Tal Memorial - Round 6

Submitted by SonofPearl on Wed, 11/11/2009 at 12:33pm.

Vladimir Kramnik once again claimed sole first place after round six of the Tal Memorial in Moscow. His scalp today was former FIDE champ Ruslan Ponomariov.

Vishy Anand only drew in his encounter with the young pretender, Magnus Carlsen, who is still suffering from illness. He therefore falls to second place, half a point behind the leader.

However, there were two other decisive games in an exciting round. Boris Gelfand and Vassily Ivanchuk both scored their first wins of the competition to move into joint third place, beating Lev Aronian and Alexander Morozevich respectively.

The standings after round six:

Kramnik, Vladimir	RUS	2772	*	½	½	.	½	.	1	1	.	1	4½
Anand, Viswanathan	IND	2788	½	*	.	½	½	.	½	.	1	1	4
Gelfand, Boris	ISR	2758	½	.	*	.	½	1	½	½	½	.	3½
Ivanchuk, Vassily	UKR	2739	.	½	.	*	½	.	½	1	½	½	3½
Carlsen, Magnus	NOR	2801	½	½	½	½	*	½	.	½	.	.	3
Aronian, Levon	ARM	2786	.	.	0	.	½	*	½	½	1	½	3
Ponomariov, Ruslan	UKR	2739	0	½	½	½	.	½	*	.	.	½	2½
Morozevich, Alexander	RUS	2750	0	.	½	0	½	½	.	*	½	.	2
Leko, Peter	HUN	2752	.	0	½	½	.	0	.	½	*	½	2
Svidler, Peter	RUS	2754	0	0	.	½	.	½	½	.	½	*	2

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Comments:

by SonofPearl - 2 years ago
Wales

Member Since: May 2007
Member Points: 11925

@kunduk - report now up!

by kunduk - 2 years ago
kolkata India

Member Since: Feb 2009
Member Points: 964

heyy.. what about round 7?

by SonofPearl - 2 years ago
Wales

Member Since: May 2007
Member Points: 11925

@staggerlee - that's the sense of the word I was intending.

by advitam - 2 years ago
İst, Turkey Turkey

Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 28

[COMMENT DELETED]

by AngeloM - 2 years ago
Veracruz, Veracruz Mexico

Member Since: Feb 2009
Member Points: 428

Have you seen the video report of Round 6? What's with Ivanchuk's mask? :D LOL...

by philidor_position - 2 years ago
international International

Member Since: May 2009
Member Points: 2986

yes advitam, 32...Bc2 was spotted on various platforms by non-Turkish people including chessdom, chess.com tv, FICS relay and I'm pretty sure many others. probably they were only lucky.

by HariBaskar - 2 years ago
India

Member Since: Oct 2009
Member Points: 8

soon Carlsen get well, and change the whole table.

by advitam - 2 years ago
İst, Turkey Turkey

Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 28

[COMMENT DELETED]

by philidor_position - 2 years ago
international International

Member Since: May 2009
Member Points: 2986

advitam, interesting to see how far you can take nationalism. I'm sure those Turkish guys were the only race on the planet that saw the move. Turkish guys must be very smart. probably smarter than the rest of the guys in the world.

by WGM Natalia_Pogonina - 2 years ago
Saratov Russia

Member Since: Jul 2009
Member Points: 2236

ak87 Kramnik didn't take the rook because after bc followed up with something like Ba6 Black has very dangerous counterplay which is worth more than the exchange.

by advitam - 2 years ago
İst, Turkey Turkey

Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 28

"Kramnik-Ponomariov game was interesting to the end but I think Ponomariov missed 32...Bc2! which gives black a good winning position"

Nobody have said anything about this move beacuse it was occured while the fewness of time... And only seen by Tukish guys. When said that, they called it computer move! However, the position occured only a few seconds.

by staggerlee - 2 years ago
United States

Member Since: Mar 2008
Member Points: 891

Actually, "pretender" can also mean, "an aspirant or claimant", such as in the phrase "pretender to the throne." So all he was saying is that Carlsen wants to be the next champ.

by Anatoly_Sergievsky - 2 years ago
Broadway United States

Member Since: Jun 2009
Member Points: 752

Son of Pearl was definitely trying to get a reaction when he wrote "the young pretender, Magnus Carlsen." I'm surprised it didn't work.

by kunduk - 2 years ago
kolkata India

Member Since: Feb 2009
Member Points: 964

what happened to carlsen?

by ehv_mc2 - 2 years ago
United States

Member Since: Feb 2009
Member Points: 13

I wonder what Topalov has to say about Kramnik's sudden bout of brilliance.

"KGB & Kramnik are back to their dirty tricks" ;-)

by PrideNSorrow - 2 years ago
California United States

Member Since: Dec 2007
Member Points: 80

Everyone seems to be excited bout Kramnik's win, but how about my man Chucky with that Benoni ftw?! I would expect Morozevich to play more energetically in the TAL tournament. I mean Ivanchuk steam-rolled him. I found the coordination of his pieces aesthetically very pleasing.

by ak87 - 2 years ago
Toronto Canada

Member Since: Oct 2009
Member Points: 27

i dont get kramnik vs pono 15. b5. why does black expose his rook to the white queen and the white doesnt take it after? what am I missing here?

by mark_sotto - 2 years ago
pampanga Philippines

Member Since: Apr 2009
Member Points: 1235

what a kramnik game Zugzwang!

by bondiggity - 2 years ago
United States

Member Since: Jun 2008
Member Points: 1769

I think 79...Bc7 was the blunder and 79...Be7 put up a longer fight. I don't think that Bf4 was a blunder perse, but it might have been a more difficult road for Kramnik after Bd6. Just my 2 cents, for whatever its worth.

by DJHeilke - 2 years ago
United States

Member Since: May 2008
Member Points: 107

"WGM Natalia_Pogonina - 4 hours ago
Saratov Russia

Member Since: Jul 2009
Member Points: 106

That Kramnik-Ponomariov game was absolutely crazy. Especially the ending where White would have needed to demonstrate a clear winning plan if Pono hadn't blundered."

Natalia,

At first your comment confused me because I did not see any errors in Pono's play, but after careful revistation I think I see it: 77. ... Bf4 allowing the skewer. As far as I can see 77. ... Bc7! was better since 78. Rc2 could be met by 78. ... Bd8+ 79. Kg6 Ba5 80. Rc4 Be1 81. Re4 Bg3 ½-½ with the third rep (72, 74, 81).

Is this what you were referring to when you said that Pono blundered near the end?

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