Tal Memorial R6: Another day without decisive games

Again all five games ended peacefully on Tuesday in the 6th round of the Tal Memorial in Moscow. Needless to say, Levon Aronian, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin continue to share the lead, with 3.5/6 or 'plus one'. There are three more rounds to go so this year 'plus two' could be enough for sole tournament victory.

Magnus Carlsen and Peter Svidler were the last to finish in round 6 | All photos © RCF

Not for the first time Vishy Anand was the first to finish his game with a draw. Against his Lasker QGD, Vassily Ivanchuk played a harmless variation and in a completely equal knight ending the players had just one challenge left: to find a move repetition somewhere.

[Event "6th Tal Memorial"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2011.11.22"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Ivanchuk, V."]
[Black "Anand, V."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D56"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2811"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2011.11.16"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 Ne4 8. Bxe7
Qxe7 9. Rc1 c6 10. Qc2 Nd7 11. a3 {"The point of this move is not to lose a
move with the bishop, but nothing's really going on here." (Anand)} Nxc3 12.
Qxc3 dxc4 13. Bxc4 b6 14. O-O Bb7 15. Be2 $146 (15. Rfd1 Rfd8 (15... c5 16.
dxc5 Nxc5 17. Nd4 Rac8 18. b4 Ne4 19. Qe1 Rfd8 20. Bf1 {1/2-1/2 Smyslov,V
(2530)-Unzicker,W (2455)/Bad Woerishofen 1991}) 16. b4 Rac8 17. Be2 Nf6 (17...
Rc7 18. Rc2 Ra8 19. Nd2 a5 {Petrosian,T-Spassky,B/ Moscow 1969}) 18. Ne5 Nd7
19. Nxd7 Rxd7 20. Bf3 Rdc7 21. Qc4 g6 {Volkov,S (2634)-Halkias,S (2549)/Warsaw
2005}) 15... c5 16. Rfd1 (16. dxc5 Rfc8 (16... Nxc5 17. b4 {and then Qc7 is
White's only hope.})) 16... Rac8 17. dxc5 Rxc5 18. Qd2 Rfc8 19. h3 {"In effect
a draw offer." (Anand)} Nf6 {"I have no idea why I played this." (Anand)} ({"}
19... Rxc1 {would have finished the game quicker." (Anand)}) 20. Rxc5 Qxc5 21.
Ne1 {"Now Black has to be a little bit careful." (Anand)} Qc7 22. Qd4 Ne4 23.
Bf3 Nf6 ({"} 23... Nc5 {is probably slightly more efficient." (Anand)}) 24.
Bxb7 Qxb7 25. Nd3 Qe4 26. Qxe4 Nxe4 {"The position is so equal that we just
had to find a move repetition." Conclusion: "The system with 9.Rc1 and 10.Qc2
is just harmless." (Anand)} 27. f3 Nf6 28. Rc1 Rxc1+ 29. Nxc1 Kf8 30. Nd3 Nd7
31. Kf2 Ke7 32. e4 Kd6 33. Ke3 Nc5 34. Nf4 Nd7 35. Nd3 Nc5 36. Nf4 Nd7 1/2-1/2

After the game Anand was asked why he thought his opponent played this unambitious line against him.

He does this very often, playing harmless positions and then concentrating heavily. If you make a small mistake he will play the ending very well. The thing is, today it was not only harmless, but also very dry. In Bilbao, for instance, he outmanoeuvred me so today I wanted to be more careful.

After his answer was translated into Russian, Anand summarized it even better with

Vassily is quite dangerous in harmless positions!

Around the time control two games ended almost simultaneously. Levon Aronian had kept a tiny edge throughout the game against Boris Gelfand, but the Israeli played accurately today.

[Event "6th Tal Memorial"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2011.11.22"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Aronian, L."]
[Black "Gelfand, B."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D56"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2744"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2011.11.16"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Be2 dxc4 8.
O-O c5 9. dxc5 Nxc5 10. Bxc4 a6 11. Ne5 Ncd7 12. Be2 Nxe5 13. Bxe5 Qa5 14. Bg3
b5 15. Bf3 Ra7 16. Ne2 $146 (16. a3 Rd7 17. Qc2 Qb6 18. Rfd1 Rxd1+ 19. Nxd1 Bb7
20. Bxb7 {1/2-1/2 (20) Flores,D (2628)-Leitao,R (2609)/Campinas 2011}) 16...
Bb7 17. Bxb7 Rxb7 18. Nd4 Rd7 19. Qc2 Bd6 20. Nc6 Qb6 21. Bxd6 Rxd6 22. Rac1
Kh8 23. Rfd1 Rxd1+ 24. Qxd1 h6 25. g3 (25. h3 Rc8 26. Ne5 Rxc1 27. Qxc1 Qb7 28.
Qc6 Qxc6 29. Nxc6 Nd7 $11 {Aronian/Gelfand}) 25... Qc7 26. Rc2 Rc8 27. Qd3 Ng4
28. Rc3 Qb7 29. Qd6 Qa8 30. e4 Nf6 31. f3 a5 32. Qc5 (32. Ne5 Qa7+ 33. Kg2 Rxc3
34. bxc3 Kh7 35. Qf8 Qe3 36. Qxf7 Qd2+ 37. Kh3 Qxa2 38. Qg6+ Kg8 39. Nf7 e5 40.
Nxh6+ Kf8 41. Nf5 Qf7 {Aronian/Gelfand}) 32... b4 33. Rc4 Qa6 34. b3 Kh7 35.
Qd6 a4 (35... e5 $5) 36. Rc2 axb3 37. axb3 Qa1+ 38. Kg2 Qb1 39. Qd2 Qxb3 40.
Nxb4 Rb8 1/2-1/2

More interesting was the fight between the Russian GMs Ian Nepomniachtchi and Sergey Karjakin. The latter went for a same sharp Nimzo-Indian line that Tatiana Kosintseva recently played, which is not surprising since both players work with GM Yuri Dokhoian.

[Event "6th Tal Memorial"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2011.11.22"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, I."]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2730"]
[BlackElo "2763"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2011.11.16"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 d5 7. Bg5 c5 {A
fairly sharp line of the Nimzo.} 8. dxc5 d4 9. Qc2 e5 (9... Nbd7 10. b4 h6 11.
Bd2 a5 12. Rd1 axb4 13. axb4 e5 14. Nf3 Re8 15. g3 e4 16. Nxd4 Ne5 17. Qc3 Nfg4
{was the start of the spectacular game Morozevich,A (2694)-Shirov,A (2714)/
Biel 2011}) 10. e3 h6 11. Bh4 (11. Bxf6 Qxf6 12. Nf3 {hasn't been played yet.})
11... Qe7 ({Opening the f-file with} 11... dxe3 12. fxe3 {looks better for
White.}) 12. Be2 $146 (12. O-O-O Nc6 13. Ne2 dxe3 14. Rd6 Be6 15. fxe3 Rfd8 16.
Bxf6 Qxf6 17. Nc3 Qg5 18. Qe4 {Zhu Chen (2485)-Kosintseva,T (2557)/Hangzhou
2011}) 12... Re8 (12... Qxc5 $6 13. Bxf6 gxf6 14. b4) 13. Rd1 a5 14. Nf3 $5 Nc6
({White constantly needs to take} 14... d3 {into account, e.g.} 15. Rxd3 e4 16.
Rd6 exf3 17. Bxf6 fxg2 18. Rg1 gxf6 19. Rxg2+ Kh8 20. Qc3 Nd7 21. Qd4 {with
compensation.}) 15. O-O (15. exd4 exd4 16. Nxd4 {is less ambitious:} g5 17. Bg3
Nxd4 18. Rxd4 Qxc5 $11) 15... d3 $5 {Black goes for it.} 16. Rxd3 e4 ({After}
16... g5 {interesting is} 17. Rd6 gxh4 18. Nxh4) 17. Rd6 exf3 18. Bxf6 fxe2 ({
After the game the players didn't look at} 18... gxf6 {which looks better for
White.}) 19. Bxe7 exf1=Q+ 20. Kxf1 Rxe7 21. b3 Be6 (21... Ra6 $5) 22. Qc3 Rc7
23. e4 ({Afterwards Nepomniachtchi suggested} 23. h3 Re7 24. Kg1) 23... Re7 24.
h3 f5 $1 ({Continuing the waiting strategy isn't advisable:} 24... Rc7 25. Kg1
Re7 26. g4 {Nepomniachtchi}) 25. exf5 Bxf5 26. Kg1 Be6 27. Rd3 Bf5 28. Rd5 (28.
Re3 Rd7 {Nepomniachtchi}) (28. Rg3 Rd8 29. Qf6 Bc2 {Nepomniachtchi}) ({
Karjakin mentioned the line} 28. Rf3 Rd8 $2 29. Rxf5 Nd4 {which looks nice but
fails to} 30. Qxa5) 28... Be6 29. b4 $5 {Forcing matters.} axb4 30. axb4 Rae8 (
30... Ra4 $2 31. b5 Bxd5 32. cxd5 Nb4 33. d6 {goes wrong for Black while}) (
30... Bxd5 31. cxd5 Nd8 32. d6 Rf7 {looks like a draw too.}) 31. b5 (31. Rd3
Bf5 32. Rg3 Kh7 33. b5 Ne5) 31... Bxd5 32. cxd5 Ne5 33. c6 bxc6 34. bxc6 (34.
dxc6 Rc8 $11) 34... Nxc6 35. Qxc6 Rd8 36. g3 Red7 37. Qe6+ Kh8 38. Kg2 1/2-1/2

After that, the next to split the point were Vladimir Kramnik and Hikaru Nakamura. This time the American didn't go for the King's Indian, but a Grünfeld instead. The former World Champion went into the middle game with a small positional plus, but because his opponent didn't make mistakes, it all remained equal.

[Event "6th Tal Memorial"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2011.11.22"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Kramnik, V."]
[Black "Nakamura, Hi"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A15"]
[WhiteElo "2800"]
[BlackElo "2758"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2011.11.16"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 {No King's Indian this time.} 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Qb3
Nb6 6. d4 Bg7 7. Bf4 Be6 8. Qa3 Nc6 9. e3 (9. O-O-O Nd5 10. Bg3 Bf5 11. h4 O-O
12. e3 Bg4 13. Bc4 Nxc3 14. Qxc3 e6 {Giri,A (2722)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2715)/
Hoogeveen 2011}) 9... O-O 10. Be2 a5 11. O-O Nb4 12. Rfc1 c6 13. Be5 $146 (13.
Ne4 Bf5 14. Nc5 Ra7 15. Qb3 Qd5 16. Qd1 Nxa2 17. Rxa2 Qxa2 18. e4 Bxe4 19. Nxe4
Nd5 20. Qc2 b5 21. Bd2 Nb4 22. Bxb4 axb4 23. Nc5 Qd5 {Bu Xiangzhi (2675)-Gupta,
A (2627)/Khanty Mansiysk 2011}) 13... Bh6 14. Ne4 Nd7 15. Nc5 Nxc5 (15... Nxe5
16. Nxe5 Qc8 17. Nc4) 16. Rxc5 Nd5 17. Bc4 Qb6 18. e4 Nf6 19. Bxe6 fxe6 20. Rc2
{White has a slight edge now.} Qb4 21. Qd3 Rac8 22. Ne1 (22. b3 $5) 22... Nd7
23. Bg3 c5 24. d5 Nf6 $1 {Now Black is fine again.} 25. d6 Qxe4 26. dxe7 Rfe8
27. Qb5 Qb4 28. Qf1 Rxe7 29. Nd3 Qb6 30. Ne5 Nd5 31. Qe2 Nb4 32. Rc4 Bg7 33.
Bh4 Ree8 34. Rd1 Nc6 35. Nd7 Qxb2 36. Qxb2 Bxb2 37. Rxc5 Rc7 (37... Bd4 $5 38.
Rb5 Rc7 39. Nf6+ Bxf6 40. Bxf6 Rf8) 38. Bg3 Rcc8 39. Rb5 Bg7 40. Rxb7 Nb4 41.
a4 Nd5 42. Nb6 ({Nakamura could have played on but after} 42. Nb6 Nxb6 43. Rxb6
Rc4 44. Ra6 Rxa4 45. h3 {it's hardly possible to keep the extra pawn.}) 1/2-1/2

In the last game to finish it was Peter Svidler, with the Black pieces, who had the best chances. His opponent Magnus Carlsen commented after the game:

I was trying to equalize for most of the game. I didn't see anything for Black but it was mostly unpleasant.

[Event "6th Tal Memorial"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2011.11.22"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, M."]
[Black "Svidler, P."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D86"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2755"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2011.11.16"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.
Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O b6 11. dxc5 Qc7 ({After the immediate} 11... bxc5
12. Qxd8 Rxd8 13. Bxc5 {Black's compensation is less convincing.}) 12. f4 $5
$146 ({One of the lines Svidler looked at in Kazan, for this game:} 12. Nd4 Ne5
13. Nb5 Qb8 14. Be2 bxc5 15. f4 Ng4 16. Bxc5 a6 17. Na3 Qc7 18. Bd4 e5 {
Aronian,L (2737)-Grischuk,A (2728)/Kazan 2011}) ({Just taking the pawn with}
12. cxb6 {is not very popular, e.g.} axb6 13. Rb1 Rb8 14. Bb5 Ne5 15. f4 Ng4
16. Qc1 Bb7 {Ju,W (2500)-Gao Rui (2464)/Hefei 2010}) 12... bxc5 ({After} 12...
Rd8 {White does take:} 13. cxb6 $1 axb6 14. Qb3) 13. Rb1 (13. Qd5 Na5) 13...
Rd8 14. Qa4 Na5 (14... Bd7 15. Qa3 {and now} Nd4 {doesn't work because of} 16.
cxd4 (16. Qa6 Bc8 17. Qa3) 16... cxd4 17. Rfc1 $1 $18) 15. Bd5 Bd7 16. Qa3 Rac8
17. f5 e6 $1 18. Bf4 Be5 {Black is fine.} 19. fxe6 (19. Bxe6 fxe6 20. fxg6 {
was an interesting suggestion from Svidler.}) 19... fxe6 20. Bb3 Nxb3 21. axb3
Rf8 {Perhaps here Black is starting to get a small advantage.} 22. Qc1 c4 (
22... Bb5 23. c4 Bc6 {Svidler}) 23. b4 Qb6+ 24. Kh1 Bg7 25. e5 Bc6 (25... Rf7)
26. Nd4 Bd5 27. Ra1 Qb7 28. Qc2 (28. Qd2 {allows the annoying} Rxf4 $1 29. Rxf4
Bh6) 28... Rc7 29. Bg3 Rcf7 30. Rxf7 Qxf7 31. Qe2 g5 32. h3 h5 33. Kg1 h4 ({
Svidler looked at} 33... Qg6 34. Rxa7 Qb1+ 35. Be1 Rf4 36. Kh2 {and now} Re4 $2
{fails to} 37. Qxh5 Bxe5+ 38. Bg3 $18) 34. Bh2 Qg6 35. Rd1 g4 $5 ({Svidler
thought that perhaps he should have prepared this a bit more with e.g.} 35...
a6 36. Qg4 Kh7) 36. hxg4 ({Worse is} 36. Qxg4 Qxg4 37. hxg4 Bh6 38. Nf5 Bg5 {
Svidler}) 36... Qg5 (36... Bh6 37. Nf5 exf5 {Svidler} (37... Bg5 38. Bf4 $1) (
37... Qg5 $5) 38. Rxd5 (38. g5 Qxg5 39. Rxd5 Qc1+) 38... fxg4 39. Kh1 {Carlsen}
) 37. Nf5 exf5 38. Rxd5 (38. gxf5 Ba8 39. f6 Bh6 40. Qxc4+ (40. Rd4 $5) 40...
Kh8 41. Qe2 Rg8 42. f7 Qxg2+ 43. Qxg2 Rxg2+ 44. Kf1 Rxh2 45. Rd8+ Kh7 46. Rxa8
{Svidler}) 38... fxg4 39. Kh1 $1 (39. Qxc4 $2 g3 $1) 39... h3 40. gxh3 gxh3 41.
Rd4 ({After} 41. Rd1 {the most accurate seems} Kh7 $1) 41... Qc1+ 42. Rd1 Qxc3
43. e6 Qb2 {Now it's a forced draw.} 44. Qe4 (44. Rd2 Qb1+ 45. Bg1 c3) 44...
Qg2+ 45. Qxg2 hxg2+ 46. Kxg2 Re8 47. Rd6 Bf8 48. Rc6 Bxb4 49. Rxc4 a5 50. Rc6
Kg7 51. Kf3 Kf6 52. Ke4 Rxe6+ 53. Be5+ Kf7 1/2-1/2

Tal Memorial 2011 | Round 6 Standings

Schedule and pairings