Near Misses In Tal Memorial Round 4
Round four at the Tal Memorial provided more excitement, but despite some close calls there were no decisive games.
Lev Aronian has a good record against the world champion Vishy Anand, and he could have won again today. It was a fortunate escape for Anand, but he has lost his #2 spot in the live rankings to his Armenian opponent.
Vladimir Kramnik won the exchange against Vassily Ivanchuk but couldn't find a way to convert his advantage to a full point, and Hikaru Nakamura should have punished Ian Nepomniachtchi for a dubious opening novelty 11.Nd2.
At boiling point? Lev Aronian (left) has been inseparable from his vacuum flask in Moscow
Magnus Carlsen (right) also missed winning chances against Sergey Karjakin
Carlsen tweeted, "Could not make anything of a huge advantage today. Karjakin defended really well after I spoiled my position right before move 40".
Vassily Ivanchuk lost the exchange against Vladimir Kramnik but held on for a draw
Boris Gelfand and Peter Svidler look exhausted before their game even begins!
Nakamura tweeted, "Very tough game with many opportunities, but things just did not break my way"
The standings after four rounds:
| Aronian, Levon | ARM | 2802 | 2½ |
| Nepomniachtchi, Ian | RUS | 2730 | 2½ |
| Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2826 | 2½ |
| Karjakin, Sergey | RUS | 2763 | 2½ |
| Anand, Viswanathan | IND | 2811 | 2 |
| Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2775 | 2 |
| Svidler, Peter | RUS | 2755 | 2 |
| Kramnik, Vladimir | RUS | 2800 | 1½ |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2758 | 1½ |
| Gelfand, Boris | ISR | 2744 | 1 |
The pairings for round five:
| Vassily Ivanchuk | v | Magnus Carlsen |
| Vishy Anand | v | Vladimir Kramnik |
| Hikaru Nakamura | v | Levon Aronian |
| Boris Gelfand | v | Ian Nepomniachtchi |
| Sergey Karjakin | v | Peter Svidler |
Chess.com will have live coverage of rounds 5, 6, and 9 at www.chess.com/tv.
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). Pictures from Chess-News.ru.
