Be7White has *five* (!) pawns for the piece, but he cannot hold on to
all of them. It seems that with perfect play White's chances might be
preferable, but it is difficult to play against the activity of the black
pieces.20.c7Rc621.Qb121.Qd3Rxc722.d5was better. The d-pawn march
reduces Black's scope and liberates the b2 bishop.21...Rxc722.Nc3?22.d5!22...Qxb123.Raxb1White may feel safer with the queens off the
board, but this is not the case. Unfortunately for him the pawns are now a
series of static weaknesses and the pieces will have a blast. It really was
imperative to push them as quickly as possible. Now their forward march will
simply accelerate their doom.Rd724.Rbd1b625.e4Bb726.h3Ng827.e5Rc828.d5Bb429.e6The pawns seem threatening, but the more they advance the
weaker they become.Rdd830.Ne430.Rf3Ne731.Rg3Nf532.Rgd3Ba6is no
one's cup of tea, but it kept the pawns alive a bit longer.30...Rxd5The
first one falls, and the rest will follow its fate very soon.31.Ng5+Kg632.Rxd5Bxd533.Rd1Ne734.Bd4Rc2When you are down a piece, specially a
bishop, there is always that enemy piece that suddenly becomes huge and
unstoppable. With no light squared bishop to match it, the monster on d5
cannot be stopped. The game is over.35.g4Bd236.Rf136.f5+Kxg537.Rxd2Rxd238.Be3+Kh439.Bxd2Kxh340.Bb4Nc641.e7Bf7Doesn't help White.36...Bc137.Nf3Bxf438.Nh4+Kg539.Nf3+Kh640.h4Rxa2With the time
control reached, Aronian resigns this hopeless position. It's hard to
outevaluate and outplay Morozevich in an imbalanced position, even if you are
2825.0–1
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