Tal Memorial Rd5 – Morozevich takes sole lead with 4.0/5

Seventh Tal Memorial in Moscow The event is a ten-player round robin event, is taking place from June 8th to 18th in the Pashkov House (Vozdvizhenka Street 3/5, p.1), Moscow, Russia. Rest days are June 11 and 15. Time control: 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, and 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move one. Games start at 15:00h local time (last round 13:00h). Draw offers are not allowed until after the first time control. The participants are required to comment on their games in the press center after each round. The prize fund is 100,000 Euros.

Round five

The stage with the players and cameras

So far the Tal Memorial has not only lived up to its promise, but it has lived up to the name of the player it is giving tribute to. It is somewhat fitting that the player leading the tournament , has also played the gutsiest and most creative chess, in a way that would have made Tal smile.

Magnus Carlsen successfully made his first step towards the podium. Can he catch Moro?

After his kamikaze game against Grischuk the day before, no one had any doubts as to Magnus Carlsen’s intentions or resolve, least of all Teimour Radjabov. Despite his great tournament start, it was clear he felt the pressure against Carlsen, and his play left him with a slightly unpleasant endgame. There was nothing clearly decided yet, but the threat is often worse than the execution, and the Azeri panicked as the world number one pushed forward, and lost.

Morozevich: master in the art of taking opponents out of their comfort zone

Alexander Morozevich showed his intentions against Levon Aronian in a directness that was breathtaking. In a Dutch defense with a stonewall structure, he positioned all his pieces against Aronian’s king, and with 9…Rf6 there was little doubt what he had in mind. The Armenian prepared to lock things up when Morozevich uncorked an extremely double-edged pawn sacrifice that left the game in utter chaos. With four pawns for the piece, Aronian had enough compensation in theory, but by move 27 was down to less than a minute and nowhere near solving his problems. This proved fatal as errors crept in and he was suddenly dead. With his victory, Morozevich moved into clear first with 4.0/5 and a hefty 3000+ performance.

Annotated game by GM Alejandro Ramirez

Budding champions?

The other games all had their share of adventures, but ended in draws all around.

Complete round five games

Pictures by Eteri Kublashvili

Standings after five rounds

Tal Memorial 2012 Round five Play of the Day by Daniel King: Aronian-Morozevich

Schedule and Results

Playchess live commentary plan for the Tal Memorial 2012

Links Official tournament site + video clips All games 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 a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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