Round 7 of the Tal Memorial was played on Tuesday 4thOctober. The day before had been a rest day for the players and the final one before the closing three rounds of the tournament. It seemed that the players were still in laid back mood as the round was rather quiet and saw all draws.
This was very good news for Boris Gelfand, because it meant that he didn’t lose. Having lost 5 games on the spin, his objective was to stop the rot and not drop another point and this he did by drawing his game against Evgeny Tomashevsky. It was not a very eventful game — theory until around move 16 and then a few moves of fiddling about before repeating.
Anish Giri perhaps had other things on his mind, than his game against Vladimir Kramnik. The Dutch Grandmaster had welcomed the birth of his first child during the rest day. Anish and his Wife, Sopiko Guramishvili, are proud parents to their new baby boy, Daniel. My warmest congratulations to them both! When it came to the chess, the game went quite deep in to theory, with Kramnik producing a new move with 16…Ne6. Other games had continued 16…Bxe2. Black obtained an isolated Queen’s pawn, and play centered around this for a little while, before it was exchanged for White’s b-pawn. From here the position was a little bland, with both sides having their i’s dotted and t’s crossed. There didn’t seem to be very much either could do and it was no surprise when they repeated.
Levon Aronian had defeated Anish Giri in the previous round, costing the Dutchman the lead in the tournament. Unfortunately the Armenian could not keep up the momentum and had a rather tame game against Shakhryar Mamedyarov. The players exchanged down at lightening fast speed in the Queen’s Gambit Declined Hastings Variation and this left a very uncomplicated endgame. This resolved itself very naturally and the players called it a day. Likewise, was Li Chao’s Grunfeld with tournament leader, Ian Nepomniachtchi. Black equalised fine, and pieces disappeared from the board rather rapidly, which left an endgame that Grandmasters of a high standard will hold without issues. White had a passed pawn on the wing, but was unable to do anything with it, so they shook hands.
Viswanathan Anand got in to an anti-Marshall with Peter Svidler. The Indian’s 14.Nh4 was new to the position, with Anand himself going for 14.d4 in his game against Adams at Wijk aan Zee in 2006. The game gave plenty opportunities for both players to go wrong, but neither really had any problems. White obtained a passed a-pawn, but Black had this more than in hand with perpetual check and the spoils were shared.
Just one of those quiet days at the office, then, which left the standings unchanged from round-six apart from each player having another half point.
Standings after round 7:
- Nepomniachtchi — 5
- Giri — 4½
- Kramnik, Aronian, Anand — 4
- Svidler, Li — 3½
- Mamedyarov — 3
- Tomashevsky — 2½
- Gelfand — 1
[Site “Moscow RUS”]
[Date “2016.10.04”]
[Round “7.2”]
[White “Giri, Anish”]
[Black “Kramnik, Vladimir”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[BlackElo “2808”]
[BlackFideId “4101588”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[ECO “D56”]
[EventDate “2016.09.26”]
[Opening “QGD”]
[Variation “Neo-orthodox variation, 7.Bh4”]
[WhiteElo “2755”]
[WhiteFideId “24116068”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 O-O 7.e3 Nbd7 8.Qc2 c5 9.dxc5 Nxc5 10.cxd5 Nxd5 11.Bxe7 Qxe7 12.Nxd5 exd5 13.Be2 Bg4 14.O-O Rac8 15.Rad1 Rfd8 16.Nd4 Ne6 17.Qd3 Nxd4 18.Bxg4 Ne6 19.Qb3 Rc4 20.Bf3 Rb4 21.Qa3 d4 22.Rd3 a5 23.Qxa5 Rxb2 24.Qe5 Qb4 25.exd4 Rxd4 26.a3 Qc4 27.Rdd1 Rxd1 28.Rxd1 Qb3 29.Qb8+ Kh7 30.Qd6 Qc2 31.Qd3+ Qxd3 32.Rxd3 Nc5 33.Rd1 g5 34.h4 b6 35.hxg5 hxg5 36.Rd6 Kg7 37.g3 f5 38.g4 f4 39.Bc6 Rb1+ 40.Kg2 Rb3 41.Rd5 Kh6 42.Rd6+ Kg7 43.Rd5 Kh6 1/2-1/2
[Event “10th Tal Mem 2016”]
[Site “Moscow RUS”]
[Date “2016.10.04”]
[Round “7.3”]
[White “Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar”]
[Black “Aronian, Levon”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[BlackElo “2795”]
[BlackFideId “13300474”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[ECO “D37”]
[EventDate “2016.09.26”]
[Opening “QGD”]
[Variation “classical variation (5.Bf4)”]
[WhiteElo “2761”]
[WhiteFideId “13401319”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
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.Bxf6 Qxf6 14.Nd4 Ne6 15.Nxf5 Qxf5 16.O-O Qe5 17.Qd2 d4 18.Bc4 dxe3 19.Qxe3 Qxe3 20.fxe3 Rae8 21.Rad1 Re7 22.Bxe6 fxe6 23.Rxf8+ Kxf8 24.Rd8+ Re8 25.Rxe8+ Kxe8 26.Kf2 Ke7 27.Kf3 e5 28.Kg4 Kf6 29.e4 g6 30.b4 b5 31.Kh4 Kg7 32.Kg5 h6+ 33.Kg4 Kf6 34.h3 Kf7 35.h4 Ke6 36.h5 g5 37.Kf3 Kf7 38.Kg4 Ke6 39.Kf3 Kf7 40.Kg4 1/2-1/2
[Event “10th Tal Mem 2016”]
[Site “Moscow RUS”]
[Date “2016.10.04”]
[Round “7.4”]
[White “Anand, Viswanathan”]
[Black “Svidler, Peter”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[BlackElo “2745”]
[BlackFideId “4102142”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[ECO “C88”]
[EventDate “2016.09.26”]
[Opening “Ruy Lopez”]
[Variation “closed, anti-Marshall 8.a4”]
[WhiteElo “2776”]
[WhiteFideId “5000017”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.a4 b4 9.d3 d6 10.a5 Be6 11.Nbd2 Bxb3 12.Nxb3 Re8 13.h3 h6 14.Nh4 Bf8 15.Nf5 Ne7 16.Ne3 Qd7 17.Ng4 Nh7 18.d4 exd4 19.Nxd4 c5 20.Ne2 h5 21.Ne3 Nf6 22.Ng3 h4 23.Nh5 Nxh5 24.Qxh5 Qe6 25.Qxh4 Ng6 26.Qg4 Qxe4 27.Qxe4 Rxe4 28.Rd1 Rae8 29.Kf1 Be7 30.g3 Ne5 31.Nf5 Rc4 32.c3 bxc3 33.bxc3 Rxc3 34.Nxd6 Bxd6 35.Rxd6 Nc4 36.Rxa6 Rc2 37.Rc6 Ree2 38.Be3 Nxe3+ 39.fxe3 Rh2 40.Kg1 Rcg2+ 41.Kf1 Rxg3 42.a6 Rxe3 43.Kg1 Rexh3 44.Ra4 Rh1+ 1/2-1/2
[Event “10th Tal Mem 2016”]
[Site “Moscow RUS”]
[Date “2016.10.04”]
[Round “7.5”]
[White “Li, Chao b”]
[Black “Nepomniachtchi, Ian”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[BlackElo “2740”]
[BlackFideId “4168119”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[ECO “D90”]
[EventDate “2016.09.26”]
[Opening “Gruenfeld”]
[Variation “Three knights variation”]
[WhiteElo “2746”]
[WhiteFideId “8604436”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Na4 Bf5 7.Nh4 Bd7 8.e4 e5 9.Nf3 exd4 10.exd5 O-O 11.Be2 d3 12.Qxd3 Bxa4 13.O-O c6 14.Qe4 Qe8 15.Qxa4 Qxe2 16.Qb3 Na6 17.Be3 Qxb2 18.Qxb2 Bxb2 19.Rab1 Ba3 20.Rxb7 cxd5 21.Rd1 Nc5 22.Rc7 Ne6 23.Rd7 Rfc8 24.h4 Bc5 25.Bxc5 Nxc5 26.R7xd5 Kg7 27.g4 Rab8 28.g5 h6 29.gxh6+ Kxh6 30.Ng5 Kg7 31.Rc1 Ne6 32.Nxe6+ fxe6 33.Rd7+ Kf6 34.Rxc8 Rxc8 35.Rxa7 Rc4 36.a4 Rxh4 37.a5 Ra4 38.a6 e5 39.Ra8 e4 40.a7 Kg7 41.Kf1 Ra2 42.Ke1 Kh7 43.Kd1 Kg7 44.Kc1 Kh7 45.Kb1 Ra6 46.Kb2 Kg7 47.Kc3 Ra4 48.Kb3 Ra1 49.Kc4 Kh7 50.Kd5 Ra4 1/2-1/2
[Event “10th Tal Mem 2016”]
[Site “Moscow RUS”]
[Date “2016.10.04”]
[Round “7.1”]
[White “Gelfand, Boris”]
[Black “Tomashevsky, Evgeny”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[BlackElo “2731”]
[BlackFideId “4147235”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[ECO “E00”]
[EventDate “2016.09.26”]
[Opening “Catalan opening”]
[WhiteElo “2743”]
[WhiteFideId “2805677”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Be7 5.Bg2 d5 6.Nf3 O-O 7.O-O Nbd7 8.Qc2 c6 9.Bf4 b6 10.Rd1 Ba6 11.cxd5 cxd5 12.Ne5 Rc8 13.Nc6 Nh5 14.Bc1 Nb8 15.Nxe7+ Qxe7 16.Qd2 Nc6 17.b3 Rfd8 18.Ba3 Qd7 19.Nc3 Nf6 20.Bb2 h6 21.Rac1 Qe7 22.Rc2 Qe8 23.Qe1 Rd7 24.Qd2 Rdd8 25.Qe1 Rd7 26.Qd2 Rdd8 1/2-1/2
[/pgn]
