The Tal Memorial concluded in Moscow, with Ian Nepomniachtchi crowned the winner. The final round was played on Thursday October 6th. It saw only one decisive round, which was Shakhriyar Mamedyarov’s nice win over Vladimir Kramnik.
Mamedyarov, playing White, clearly intended to sharpen play with his 19.g4(!?) but Kramnik seemed to have things under control. That was until his 25…Kh8 and 26…h5(?) gave his opponent the b-pawn and a strong pull. Black was up against it from here, despite some possibilities on the Kingside. These were skillfully muted by Mamedyarov, however, who was left to convert his advantage without much trouble.
The other games were drawn — infact from the last 15 games, 14 were split points and perhaps not really a fitting end to a tournament held in honour of one of the most attacking players chess has seen. It seems that the tournament had begun to wind down at the final rest day, three rounds ago.
The Giuoco Piano came out again in Anand-Aronian, but the players did not really get up to much other than systematic liquidation. This left a rather symmetrical ending with 3 pawns and a rook each and the players called it a day. Pieces also left the board rather quickly in the London System of Tomashevsky-Svidler. After exchanges, the position became a bit immobile and there was very little to be done without the cooperation of the opponent. Chess players don’t tend to do such things, especially at this level, and so the players soon repeated.
Boris Gelfand had been through a hard time during this tournament, losing five games in a row, but perhaps the draws of the previous two rounds had settled him a bit. He had a real good go at tournament leader, Nepomniachtchi in the final round and could well have been the Russian’s spoiler. In the symmetrical English, the Israeli maintained an advantage throughout the game and Black was forced to defend. 37.Ne5 was perhaps where things slipped, with Rxc8 being the more productive try. Black was allowed to liquidate and White was left with nothing but to split the point.
Anish Giri had the potential to deprive Ian Nepomniachtchi of his victory in the tournament. If he could win his game with Black against Li Chao, then he would win the tournament by a half point. Things were looking promising for the Dutchman, who definitely had the better chances in the game; but, although he pushed, he just couldn’t quite find a way through. And when Li Chao obtained a passed pawn on the a-file, which was on its way up the board, there was certainly a double-edged sword and peace was declared.
All of this meant that Ian Nepomniachtchi took clear first place, with a score of 6/9. Congratulations to him! Having only managed the draw against Li Chao, Anish Giri had to settle for second place with 5½/9 — but having welcomed his first child into the world just a few days previous, this will be neither here nor there I am sure. Aronian and Anand brought up the rear with 5/9.
Of the rest of the field, I think there will be quite some disappointment, especially Vladimir Kramnik for losing his last round game and Boris Gelfand for really not doing himself justice during this tournament. Gelfand will travel straight to Budapest in order to compete in the Highlander Cup, so it will be interesting to see if he can pick himself up.
Final Standings after round 9:
- Nepomniachtchi — 6
- Giri — 5½
- Aronian, Anand — 5
- Svidler, Li, Kramnik, Mamedyarov — 4½
- Tomashevsky — 3½
- Gelfand — 2
[Site “Moscow RUS”]
[Date “2016.10.06”]
[Round “9.2”]
[White “Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar”]
[Black “Kramnik, Vladimir”]
[Result “1-0”]
[BlackElo “2808”]
[BlackFideId “4101588”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[ECO “D37”]
[EventDate “2016.09.26”]
[Opening “QGD”]
[Variation “classical variation (5.Bf4)”]
[WhiteElo “2761”]
[WhiteFideId “13401319”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]{ Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. } 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 O-O 6.e3 Nbd7 7.a3 c5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.dxc5 Nxc5 11.Be5 Bf5 12.Be2 Bf6 13.O-O Bxe5 14.Nxe5 Qf6 15.b4 Qxe5 16.bxc5 Rac8 17.Rc1 Rfd8 { A newbie. Cheparinov-Kryvoruchko, Capablanca Memorial 2016, continued 17…Be4 and was eventually drawn. } 18.Qd4 f6 19.g4 { Mamedyarov takes the bull by the horns. It’s very risky, this move, but Mamedyarov commits to spicing things up rather than playing classically with Rfd1. } ( 19.Rfd1 { Black has two main ways of proceeding, here, …a6 or …Qxd4: } 19…a6 ( 19…Qxd4 20.exd4 Re8 21.Bb5 Re7 22.Re1 Rxe1+ { …Kf7 may also be worth a try, here. Either move should see Black doing alright, though White is very slightly better. } ) 20.a4 { Rd2, aiming to double up, is also valid. } 20…Be4 21.f3 Bg6 22.Rc3 Kh8 23.a5 { tying Black up somewhat on the Queenside, with a slight pull. } ) 19…Bg6 20.Rc3 Rc7 21.Rfc1 Re7 22.Rd1 Qg5 { Black looks to generate his own threats, stepping the Queen out of the way to allow his rook to come to e4. } 23.Qb4 Re4 24.Rd4 Rde8 ( 24…Rxd4 25.Qxd4 { Recapturing with the pawn makes no sense, here. White wants to keep the d-file open in order to potentially attack the isolated pawn. } 25…Be8 { The bishop is doing little on g6, it is on its way to c6. } 26.h3 Bc6 { = } ) 25.Rcd3 Kh8 { ? in light of what happens, perhaps …R8e7 was prudent here, this is a little too slow. } 26.Rd2 { Not Qxb7, which would be a mistake, due to …R4e7, with a discovery on the d3-rook. Therefore White moves it, and Qxb7 is now a threat. } 26…h5 { A rare slip from Kramnik, either taking his eye off of b7 or getting something wrong in his calculations. } 27.Qxb7 hxg4 28.Rxd5 f5 29.Bf1 Rxe3 30.c6 { fxe3 should also work out in White’s favour. } ( 30.fxe3 Qxe3+ 31.Rf2 f4 32.Qb4 { is still good for White. } ) 30…Rc3 31.c7 Qf4 32.Rd7 { with an absolute crushing initiative. } 32…Rg8 33.R2d4 Qc1 34.Qb8 Kh7 35.Rd8 Bf7 36.Rxg8 Bxg8 37.Rd8 Be6 { …Rxc7 might have been a better try, Mamedyarov converts nicely from here. } ( 37…Rxc7 38.Rxg8 Qc6 39.h4 gxh3 40.Rh8+ Kg6 41.Rxh3 { and White’s position is just too much for Black, here. His King is far too exposed. However, the game is still to be resolved. } ) 38.Rh8+ Kg6 39.Qe8+ Kf6 40.Qf8+ Kg6 41.Qd6 Rc6 42.c8=Q { The killer blow and Vladimir Kramnik resigned. } 1-0[Event “10th Tal Mem 2016”]
[Site “Moscow RUS”]
[Date “2016.10.06”]
[Round “9.1”]
[White “Gelfand, Boris”]
[Black “Nepomniachtchi, Ian”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[BlackElo “2740”]
[BlackFideId “4168119”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[ECO “A32”]
[EventDate “2016.09.26”]
[Opening “English”]
[Variation “symmetrical variation”]
[WhiteElo “2743”]
[WhiteFideId “2805677”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nc3 d5 6.e3 Be7 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Bb5+ Bd7 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.O-O Nc6 11.Ne2 a6 12.Ba4 Bg4 13.Bb3 Na5 14.Ba4+ b5 15.Bc2 O-O 16.Qd3 g6 17.Nd4 Bf6 18.Bd1 Qd7 19.Bd2 Nc4 20.Bxg4 Qxg4 21.Bc3 Bg7 22.b3 Ne5 23.Qd2 Rac8 24.Rac1 Rc7 25.f4 Nd7 26.h3 Qh5 27.Nf3 Bxc3 28.Rxc3 Rxc3 29.Qxc3 Qf5 30.Qc6 Nb8 31.Qd6 Rc8 32.Rd1 Qe4 33.Rxd5 Qxe3+ 34.Kh2 Nc6 35.Rc5 Qe8 36.f5 Na7 37.Ne5 Rxc5 38.Qxc5 gxf5 39.Nf3 Nc6 40.Qxf5 Qb8+ 41.Kh1 Qd6 42.Qg4+ Kf8 43.Ng5 h6 44.Ne4 Qd5 45.Qf4 Kg7 46.Nd6 Qe6 47.Nf5+ Kh7 48.Qf2 Ne7 1/2-1/2[Event “10th Tal Mem 2016”]
[Site “Moscow RUS”]
[Date “2016.10.06”]
[Round “9.3”]
[White “Anand, Viswanathan”]
[Black “Aronian, Levon”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[BlackElo “2795”]
[BlackFideId “13300474”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[ECO “C53”]
[EventDate “2016.09.26”]
[Opening “Giuoco Piano”]
[WhiteElo “2776”]
[WhiteFideId “5000017”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 O-O 6.Nbd2 a5 7.O-O d6 8.Bb3 Be6 9.Ba4 Qb8 10.Bxc6 bxc6 11.d4 Ba7 12.b3 Nd7 13.Bb2 a4 14.c4 Bg4 15.dxe5 dxe5 16.h3 Bxf3 17.Nxf3 Rd8 18.Qc2 f6 19.Bc3 Nf8 20.c5 Bxc5 21.Bxe5 Ne6 22.Bg3 Qb5 23.Rac1 axb3 24.axb3 Rd3 25.b4 Bxb4 26.Qxc6 Qxc6 27.Rxc6 Bd6 28.Bxd6 Rxd6 29.Rxd6 cxd6 30.Rd1 Ra4 31.Rxd6 Rxe4 32.g3 Ng5 33.Nxg5 fxg5 34.Rd7 Re8 35.Kg2 Rf8 36.g4 h6 37.Kg3 Kh8 38.Ra7 Kg8 39.Rb7 Kh8 40.Rc7 Kg8 1/2-1/2
[Event “10th Tal Mem 2016”]
[Site “Moscow RUS”]
[Date “2016.10.06”]
[Round “9.4”]
[White “Li, Chao b”]
[Black “Giri, Anish”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[BlackElo “2755”]
[BlackFideId “24116068”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[ECO “E21”]
[EventDate “2016.09.26”]
[Opening “Nimzo-Indian”]
[Variation “three knights variation”]
[WhiteElo “2746”]
[WhiteFideId “8604436”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 O-O 5.Bg5 c5 6.Rc1 h6 7.Bh4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 d5 9.e3 e5 10.Nb3 g5 11.Bg3 Nc6 12.a3 Bxc3+ 13.bxc3 dxc4 14.Qxd8 Rxd8 15.Bxc4 Ne4 16.f3 Nxg3 17.hxg3 Kg7 18.Ke2 b6 19.e4 Ne7 20.Rhd1 Bd7 21.Rd2 Ba4 22.Rxd8 Rxd8 23.Nd2 h5 24.Ke3 h4 25.gxh4 gxh4 26.Bf1 Ng6 27.c4 Rc8 28.Nb1 Bd7 29.Nc3 Be6 30.Nb5 a6 31.Nd6 Rc6 32.Rd1 Kf6 33.Ne8+ Ke7 34.Ng7 Bxc4 35.Nf5+ Kf6 36.Bxc4 Rxc4 37.Rd6+ Kg5 38.Rxb6 Nf4 39.Nh6 Nxg2+ 40.Kf2 Rc2+ 41.Kg1 Ne3 42.Nxf7+ Kf4 43.Rxa6 Nc4 44.a4 Ra2 45.a5 Kxf3 46.Rc6 Nxa5 1/2-1/2
[Event “10th Tal Mem 2016”]
[Site “Moscow RUS”]
[Date “2016.10.06”]
[Round “9.5”]
[White “Tomashevsky, Evgeny”]
[Black “Svidler, Peter”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[BlackElo “2745”]
[BlackFideId “4102142”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[ECO “A48”]
[EventDate “2016.09.26”]
[Opening “King’s Indian”]
[Variation “London system”]
[WhiteElo “2731”]
[WhiteFideId “4147235”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bf4 Bg7 4.e3 O-O 5.c3 d6 6.h3 b6 7.Be2 c5 8.O-O Bb7 9.Bh2 Nbd7 10.a4 a6 11.Nbd2 Ne4 12.Qb3 Nxd2 13.Nxd2 Qc7 14.Rfd1 Rab8 15.Qa3 Rfc8 16.Bf1 Nf6 17.c4 a5 18.d5 Re8 19.Nb1 e5 20.dxe6 Rxe6 21.Nc3 Rd8 22.Qb3 Ne4 23.Nd5 Bxd5 24.Rxd5 Be5 25.Bxe5 Rxe5 26.Rad1 Rxd5 27.Rxd5 Re8 28.Be2 Qd8 29.Qc2 Re6 30.Rd1 h5 31.Bf3 Nf6 32.g3 Qc7 33.Kg2 Qd8 34.Rd2 Qe7 35.Qd1 Kg7 36.b3 Kg8 37.Bc6 Kg7 38.Qf3 Qc7 39.Ba8 Kf8 40.Qf4 Kg7 41.Qf3 Re8 42.Rd1 Qb8 43.Bc6 Re6 44.Qe2 Qc7 45.Bf3 Qe7 46.Kg1 Kg8 47.Bg2 Kg7 48.Rd3 Ne4 49.Bxe4 Rxe4 50.Qf3 Re6 51.Kg2 Rf6 52.Qd5 Re6 53.Qf3 Rf6 54.Qd5 Re6 1/2-1/2
[/pgn]
