29 September 2016

Nepomniachtchi And Giri Moving In Front At the Tal Memorial

Three rounds out of nine are already played.

In the third round of the 10th Tal Memorial, which takes place in the Museum of Russian Impressionism, three games ended decisively. 

Ian Nepomniachtchi and Vladimir Kramnik were discussing a symmetrical variation of the English Opening. Mass exchanges occurred relatively early in the game. In a complicated ending the 14th World Champion decided to open up the kingside, but the complications turned out favorable for Nepomniachtchi. Kramnik, being in the time trouble, made a blunder, and his opponent responded in the best way, creating the decisive threats. 

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov celebrated his first victory in classical part of the Memorial, defeating Boris Gelfand with white pieces. In the Moscow Variation of the Semi-Slav, White offered a pawn sacrifice, which Black accepted. In order to utilize remote placement of the black queen, Mamedyarov launched an attack. Gelfand defended inaccurately, and soon his position was ruined. On the move 28 the Israeli grandmaster resigned. 

Shakhriyar said after the game that he did not expect this opening, as Gelfand usually plays the Gruenfeld against him. 

The game between Anish Giri and Evgeny Tomashevsky had a relatively quiet start. The Dutch grandmaster, playing White, got a small plus and maintained it throughout slow and maneuvering middlegame. It looked like limited amount of material will not allow White to convert his advantage, but in a minor piece ending White's two knights proved superior to a knight and bishop of the opponent. Giri demonstrated an excellent technique and proceeded to a victory. 

Li Chao and Vishy Anand played the Nimzo-Indian with 4. Nf3. The Chinese played in a rather unorthodox fashion, which gave Black the initiative and even allowed Anand to pick up the c4-pawn. However, after that Li Chao started to play very energetically and inventively, and Black was unable to keep the material. After the queens were exchanged, the position stabilized. A draw was agreed on the move 31 due to the move repetition. 

Levon Aronian and Peter Svidler went into the Gruenfeld Defense with 3.f3 and followed Carlsen-Caruana (2014). White sacrificed a pawn for the initiative, and a couple of moves before the first control he managed to develop an advantage. However, the players were in the mutual time trouble, and Aronian preferred to simplify the position, returning the pawn instead of increasing the kingside pressure. A draw was agreed on the 41st move. 

“I played a chicken”, said Aronian. “Was playing normally until certain point, and then blew it with one move.”

Standings after 3 rounds:

Nepomniachthci, Giri – 2.5
Anand – 2
Svidler, Li Chao, Aronian, Mamedyarov – 1.5
Kramnik – 1
Gelfand, Tomashevsky – 0.5

Round 4 pairings:

Kramnik-Anand, Gelfand-Li Chao, Tomashevsky-Mamedyarov, Svidler-Giri, Nepomniachtchi-Aronian.


Photos by Eteri Kublashvili