Tal Memorial 01: Kramnik, Morozevich, Ivanchuk win

Tal Memorial in Moscow

The Tal Memorial is taking place from August 17th to 31st 2008 in the Exhibition Hall of GUM mall, located directly on the Red Square. The players are former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, who won the tournament last year, Alexander Morozevich, currently the world's second highest ranked player, Vassily Ivanchuk, ranked fourth, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (8th), Alexei Shirov (9th), Peter Leko (10th), Gata Kamsky (17th), Boris Gelfand, (18th), Ruslan Ponomariov (19th), and Evgeny Alekseev (26th). Time controls are two hours for the first 40 moves, one hour for the next 20 moves and 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move after move 61. There is a blitz tournament on August 29th-30th, with a qualifier two days earlier. Magnus Carlsen and Antoly Karpov are seeded invitees.

Round one report

Kramnik,V (2788) - Shirov,A (2741) [D47]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (1), 18.08.2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e3 Nf6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.a3 b4 10.Ne4 Nxe4 11.Bxe4 bxa3 12.0-0 Bd6. This position has occurred many times, interestingly in Topalov-Kramnik during their World Championship match in Elista in September 2006 (the game was drawn in 54 moves); in Bareev-Bruzon, at the Capablanca Memorial in November 2006 (Kramnik's second Bareev won in 61 moves); and in Aronian-Grischuk, at the FIDE Grand Prix in Sochi, just four days ago, with Aronian winning in 46 moves. In each case White played 13.b3, but today Kramnik played a move seen in Arencibia-Abreu Delgado in Santa Clara 2002: 13.Nd2 Qc7N [Abreu Delgado played 13...0-0 and the game ended after 33 moves in a draw.

14.Nc4!? Sacrificing a second pawn, a move that Fritz also wants to play. 14...Bxh2+ 15.Kh1 Nb6 16.Nxb6 axb6 17.g3 Bxg3 18.fxg3 Qxg3. White has a bishop for four pawns, with nice attacking potential. 19.Qh5 Ra5. 19...g6 with and exchange of queens was an alternative. 20.Qxf7+ Kd8 21.Bg2 Rg5 22.Qf3 Qxf3 23.Bxf3 axb2 24.Bxb2. Now it's a bishop for three pawns with White calling the shots. 24...Rf8 25.Be4 Rf6 26.Rxf6 gxf6 27.Kh2 Kc7 28.Bc3 e5 29.dxe5 fxe5 30.Rf1 Kd6 31.Rf7 Bc8 32.Rxh7 Be6 33.Rh6 c5 34.Bd3 Kd7 35.Bb5+ Ke7 36.e4 Rg4 37.Bc6 Rg5 38.Be1 Rg4 39.Bg3 Bc4 40.Bxe5. White has picked up two pawns and his bishop pair is dominating the enemy king. Kramnik has won this game. 40...Bd3 41.Bd6+ Kf7 42.Bd5+ Kg7 43.Re6 c4 44.Kh3 Rg1 45.Be5+ Kf8 46.Rxb6. White is a full piece up and Black has no threats. 1-0.

Morozevich,A (2788) - Alekseev,Evgeny (2708) [A45]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (1), 18.08.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 e6 3.Nd2 h6 4.Bh4 d5 5.e3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ngf3 Bd6 8.Bd3 0-0 9.0-0 e5 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.Nxe5 Bxe5 12.f4 Bd6 13.e4 c4 14.Be2 Qb6+ 15.Bf2 Bc5 16.e5 Ne4 17.Nxe4 dxe4 18.Bxc5 Qxc5+ 19.Qd4 Qxd4+ 20.cxd4 Be6 21.f5 Bd5 22.Kf2 Rfc8 23.Rfc1 Rc6 24.a4 Rac8 25.Rc3 Rb6 26.Ra2 Kf8 27.Ke3 Ke7 28.Bd1 Ra6 29.Ra1 b5 30.b4 bxa4 31.b5 Ra5 32.Rxa4 Rxa4 33.Bxa4 f6 34.Bc2 fxe5 35.dxe5 Rc5 36.Ra3 Rxb5 37.Rxa7+ Kf8 38.e6 Bb7 39.e7+ Kxe7 40.Bxe4 1-0. A positional crush – Black did not have a chance.

Ivanchuk,V (2781) - Kamsky,G (2723) [D92]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (1), 18.08.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Rc1 dxc4 7.e4 Bg4 8.Bxc4 Nfd7 9.Be2 Nc6 10.Be3 Nb6 11.d5 Bxf3 12.gxf3 Ne5 13.Qb3 c6 14.f4 Ned7 15.0-0 Qe8 16.a4 cxd5 17.Nb5 Rc8 18.Rxc8 Qxc8 19.e5 a6 20.Na7 Qc7 21.Rc1 Qd8 22.a5 Nc4 23.Bxc4 dxc4 24.Qxb7

Black is already in a lot of trouble, and his next move doesn't make things any easier for him: 24...g5? 25.Nc6 Qe8 26.Rxc4 gxf4 27.Bxf4 Kh8 28.Bg3 Rg8 29.Kf1 e6

30.Rd4. Nice. White has refused to take the free a-pawn, but presses on with his attack. 30...Nc5 31.Qb6 Nd7 32.Qc7 Nb8 33.Nd8! Qb5+ 34.Kg1 h6. Now it is mate in three. 35.Nxf7+ Kh7 36.Qc2+ and mate on the next move. 1-0.

Europe Echecs videos reports

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Schedule and results

Links Official tournament site (in Russian) All games so far in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse the PGN games.