Black Rules At Tal Memorial Round 3

Round three at the Tal Memorial in Moscow produced a thrilling round with three decisive games - all won by the black pieces!

But perhaps the most extraordinary game was the encounter between Vladimir Kramnik and Magnus Carlsen. World #1 Carlsen played a rather dubious opening and got into real trouble, but in an incredible game he managed to survive for an unlikely draw.

The final position even held chances for Carlsen to play for a win with 41...Kb8 42.Nb6 Bc8! Not a particularly accurate game from either player, but full of complications and excitement.

Carlsen tweeted, "Draw vs Kramnik in another insanely complicated game today. Didn't see Bc8 at the end, would have played on if I had".

Kramnik (left) and Carlsen (right) at the post-match press conference

Peter Svidler used his pet Gruenfeld defence to beat Hikaru Nakamura, Lev Aronian took full advantage of a slip from Vassily Ivanchuk, and Boris Gelfand lost his way to lose against Sergey Karjakin. A remarkably good day for the black pieces!

Hikaru Nakamura tweeted, "Thought I was completely winning and Svidler defended correctly...oh well, at least it is Friday night and the girls are out in Moscow!"

The only game to fail to raise any real excitement was the tepid draw between Vishy Anand and Ian Nepomniachtchi.

The standings after three rounds:

The 2011 Tal Memorial runs from 16-25 November in Moscow, with one rest day on 21 November. Games start at 15:00 local time (11:00 UTC), except the last round which is 2 hours earlier. The time control is 40 moves in 100 minutes, followed by 20 moves in 50 minutes, then 15 minutes to finish, with a 30 second increment from the start of the game. The total prize fund is €100,000 with the winner receiving €30,000.

The official site (in Russian). Picture from Chess-News.ru.