Kramnik wins Tal Memorial with a round to go

Updated: Aug 31, 2011, 3:23 AM | 0 | Chess Event Coverage

The "draw-with-Black-playing-for-a-win-with-White" strategy was not enough for Kramnik in Mexico (mainly because he also lost one game) but in Moscow it proved a succesful method. Four draws and his fourth win with White today (against Mamedyarov) were enough to secure his tournament victory with a round to go. The other games of the eighth round ended in a draw.

It's difficult to say something about the other games but concerning the key game Kramnik-Mamedyarov, it's good to inform you that quite early the players were already in time trouble. Kramnik proved to be the coolest and, well, when we look back at the tournament, without Anand and Topalov participating, he's really in a class of his own. We're looking forwared to Corus already!

Standings after eight rounds:

  1. Kramnik                  6
  2. Shirov                  4,5
3-6. Carlsen, Jakovenko,
     Gelfand, Leko            4
7-9. Kamsky, Ivanchuk, 
     Mamedyarov              3,5 
 10. Alekseev                 3

The schedule:

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

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

14 November 2007               16 November 2007         
Jakovenko  - Leko       ?Ç¬?-?Ç¬?    Leko       - Mamedyarov ?Ç¬?-?Ç¬?
Alekseev   - Kamsky     ?Ç¬?-?Ç¬?    Kamsky     - Jakovenko  0-1
Kramnik    - Shirov     1-0    Kramnik    - Alekseev   1-0
Mamedyarov - Gelfand    ?Ç¬?-?Ç¬?    Gelfand    - Ivanchuk   ?Ç¬?-?Ç¬?
Ivanchuk   - Carlsen    ?Ç¬?-?Ç¬?    Shirov     - Carlsen    1-0

17 November 2007               18 November 2007         
Ivanchuk   - Leko       ?Ç¬?-?Ç¬?    Leko       - Carlsen    ?Ç¬?-?Ç¬?
Mamedyarov - Kamsky     0-1    Kamsky     - Ivanchuk   ?Ç¬?-?Ç¬?
Jakovenko  - Kramnik    ?Ç¬?-?Ç¬?    Kramnik    - Mamedyarov 1-0
Alekseev   - Shirov     0-1    Alekseev   - Jakovenko  ?Ç¬?-?Ç¬?
Carlsen    - Gelfand    ?Ç¬?-?Ç¬?    Shirov     - Gelfand    ?Ç¬?-?Ç¬?

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

Two videos by Robert Fontaine & G?É¬©rard Demuydt of Europe-Echecs:

Time trouble in Kramnik-Mamedyarov

Ivanchuk talking to the media...? Well, shortly!

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