Great third round

After the fighting but peaceful second round, a lot of blood was shed in the third round of the Tal Memorial. Four great (and decisive!) games and one draw gave the chess fans exactly what they wanted. Besides Gelfand's solid preparation with Black against Alekseev, there was a typical Kramnik endgame (against Leko), a brutal kingside attack by Mamedyarov (against Ivanchuk), a cute Carlsen combination (against Jakovenko) and a wild and dramatic finish (loss on time) by Kamsky (against Shirov). This is way we love the game.

In a way, Kramnik's endgame wasn't that typical, because it seems the position was still drawn a few moves before the end. Leko had been fighting like a lion, and with 54...Rc8 he might have saved the half point. But of course it was to former world champion's credit that he kept on pushing till it was too much for his opponent. Then Ivanchuk: he lost to Mamedyarov and so Kasparov seems to be right when predicting Chucky wouldn't win in Moskou because he's too instable. It already started with his suprising opening choice, because an old game Kramnik-Piket in this line looks very good for White. But perhaps it wasn't that clear after all, because before Black's big mistake (32...Rh8) Rybka thinks he's still OK. In Jakovenko-Carlsen the word "outplaying" seems appropriate, Magnus again showing good preparation, a simple but strong follow-up and a nice tactic to finish with. Although it's been a while since Kamsky's comeback, the American GM is still avoiding theoretical lines and starting with 1.d4 d5 2.Bg5, it's not too hard to come up with a TN on move 7. The uncharted territory lead to an early timetrouble, and Kamsky's flag already fell while playing his 29th move. Which dropped a piece as well.



Standings after three rounds:

 1-3. Kramnik, Carlsen, Mamedyarov       2
 4-7. Gelfand, Alekseev, Leko, Shirov   1,5
8-10. Kamsky, Jakovenko, Ivanchuk        1

The schedule:

10 November 2007               11 November 2007         
Leko       - Shirov     1-0    Leko       - Kamsky     ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ?
Kamsky     - Gelfand    ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ?    Gelfand    - Kramnik    ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ?
Kramnik    - Carlsen    ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ?    Carlsen    - Alekseev   ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ?
Alekseev   - Ivanchuk   ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ?    Ivanchuk   - Jakovenko  ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ?
Jakovenko  - Mamedyarov ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ?    Shirov     - Mamedyarov ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ?

12 November 2007               13 November 2007         
Kramnik    - Leko       1-0    Leko       - Alekseev   .-.
Kamsky     - Shirov     0-1    Kamsky     - Kramnik    .-.
Alekseev   - Gelfand    ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ?    Gelfand    - Jakovenko  .-.
Jakovenko  - Carlsen    0-1    Carlsen    - Mamedyarov .-.
Mamedyarov - Ivanchuk   1-0    Shirov     - Ivanchuk   .-.

14 November 2007               16 November 2007         
Jakovenko  - Leko       .-.    Leko       - Mamedyarov .-.
Alekseev   - Kamsky     .-.    Kamsky     - Jakovenko  .-.
Kramnik    - Shirov     .-.    Kramnik    - Alekseev   .-.
Mamedyarov - Gelfand    .-.    Gelfand    - Ivanchuk   .-.
Ivanchuk   - Carlsen    .-.    Shirov     - Carlsen    .-.

17 November 2007               18 November 2007         
Ivanchuk   - Leko       .-.    Leko       - Carlsen    .-.
Mamedyarov - Kamsky     .-.    Kamsky     - Ivanchuk   .-.
Jakovenko  - Kramnik    .-.    Kramnik    - Mamedyarov .-.
Alekseev   - Shirov     .-.    Alekseev   - Jakovenko  .-.
Carlsen    - Gelfand    .-.    Shirov     - Gelfand    .-.

19 November 2007
Gelfand    - Leko       .-.
Carlsen    - Kamsky     .-.
Ivanchuk   - Kramnik    .-.
Mamedyarov - Alekseev   .-.
Jakovenko  - Shirov     .-.

Video by Robert Fontaine, Elmira Mirzoeva & G?ɬ©rard Demuydt of Europe-Echecs:



Carlsen interview