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Seventh Tal Memorial in MoscowThe 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
8: Sunday, June 17, 2012 |
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Fabiano Caruana |
1-0 |
Vladimir Kramnik | ||||
Alex. Morozevich |
0-1 |
Luke McShane | ||||
Magnus Carlsen |
½-½ |
Ev. Tomashevsky | ||||
Alexander Grischuk |
1-0 |
Hikaru Nakamura | ||||
Teimour Radjabov |
½-½ |
Levon Aronian |
To call the eighth round incendiary is almost light. It is certainly hard to imagine a more astonishing one. The seventh round seemed to have used up the surprise factor, but then again, what could be odder than both leaders losing in the same round, except losing again in the very next!
Alexander Grischuk lost in thought before the round
With five leaders, and two rounds to go, the stage was set for upsets and players to be upset, and it was all there. The only table that didn’t have a leader playing was Alexander Grischuk against Hikaru Nakamura, but the American was in no mood for a quiet game, and the Sicilian Dragon said it all. Being the kind of opening where the smallest misstep can have huge consequences, it was a logical looking move that turned out to be the culprit, and it was all downhill from there for Nakamura.
Levon Aronian has been unable to get the motor started
Teimour Radjabov had the unenviable task of having to beat Levon Aronian, and the nervy game saw the advantage swing both ways before they finally concluded a double-edged draw.
Luke McShane has justified the confidence vote that gave him the spot in the Tal Memorial
Whatever had been ailing Luke McShane in the beginning of the tournament with his 0-2, the win over Kramnik the previous round had been just what the doctor prescribed.
Alexander Morozevich came with his very own cheerleading squad
They certainly knew how to make him feel special
Alexander Morozevich had no doubt hoped to put an end to his unexpected losing streak, but the Englishman came out firing all cannons as he sacrificed the exchange and then blew open the Russian’s king with a sacrificial attack before the time control. It marks his second straight win, and shockingly, Morozevich’s third straight loss.
The humor of the situation was not lost on Fabiano Caruana holding back a smile
They say misery loves company, and Morozevich was not alone to go down almost incomprehensibly. Fabiano Caruana found himself up a pawn fairly early against Vladimir Kramnik, who had next to no compensation for his material deficit. The Italian prodigy set about converting his endgame, when a final terrible blunder by the Russian at move 40 ended it on the spot. As Kramnik faces Morozevich in the last round, it guarantees that at least one of them will end the losing streak. As to Caruana, it made him the unexpected leader going into the last round.
Carlsen tried his best, but was unable to break Tomashevsky
The only other player who could challenge his supremacy was Magnus Carlsen who had achieved a very healthy advantage against Evgeny Tomashevsky but found himself with an endgame that many GM pundits thought would go nowhere. As he pressed on, it became clear that he had his own thoughts on the position and he boldly sacrificed pawns to force Black’s hand. The Russian made no mistakes though, and he held on to the draw, but the post-game conference was the most enlightening moment. When told by journalists that the opinion of several strong players, and even the computers was that he had put himself in danger of losing, he energetically dismissed this as complete nonsense, and that the only side in danger of losing throughout the endgame had been Black.
Caruana enters the final round as the leader with 5.0/8, followed by Carlsen and Radjabov with 4.5/8.
Pictures by Eteri Kublashvili
Once again the Russian organisers are providing
unprecedented coverage, |
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17.06.2012 | Round 8 | Daniel King |
18.06.2012 | Round 9 | Yasser Seirawan |
LinksThe 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. |