Tal Memorial Rd6 – All drawn again, though not all dull

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 six

Much to the chagrin of the spectators, the sixth round was the third in succession with draws all-round. Much like the previous ones, it was not devoid of action, and one cannot fault the players for lack of trying.

The game Ivanchuk-Anand was the quickest to finish, and if you are tempted to fault Anand for lack of combativity, there was more to it than appeared on the surface. For one, Ivanchuk was the one who chose an unambitious and quiet line to face Anand's QGD Lasker, however as Anand explained, this was not because he sought a quick draw. "He does this very often, playing harmless positions and then concentrating heavily. If you make a small mistake he will play the ending very well. The thing is, today it was not only harmless, but also very dry. In Bilbao, for instance, he outmaneuvered me, so today I wanted to be more careful. Vassily is quite dangerous in harmless positions!"

Gelfand was calmer and more controlled after his enthusiasm got the better of him
in a couple of earlier rounds.

Aronian-Gelfand was a quiet affair, and though the Armenian managed to maintain a slight advantage throughout the game, Gelfand was less adventurous and held with ease.

Both Nakamura and Kramnik players might appear to be indifferent, however their
games are bloody affairs.

Kramnik and Nakamura have had a history of exciting hard-fought games, and this time was no exception. Nakamura chose to eschew the King's Indian as Black, preferring to surprise his opponent with a Gruenfeld instead. Although Kramnik appeared to get an attractive, albeit unusual, position, Hikaru had plenty pf play as he demonstrated, ultimately drawing.

Nepomniachtchi held back Karjakin's attempts at a brilliancy

Karjakin and Nepomniachtchi have some history together as competitors, especially after Nepomniachtchi took the Russian title in 2010 when Karjakin had seemed all but assured of victory. Their games are also interesting affairs as Nepomniachtchi tends to inject a greater dose of tactics than is usual at this level. Oddly, it was Karjakin who rocked the boat when he chose a positional queen sacrifice early in the game leading to a very unbalanced position. Perhaps because it took place so early in the game, their sense of danger was raised a little higher, and they both avoided the pitfalls that each could have fallen victim too. A fun game and a credit to both players.

Svidler put Carlsen on the spot for most of their game, but was unable to convert

The last game to end was also one of the tensest, as Svidler took on Carlsen with Black, and after a misfired novelty, was on the intitiative with serious threats against the Norwegian. The complications were fascinating, and it was certainly the center of attention as many wondered whether Carlsen would succumb to the threats.

One of the wonderful things about the high quality video coverage...

...is the moments you catch the players unawares and at their truest.

A penny for your thoughts, Magnus!

In the end, he played with great precision in a minefield and held the draw. Well worth watching.

Note: You can click on the evaluation profile below the board to jump to the corresponding position. The evaluations were collected from computers of spectators watching the game with the Fritz 13 feature "Let's Check" enabled. These computer analyses are then available to all watching it through Fritz 13.

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 six rounds

Remaining Playchess commentator schedule

Schedule and Results

Links Official tournament site All games 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 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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