The eighth round of the Tal Memorial Tournament, in Moscow, was played on October 5th. Just like the previous round, it saw all games drawn.
Levon Aronian and Li Chao debated a Queen’s Gambit Declined, which saw Black develop his light-squared bishop prior to playing …e6. White’s pawns became rather untidy, with three pawn islands and doubled f-pawns, but this was balanced by activity. Also, the fact that some exchanges had taken place meant that Black did not really have the resources to put his opponent under much pressure. Saying this, Black did manage to win a pawn, but this was at the cost of his King being displaced to box a rook in. White’s Queen and bishop were by far the most active pieces on the board.
Clearly better, Aronian pressed, busting open Black’s Queenside pawns and penetrating to the 7th rank with a rook and backing this up with his Queen. He had the comfort of a nice solid position in which he could play on without risk. White’s decision to bring his rook off of the h-file, with 49.Rc5 seems to be where things slipped away. Black was able to find counter chances on the Kingside, beginning with 49…Rh8, which resulted in him mopping up some pawns and obtaining a strong passed pawn. All of a sudden, White was in survival mode. Luckily for Aronian, his own threats on the Queenside were enough to make things far from straight-forward for Black, and this earned him half a point.
Black got the better of things rather effortlessly in the English of Nepomniachtchi-Anand. White was lumbered with three pawn islands in this case also and had rather backward development. White was able to obtain good Kingside play, however, with pawn play and also worked his King up the board along the f-file — highly unorthodox considering there were still 3 minor pieces and rooks on the board. His chances seemed to end with 21.bxc6, however, which seemed to resolve things just a tad too much for his opponent. Repetition came rather soon afterwards.
Vladimir Kramnik and Evgeny Tomashevsky had themselves a mammoth game, which lasted 108-moves before they decided to share the spoils. In the King’s Indian Attack, White obtained the better stance, with an extra Queenside pawn, which was passed. Black was able to coordinate, however, with two nice centralised knights active rook and this threw a spanner in the works for White, who of course wanted nothing more than to be left to push the pawn. It wasn’t to be, however, the pawn was to fall.
In compensation, though, Kramnik switched his sights towards Black’s King position, to which end he’d laid the foundations earlier in the game with 33.h4 and 34.h5. All of a sudden, there was a new passer needing Blacks attention. Again, Tomashevsky organised his pieces extremely well, and put up a super defence and the former World Champion just could not find a way through. Eventually this passer also fell, to leave an equal endgame and though the players played on for a while, there was only a half point to show for it. A nice fighting draw, very nice game!
Peter Svidler and Boris Gelfand played a Sicilian, but not very eventful. I think Gelfand would be relatively happy with this, he’d clearly suffered in this tournament and just wanted it over. It was all about limiting damage. The game saw very fast exchanges and was drawn in 39. Similarly, liquidation happened rather quickly in the Giuoco Piano of Giri-Mamedyarov. This was agreed drawn in 40.
Standings after round 8:
- Nepomniachtchi — 5½
- Giri — 5
- Kramnik, Aronian, Anand — 4½
- Svidler, Li — 4
- Mamedyarov — 3½
- Tomashevsky — 3
- Gelfand — 1½
[Site “Moscow RUS”]
[Date “2016.10.05”]
[Round “8.1”]
[White “Aronian, Levon”]
[Black “Li, Chao b”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[BlackElo “2746”]
[BlackFideId “8604436”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[ECO “D06”]
[EventDate “2016.09.26”]
[Opening “Queen’s pawn game”]
[WhiteElo “2795”]
[WhiteFideId “13300474”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Bf5 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.Bf4 Bd6 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Nxd5 Be4 8.Nc3 Bxf3 9.Bxd6 Qxd6 10.gxf3 Qxd4 11.e3 Qf6 12.Nd5 Qd6 13.Qb3 Nge7 14.Nxe7 Nxe7 15.Rd1 Qf6 16.Qa4+ Nc6 17.Qe4+ Kf8 18.Bb5 Re8 19.Qc2 Qxf3 20.Qc5+ Kg8 21.Rg1 Qf6 22.Bxc6 bxc6 23.Rd2 g6 24.Rg4 Kg7 25.Rc4 Rd8 26.Rf4 Qe6 27.Rfd4 Rb8 28.Rd7 Qf6 29.b3 Rb7 30.Qe7 a5 31.R2d4 Rf8 32.Ke2 Qxe7 33.Rxe7 Kf6 34.Ree4 Ra8 35.Rf4+ Ke7 36.Rfe4+ Kf6 37.Rf4+ Ke7 38.Rde4+ Kf8 39.Re6 g5 40.Rf3 g4 41.Rf4 Rb4 42.Ref6 Rxf4 43.Rxf4 h5 44.Rf5 a4 45.Rxh5 Ke7 46.b4 a3 47.Kd3 Rd8+ 48.Kc2 Ke6 49.Rc5 Rh8 50.Rxc6+ Ke5 51.Rxc7 Rxh2 52.Rxf7 g3 53.Kb3 Rxf2 54.Rg7 g2 55.Kxa3 Ke4 56.Rg3 Re2 57.Ka4 Rxa2+ 58.Kb5 Kd3 59.Kc6 Rc2+ 60.Kb6 Rf2 1/2-1/2
[Event “10th Tal Mem 2016”]
[Site “Moscow RUS”]
[Date “2016.10.05”]
[Round “8.2”]
[White “Nepomniachtchi, Ian”]
[Black “Anand, Viswanathan”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[BlackElo “2776”]
[BlackFideId “5000017”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[ECO “A21”]
[EventDate “2016.09.26”]
[Opening “English, Kramnik-Shirov counterattack”]
[WhiteElo “2740”]
[WhiteFideId “4168119”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Bb4 3.Nd5 Bc5 4.Nf3 c6 5.Nc3 d6 6.e3 Bb4 7.d4 e4 8.Nd2 Bxc3 9.bxc3 Nf6 10.f3 exf3 11.Qxf3 O-O 12.h3 Qa5 13.Bb2 Qf5 14.Ba3 Re8 15.Qxf5 Bxf5 16.Kf2 Rd8 17.Kf3 c5 18.g4 Bg6 19.Bg2 h6 20.Kf4 Nc6 21.Bxc6 bxc6 22.e4 Nd7 23.Nb3 Re8 24.Rhe1 Re6 25.Re3 Rae8 26.Rae1 Rf6+ 27.Kg3 Rfe6 28.Kf4 Rf6+ 29.Kg3 Rfe6 1/2-1/2
[Event “10th Tal Mem 2016”]
[Site “Moscow RUS”]
[Date “2016.10.05”]
[Round “8.3”]
[White “Kramnik, Vladimir”]
[Black “Tomashevsky, Evgeny”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[BlackElo “2731”]
[BlackFideId “4147235”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[ECO “A07”]
[EventDate “2016.09.26”]
[Opening “Reti”]
[Variation “King’s Indian attack, Yugoslav variation”]
[WhiteElo “2808”]
[WhiteFideId “4101588”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 c6 4.O-O Bg4 5.d3 Nbd7 6.h3 Bxf3 7.Bxf3 e5 8.e4 dxe4 9.dxe4 Bc5 10.Nd2 Qe7 11.a4 a5 12.Qe2 O-O 13.Nc4 Qe6 14.Kg2 Nb6 15.Ne3 Rfd8 16.b3 Nc8 17.Bb2 Bd4 18.Rad1 Nd6 19.Bxd4 exd4 20.Rxd4 Ndxe4 21.Rxd8+ Rxd8 22.Nc4 b5 23.axb5 cxb5 24.Nxa5 Rd2 25.Qxb5 h6 26.Nc4 Rxc2 27.Qb8+ Kh7 28.Qe5 Qxe5 29.Nxe5 Rb2 30.Bd1 Nd5 31.Nc4 Ra2 32.Bf3 Ndc3 33.h4 g5 34.h5 Kg7 35.b4 Ra4 36.Bxe4 Nxe4 37.Rb1 Nc3 38.Rc1 Ne2 39.Rc2 Nd4 40.Rd2 Nc6 41.Ne3 Rxb4 42.Nf5+ Kh7 43.Rd6 Ne5 44.Rxh6+ Kg8 45.Ra6 Ng4 46.Ra8+ Kh7 47.Ra7 Nh6 48.Nd6 Kg7 49.Kf3 g4+ 50.Kg2 Rb6 51.Ne8+ Kh7 52.Ra5 Re6 53.Nc7 Rf6 54.Kf1 Rf5 55.Rd5 Rf6 56.Rd7 Rf5 57.Nd5 Kg7 58.Nf4 Re5 59.Rd5 Re4 60.Ng2 Kf6 61.Ne3 Ra4 62.Ke2 Ra3 63.Rc5 Rb3 64.Nd5+ Kg7 65.Nc3 Rb6 66.Rg5+ Kf8 67.Re5 Kg7 68.Ke3 Rb3 69.Rc5 Rb2 70.Rg5+ Kf8 71.Rb5 Rc2 72.Ne4 Kg7 73.Rg5+ Kf8 74.Nf6 Rc3+ 75.Ke4 Rc4+ 76.Kd3 Ra4 77.Nh7+ Ke7 78.Re5+ Kd6 79.Rb5 Kc6 80.Rb8 Ra2 81.Ke3 Ra5 82.Nf6 Rf5 83.Ne4 Rxh5 84.Rd8 Kc7 85.Re8 Rf5 86.Rh8 Rf3+ 87.Kd4 Nf5+ 88.Ke5 Ne7 89.Rh7 Ng6+ 90.Kd4 Kd8 91.Ng5 Rxf2 92.Nxf7+ Ke8 93.Ng5 Rf5 94.Ne6 Rf7 95.Rh6 Ne7 96.Rh8+ Kd7 97.Nc5+ Kc7 98.Ra8 Nc6+ 99.Kc4 Rf1 100.Ne4 Rd1 101.Re8 Re1 102.Kd5 Rd1+ 103.Ke6 Rd8 104.Rxd8 Kxd8 105.Nc3 Nd4+ 106.Ke5 Nf3+ 107.Kf4 Nh2 108.Nd5 1/2-1/2
[Event “10th Tal Mem 2016”]
[Site “Moscow RUS”]
[Date “2016.10.05”]
[Round “8.4”]
[White “Svidler, Peter”]
[Black “Gelfand, Boris”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[BlackElo “2743”]
[BlackFideId “2805677”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[ECO “B31”]
[EventDate “2016.09.26”]
[Opening “Sicilian”]
[Variation “Nimzovich-Rossolimo attack (with …g6, without …d6)”]
[WhiteElo “2745”]
[WhiteFideId “4102142”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Bxc6 bxc6 5.O-O Bg7 6.Re1 Nh6 7.c3 O-O 8.h3 d5 9.d3 c4 10.dxc4 dxe4 11.Qxd8 Rxd8 12.Rxe4 Nf5 13.Re1 c5 14.Nbd2 Bb7 15.Ne4 Rac8 16.Ng3 Nd6 17.Rxe7 Bxf3 18.gxf3 Nxc4 19.Bg5 Nxb2 20.Rxa7 Ra8 21.Rb7 Rd1+ 22.Rxd1 Nxd1 23.Ne4 Nxc3 24.Nxc5 h6 25.Be3 Rxa2 26.Rb8+ Kh7 27.Rb7 Kg8 28.Rb8+ Kh7 29.Rb7 Kg8 1/2-1/2
[Event “10th Tal Mem 2016”]
[Site “Moscow RUS”]
[Date “2016.10.05”]
[Round “8.5”]
[White “Giri, Anish”]
[Black “Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[BlackElo “2761”]
[BlackFideId “13401319”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[ECO “C50”]
[EventDate “2016.09.26”]
[Opening “Giuoco Piano”]
[WhiteElo “2755”]
[WhiteFideId “24116068”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 h6 7.Re1 O-O 8.Nbd2 a6 9.Nf1 Na5 10.b4 Nxc4 11.bxc5 Na5 12.cxd6 cxd6 13.a4 b5 14.axb5 axb5 15.Rb1 Qc7 16.Bd2 Re8 17.h3 Nb7 18.Nh4 d5 19.exd5 Nxd5 20.Rxb5 Nxc3 21.Bxc3 Qxc3 22.Nf3 Ra5 23.Rxa5 Qxa5 24.Qd2 Qb5 25.Qc3 f6 26.d4 exd4 27.Nxd4 Qd7 28.Rxe8+ Qxe8 29.Ne3 Nd6 30.Qc5 Qe5 31.Qxe5 fxe5 32.Nc6 e4 33.Kh2 Kf7 34.Kg3 g5 35.h4 Nf5+ 36.Nxf5 Bxf5 37.hxg5 hxg5 38.Ne5+ Kf6 39.Nc4 Be6 40.Ne3 1/2-1/2
[/pgn]
