Tal Memorial - Round 8
Magnus Carlsen finally sprang to life in the penultimate round of the Tal Memorial in Moscow.
After a subdued performance while fighting illness throughout the tournament, Carlsen played 1.e4 against Ponomariov and proceeded to utterly destroy the former FIDE world champion with a devastating sacrificial attack, leading to a forced checkmate in three when Pono resigned.
The other games ended all square, leaving Kramnik with a slender half-point lead over Ivanchuk, whom he will face with the black pieces in the final round.
Also just half a point back is Anand, who will have the white pieces against Aronian, so it could be a truly exciting end to what has been a very high quality tournament.
The standings after round 8:
| Kramnik, Vladimir | RUS | * | ½ | . | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 5½ |
| Anand, Viswanathan | IND | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | . | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 5 |
| Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | . | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 5 |
| Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | . | ½ | ½ | 4½ |
| Gelfand, Boris | ISR | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | . | 4 |
| Aronian, Levon | ARM | ½ | . | ½ | ½ | 0 | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 4 |
| Ponomariov, Ruslan | UKR | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | . | ½ | 3 |
| Leko, Peter | HUN | ½ | 0 | ½ | . | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | 3 |
| Morozevich, Alexander | RUS | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | . | ½ | * | ½ | 3 |
| Svidler, Peter | RUS | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | . | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | 3 |
The final round pairings are:
| Ivanchuk | v | Kramnik |
| Anand | v | Aronian |
| Leko | v | Carlsen |
| Svidler | v | Gelfand |
| Ponomariov | v | Morozevich |
