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Top-rated Magnus Carlsen won the 7th Tal Memorial in Moscow, one of the strongest chess tournaments of the year. The Norwegian grandmaster was the only undefeated player in a field of ten world-class players.
He didn't play for more than four months and it took him a few games to shake off the cobwebs. Not only did he start slowly, but he was in danger of losing a couple of times. "I was suffering," he admitted. In round four against Russia's Alexander Grischuk, Carlsen played like the magician Mikhail Tal, leaving his bishop under attack for eight moves. " It was the energizer," he said and although he only drew that game, he was in the driver's seat in the remaining games.
"The victory is nice," Carlsen said. "There were twists and turns nobody could foresee." Whoever was in the lead was pulled back by the crowd. Only Russia's Alexander Morozevich looked invincible. He was running away with the tournament, piling up three wins and draws. He could not do anything wrong or so it seemed. But when everything looked wonderful he did what he sometimes does: he self-destructed, losing three games in a row.
Others jumped at the opportunity and with two rounds to go five players shared first place. It was a brutal final stretch for Vladimir Kramnik. Unbeatable for most of his career, the former world champion suddenly lost two games and took himself out of contention. The youngest player, the Italian GM Fabiano Caruana, 19, was in the lead going into the last round, but he lost, too.
It was up to Carlsen to grab first place and he did it in an impressive way. He didn't strike like Misha Tal, but like another legend, the late Estonian grandmaster Paul Keres. More than 50 years ago, Keres created a perfect model against white's passive play in the twice-delayed Exchange variation of the Spanish. Did Magnus know the game?
Original column here – Copyright Huffington Post
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