Tal Memorial Rounds 5 & 6
The action continues at the Tal Memorial, but the decisive games were a rare breed in rounds 5 and 6.
Round 5 had several promising attempts to disturb the equilibrium, but only Eljanov converted to earn his first victory of the event against Gelfand.
Nakamura achieved a better position with the black pieces against Shirov, but despite a long game he didn't quite get a full point to reward his efforts.
Eljanov's joy was short-lived when in round 6 when he followed up his first win with his fourth loss to sink to the bottom of the standings once more. It was Shakhriyar Mamedyarov who put him there, and in doing so elevated himself alongside Aronian at the top of the leaderboard.
The standings after six rounds out of nine:
| Aronian, Levon | ARM | 2801 | 4 |
| Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | AZE | 2763 | 4 |
| Karjakin, Sergey | RUS | 2760 | 3½ |
| Grischuk, Alexander | RUS | 2771 | 3½ |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2741 | 3½ |
| Wang Hao | CHN | 2727 | 3½ |
| Kramnik, Vladimir | RUS | 2791 | 3 |
| Gelfand, Boris | ISR | 2741 | 2 |
| Shirov, Alexei | ESP | 2735 | 1½ |
| Eljanov, Pavel | UKR | 2742 | 1½ |
The other games in round six were rather less memorable as the tournament suffered its first, and hopefully only, dull round. Tomorrow, Aronian has white against Nakamura, while Mamedyarov has black against Kramnik.
How does this opening go again? Nakamura in round six...
Live games here. Live video coverage here.
Photos by Anna Burtasovoy at the official website.
