Tal Memorial, Moscow

**Vlad Dobrich** · Wednesday, 12th June, 2013, 12:23 PM

Re: Tal Memorial, Moscow

Great to hear that Spassky is in good health! Looks like H Nakamura is about to capture the #1 spot by winning the Blitz! The #1 as do the top half of the table get 5 Whites and 4 Blacks. But in this system, the #1 plays the 2nd to 5th finishers in sequence - a tough way to start. When HN was in Toronto in the Open two years go, he said that he often starts a tournament with a loss before getting into gear. Well here he will get Anand and Kramnik in rounds 2 and 3 if the blitz standings don't change.

Great tournament - all players over 2700 - Tal would be honoured!

**Wayne Komer** · Wednesday, 12th June, 2013, 12:45 PM

Re: Tal Memorial, Moscow

Results of Blitz Tournament

1. Nakamura 7/10
2. Anand 6.5/10
3. Kramnik 5.5/10
4. Carlsen 4.5/10
5. Gelfand 4.5/10
6. Mamedyarov 4/10
7. Andreikin 4/10
8. Karjakin 3.5/10
9. Morozevich 3/10
10. Caruana 2.5/10

Pairings for the First Three Rounds

Round 1 June 13

Andreikin-Morozevich
Anand-Caruana
Gelfand-Karjakin
Carlsen-Kramnik
Nakamura-Mamedyarov

Round 2 June 14

Morozevich-Mamedyarov
Kramnik-Nakamura
Karjakin-Carlsen
Caruana-Gelfand
Andreikin-Anand

Round 3 June 15

Anand-Morozevich
Gelfand-Andreikin
Carlsen-Caruana
Nakamura-Karjakin
Mamedyarov-Kramnik

First rest day is Sunday, June 16.

Hikaru will have the white pieces five times.

**Vlad Dobrich** · Wednesday, 12th June, 2013, 04:16 PM

Re: Tal Memorial, Moscow

The pairings you give make no sense. If the order of finish in the blitz determines the place on the x-table then HN #1 would play Anand #2 in round two. Why is that not so?

**Wayne Komer** · Wednesday, 12th June, 2013, 05:04 PM

Re: Tal Memorial, Moscow

After the blitz tournament, the players were asked on stage one by one to tell the arbiter which lot number they preferred for the main tournament.

Nakamura could go first, and he picked 5. Anand chose 2, and then Kramnik surprisingly went for lot number 7, which means he will have five black games and four white. The Russian confirmed to us that he did this because of the tiebreak rules in the tournament; the first and most important rule is number games played with the black pieces... Gelfand chose 3, Carlsen 4, Andreikin 1, Mamedyarov 6, Karjakin 8, Morozevich 10 and for Caruana number 9 was left.

This led to the following pairings:

Tal Memorial 2013 - Pairings

Round 1 13:00 CET 13.06.13
Andreikin - Morozevich
Anand - Caruana
Gelfand - Karjakin
Carlsen - Kramnik
Nakamura - Mamedyarov

Round 2 13:00 CET 14.06.13
Morozevich- Mamedyarov
Kramnik - Nakamura
Karjakin - Carlsen
Caruana - Gelfand
Andreikin - Anand

Round 3 13:00 CET 15.06.13
Anand - Morozevich
Gelfand - Andreikin
Carlsen - Caruana
Nakamura - Karjakin
Mamedyarov - Kramnik

Round 4 13:00 CET 17.06.13
Morozevich- Kramnik
Karjakin - Mamedyarov
Caruana - Nakamura
Andreikin - Carlsen
Anand - Gelfand

Round 5 13:00 CET 18.06.13
Gelfand - Morozevich
Carlsen - Anand
Nakamura - Andreikin
Mamedyarov - Caruana
Kramnik - Karjakin

etc

Source: Chessvibes: http://www.chessvibes.com/tal-memori...ings-now-known

**Wayne Komer** · Thursday, 13th June, 2013, 10:13 AM

Re: Tal Memorial, Moscow

Round One

Thursday, June 13, 2013

There appears to be only a Russian commentary on the official website. Peter Svidler and Alexander Grischuk are doing the broadcast.

I have had to put up

http://www.chess.com/tv

on the screen and listen to the coverage by IM Daniel Rensch and GM Ben Finegold and watch the Russian transmission at the same time.

Nakamura has a losing position against Mamedyarov. As David Letterman would say, “I wouldn’t give his troubles to a monkey on a rock!”

Nakamura has resigned.

The press conference is a mixture of English and Russian and technical difficulties prevent the position the players are analyzing from being put up on the monitors.

Andreikin-Morozevich, Gelfand-Karjakin and Carlsen-Kramnik are more or less equal. The chess engine gives an edge for Caruana as black in his game against Anand.

**Wayne Komer** · Thursday, 13th June, 2013, 04:44 PM

Re: Tal Memorial, Moscow

Tal Memorial, Moscow
Round One (concluded)

There were high expectations for Nakamura after he won the blitz tournament yesterday but he was the first to lose, from a Ragozin with an inexact 10th move. Mamedyarov always seemed to be in control.

Gelfand-Karjakin and Andrekin-Morozevich were draws.
++++++++

(Chessvibes) Fabiano Caruana then defeated Vishy Anand from the black side of a Closed Ruy Lopez. White played the Anti-Marshall with 8.h3, but since a few years black players have been trying lines where Black goes ...d5 anyway. Apparently the Italian felt well enough prepared to test it against the World Champion, perhaps supported by the game Dominguez-Ponomariov, Thessaloniki 2013 where Black got a very easy draw.

A few moves later Caruana found a nice pawn sac and an excellent follow-up with ...g5, as if he was insisting to play the game in Marshall style! It worked out well; the way Anand gave back the pawn was probably not the best, Black got a nice ending and converted by playing attacking moves till the end.
+++++++++

Carlsen-Kramnik started from a Trompovsky, 1.d4 Nf6; 2. Bg5. Carlsen said at the press conference:

In my games as white with Kramnik I don’t get so much an advantage so I tried to play something a little non-theoretical and was the first to surprise him. 2... d5; 3. e3 c5; 4. Bxf6 gxf6; 5. dxc5 e6; 6. Nf3 Nd7!?;

c5 is the best way to play for black. 6…Nd7 was a bit surprising but logical.

After black’s 45th move, the analysis on the official website pointed out that the Lomonosov tablebase gives mate in 40!

The endgame progressed with white having connected pawns on the g and h files and both players having white square bishops. Kramnik resigned on the 72nd move.
+++++++

One comment from the CV site:

Ouch. After playing quite well and finishing 1-2 in the blitz, Naka and Anand begin the main event with miserable losses with White in the first round. Complacency? Over-confidence? Revenge-fueled opponents?

Great game by Magnus. He played an off-beat opening, kept the pressure on and played accurately in a dynamic middlegame, won a pawn, and outplayed Kramnik in the ending. Couldn't ask for a better start.

Kramnik did play very well however, and he was defending quite brilliantly for most of the game. It's a shame he messed up towards the end. His h4+?! move makes sense as an idea, since it is one way to trade pawns right away, but he got lost in the ensuing complications.

Kramnik is probably really regretting taking extra Blacks, as that gambit was kind of relying on a draw with Magnus in order to get the tiebreak advantage. This is a short event and he really has his work cut out for him now.
+++++++++

It is annoying to have two great analysts in Svidler and Grischuk and then they are only speaking Russian. I put on the English commentary from the chess.com/tv site and play it at the same time as the Russian and seem to be able to sort out everything.
++++++++++

In Moscow this past week they had the presentation party for the publication of Sergey Voronkov’s “Fedor Bogatyrchuk – The Doctor Zhivago of Soviet Chess”.

A preface was written by Boris Spassky and he gave an interview about it. Use google translate on:

http://www.chess-news.ru/node/12269

Some extracts:

Spassky: I'm very lucky in life. I think it's just a gift of fate: in 1967, the year I was able to personally meet with Fedor Parfen'evich. Here is how it happened. In the summer of that year, I happened to meet in Sochi, Kiev master Ratner Sveshnikov. And then he said to me: "Boris, I know that you have to go to an international tournament in Winnipeg, Canada. If you are lucky enough to meet Fedor Parfen'evich Bogatyrchuk, please, pass from me to him a huge hello and thanks." The fact is that during the war he helped his sister Ratner in Kiev. It seems Fedor Parfen'evich was chairman of the Red Cross.

So I had a meeting with Fedor Parfen'evich in Ottawa (before you get to Winnipeg, where he was the tournament, I had to fly through Toronto and Ottawa). When I arrived at the hotel in Ottawa, soon the phone rang: receptionist called and said that I had a gentleman waiting for me. I went downstairs and saw that it was Fedor Bogatyrchuk.

He immediately introduced himself, and gave me a firm handshake. His huge forehead fascinated me directly. After a short walk he took me straight to his home, where we had a conversation. On the way he told me, "You know, Canadians are stupid - do not realize what a great country they live." I am wary. Then he asked me, how is Levenfish. I said that Gregory died in 1961, the year. At that Fedor Parfen'evich replied: "It is a pity. Because we understood each other ..."

I came to visit him, he introduced me to his wife and daughter, Tamara Fedorovna. Subsequently, I was in correspondence with her, she sometimes met me in Canada and took care of me. She was my driver, a mentor. She seemed to have continued her father's work. Fedor Parfen'evich all enjoyed meeting the players, especially from the Soviet Union.

(clip)

When I was with Fedor Parfen'evich, he showed me his library, his desk. Were talking about chess. He said that he does not like Petrosian as the champion of the world, that he prefers to Tal. Well, this is quite understandable. For Tal, he closely watched as his friend Levenfish. (За Талем он внимательно следил, как и его друг Левенфиш. What does this mean?)

There is much more in that interesting interview. It would be very good if someone could make a proper translation of it and post it on ChessTalk.

**Egidijus Zeromskis** · Thursday, 13th June, 2013, 04:59 PM

Re: Tal Memorial, Moscow

Originally posted by Wayne Komer View Post

For Tal, he closely watched as his friend Levenfish. (За Талем он внимательно следил, как и его друг Левенфиш. What does this mean?)

imo, both - Bogatyrchuk and Levenfish - watched (followed) Tal closely.

**Wayne Komer** · Friday, 14th June, 2013, 03:54 PM

Re: Tal Memorial, Moscow

Round Two

Friday, June 14, 2013

Matchups and Standings
Morozevich(.5)-Mamedyarov(1)
Kramnik(0)-Nakamura(0)
Karjakin(.5)-Carlsen(1)
Caruana(1)-Gelfand(.5)
Andreikin(.5)-Anand(0)
+++++++++++++

Kramnik-Nakamura
(Que.) The commentators on the whole thought that from the opening, Kramnik had the advantage then you overtook him.

(Nakamura) That is a simple way of putting it. I tried to be too aggressive in the opening. Last night and this morning I was reading Kasparov’s book on his great predecessors – on Tal. In the game I wasted some time and had hallucinations of sacking my queen. Luckily I was able to save myself.
27. h3 was very strange. After my Nc4 the position is very unclear. I still didn’t think that Vladimir could lose. The critical move was 29.Rd7. He loses tempo here. Now Vladimir is in trouble.

(CB) Hikaru not only regained his lost pawn but he also obtained a second one. His passed pawns on the queenside became difficult to stop. Kramnik attempted some kind of kingside counterplay but it was clearly insufficient.

(Question from the Audience) What do you think of the development of chess in Japan (even though you are an American grandmaster!)?

(Nakamura) A strange question. I haven’t been in Japan much lately. The problem with Japan is the same as in China. They have their own version of chess basically. So, of course, people play the Japanese version and it is very famous. In terms of chess overall, it is not very popular. The best players at chess are the best players at Shogi, the Japanese version of chess. Maybe in the future – if I go back to promote it. There isn’t as much development in Japan as in the rest of the world.

(Further question from the Audience - Do you know how to play Shogi?)

(Nakamura) I play it very badly. It is very similar to a version of chess called Crazy House, where you capture pieces and they come back on the board. So, this is why even though there are strong Shogi players with ratings of 2300 or 2400 at chess but they are very bad at endgames because endgames never happen!

(Commentators) Congratulations on your victory once again.

(Nakamura) I was a bit lucky..
++++++++++++

Andrekin-Anand
(Chessvibes) Vishy Anand drew his black game against Dmitry Andreikin in a sideline of the Semi-Slav, with an early Qd3. The Indian couldn't remember all the details and went for a risky line in which his king got stuck in the centre for a while, blocking the bishop on f8. In return he got two pawns, but one would soon be gone. While more and more pieces left the board, the World Champ's king remained exposed but by giving back material in time he could reach a drawn rook ending.

From the press conference after:

(Anand) The problem is my knight on e8 is much worse than the bishop on d5. I need the same square for both pieces. If my bishop and knight could both sit on d5 like a Shogi piece, it would be OK but at the moment that doesn’t seem possible (laughs).

(This is in the analysis after 16. Rg1 Bc6 -
16... Bh3 17. Bxd4 Nd5 18. Ncd3 Bf5 19. Rc1 "remains very unpleasant as I still can't play ...f6. " (Anand) 16... Bd5 17. Bxd4 Ne8 18. Ncd3 and again Black cannot play f6.)

Rarely in any sort of chess writeup is there the chance to mention Shogi but it has happened twice in the discussion of this round.
++++++

Morozevich looked like winning early against Mamedyarov but the game was drawn as was Karjakin-Carlsen.
++++++++

Caruana-Gelfand
(Chessvibes) So far it's been ups and downs for Fabiano Caruana in Moscow. He finished last in the blitz tournament, then defeated the World Champion in an excellent game, but this was followed by a loss against Boris Gelfand. The game was very much of theoretical importance, because it was A) a Sicilian Najdorf, still one of the most popular defences against 1.e4, B) an English Attack, still one of the most popular systems against the Najdorf, and C) one of the deepest theoretical variations that exists in the English Attack! Gelfand seemed a bit better prepared in this pet line of Loek van Wely, and refuted his opponent's moves with nice tactical strokes.

Yesterday, Caruana was poised to enter the 2800 Club. After today’s game he is still waiting at the door. The up-to-date ratings of the world’s top ten are:

1. Carlsen (2867); 2. Aronian (2813); 3. Kramnik (2794); 4. Caruana (2790); 5. Karjakin (2783); 6. Anand (2780); 7. Grischuk (2780); 8. Nakamura (2775); 9. Topalov (2767); 10. Kamsky (2783)

Source: http://www.2700chess.com/
+++++++++

Chesslover’s summary on today’s action on Chessvibes comments:

Carlsen couldn't do anything today against Karjakin’s draw line - flawless draw from both sides, a bit disappointing from Karjakin.
Anand just took all the pawns he was offered, but unfortunately for Andreikin he never had more than compensation for the 3(!) pawns, so the draw there seemed also very logical, although it was a very unusual structure.

Morozevich was simply winning right from the opening: Qg4! Bg8 Nf5! looks completely won to me, his Qh5 Bg6 Qe5 plan looked strong too, but Mamedyarov found a precise defense: good game, a pity Moro missed the win in the opening.

Kramnik was winning too, f4 instead of Nb6 was not too hard to see. I cannot explain what happened after that - his position got worse and worse with almost every move until he was lost.  Has to be a psychological problem, maybe the loss yesterday played a role here? A very sad game and very lucky for Nakamura, who is on 50% now and should be at 0%...

Caruana played almost instantly every move until h4, while Gelfand spend a lot of time there.  It looks like h4 is a serious mistake and that after d4 black is just better. Caruana was shocked after d4 and spend one hour on his next move (which was another mistake) and never recovered. Strong play from Boris, but very strange play from Caruana - maybe he mixed up some opening preparation?!

Carlsen, Gelfand and Mamedyarov are joint leaders with 1.5/2.

**Wayne Komer** · Saturday, 15th June, 2013, 11:25 AM

Re: Tal Memorial, Moscow

Round Three

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Matchups and Standings
Carlsen(1.5)-Caruana(1)
Gelfand(1.5)-Andreikin(1)
Mamedyarov(1.5)-Kramnik(0)
Nakamura(1)-Karjakin(1)
Anand(0.5)-Morozevich(1)

Mamedyarov-Kramnik and Gelfand-Andreikin have been draws.
Anand-Morozevich looks like a draw.

Nakamura has good chances against Karjakin.

The commentators are analyzing Carlsen-Caruana. Caruana has a passed b pawn. So, Caruana has three pawns and a rook to Carlsen’s two pawns and rook. Houdini gives a -.27 to Caruana.

Earlier, in the kibitzing on chessbomb.com, someone had Capablanca playing Carlsen in an equal endgame. Since both of these players win from equal endgames, a paradox resulted, and the Universe imploded!

The free on-line English commentary has gone. Now they are offering a premium pay service. One gets used to the Russian commentary after a while and can follow the games fairly well.

Chesslover had this to say at the chessvibes site:

Only Aronian is missing somehow, but it is still a very strong and entertaining tournament.
And what is really sad, is, that the commentators (including world class GMs Grischuk and Svidler!) talk from the first until the last minutes of the games about them - NOT using engines (as far as I know) - but all this is in Russian only.

It would be such a pleasure to listen to the thoughts of these players (and they all could speak English without any problem).
Most commentators are a few hundred points lower rated than the players and use engines to back up their thoughts, in this case I can watch with an engine myself and don't need a commentator, but if people really think about the games and explain their thoughts and ideas (even if they are wrong) it is just fun.

Such a shame it is only available for Russians. :-(
+++++++++++

Nakamura has an evaluation of +3.07 in his game and everything is looking good.

The Carlsen-Caruana endgame grinds on. Spectators are frantically consulting their copies of Averbakh to see if there is a win for Caruana there are not.

Actually, the cameras scan the crowd and it is a measure of how cool you are as to what your reaction is when you are on the big screen. Men frown, kids grin and ladies seem to laugh.

(More to follow)

**Wayne Komer** · Sunday, 16th June, 2013, 11:31 AM

Re: Tal Memorial, Moscow

Round Three (concluded)

From the press conferences after the games:

Nakamura-Karjakin

(Nakamura) He surprised me by playing the Grunfeld, but I had been waiting to play this line for quite a while. I was definitely more familiar with the position.

17….b6 It’s hard to criticize this move, but I think in fact that it’s the losing move of the game. 17…Rab8;18. Qd2 Rfd8; 19.Rfd1 and white is better.
(After 24.Re3, where his two white rooks and Queen are on the e-file) After I saw that I had the two rooks and queen – what’s it called – Alekhine’s gun? - I was very happy. I knew I was better here.

I’m playing on all sides of the board like Alekhine. As opposed to yesterday when I tried to play like Tal. At least I’m playing like the Russians since I’m in Moscow! (applause from the audience)

15. g4 - Actually I had a similar pawn structure against Topalov in Greece two weeks ago. I won the endgame but preferred playing positionally today.

And black has no moves anymore and white gets the point.

(Question from the Audience) Apart from chess, what sports do you like?

(Nakamura) I love tennis and ice hockey. I don’t play hockey but I do play tennis. There are many good Russians in both of these sports. I think Russian has a good chance to win the gold in ice hockey in Sochi. (loud applause)
+++++++

Anand – Morozevich

Anand pointed out Kamsky’s interesting play in an earlier game Kamsky-Jakovenko, Moscow 2007.

(Anan) At move 43 there were lots of long variations but then I remembered the words of Bent Larsen here. He said “all long variations are wrong”.
And Anand wins on the 60th move.
+++++++

Carlsen-Caruana

Both Carlsen and Caruaa attended the press conference. Even after a loss, Magnus did not seem to be too unhappy and he really wanted to discuss the endgame.

Finally, there was a technical difficulty with his microphone and he left the stage and Caruana continued his analysis.

(Chessvibes) - The world's number one had to defend for almost the whole game after he blundered a pawn at move 17. Everything was fine until beyond the time control, as both players agreed that the rook ending should have been a relatively easy draw. White might still be able to hold it if he goes back with the rook at move 49. What this game mostly showed is that even for a 2860 player it's possible to make a wrong evaluation of a theoretical ending R + p vs R! The game of chess is simply incredibly difficult.

We should add that Caruana played the technical phase flawlessly. It's really an up and down tournament for the Italian, but in the live rating list that went up today, leapfrogging Kramnik to reach the world's number 3 spot!

Annotations to the games are at:

http://www.chessvibes.com/tal-memori...g-round?page=1
+++++++++

The lives of the top players seem to be very comfortable. After each of the press conference interviews kids came forth and asked Nakamura, Anand and Caruana for autographs – an adoring crowd.

The players dress well, have exotic vacations, move invitations to tournaments than they can accept and the prize money is good.

Speaking of money I was surprised to read this in Leonard Barden’s column in The Guardian:

When rising talents are on a winning streak it can be bad news for any yesteryear veteran who gets in the way. Karjakin limbered up for the Tal Memorial at a rapidplay in Kiev sponsored by Sberbank, Russia's largest bank and the third largest in Europe.

The former world champion Anatoly Karpov was also there. Karpov became a millionaire during his peak years when he battled with Garry Kasparov, and has since improved to billionaire status through shrewd investments in oil and property. At 62 his best chess days are long past and his occasional tournaments give the impression of a one-time top golfer pottering round a few holes just to keep the memory alive.
++++++++++

A last word from Colin Crouch, who was monitoring the third round games online at lunch in England:

On the question of Carlsen's openings, I get the strong feeling that he is always playing his opponent, rather than the board, much like the great Emanuel Lasker.

He is always concerned at making his opponent having to face difficult tasks, and will on occasion play lines which he has not prepared in detail in advance, on the basis that quite probably his opponent will have prepared even less, and that it is not the sort of line that the opponent would enjoy. He has had some really bad losses, and quite often does not play as accurately as one would have liked, but his opponent tends also to make inaccuracies.

Back to lunch, and the games...
++++++++++

Sunday is a rest day. The games resume Monday, with the very interesting match Caruana-Nakamura.

What is Naka’s favorite hockey team I wonder?

**Hans Jung** · Sunday, 16th June, 2013, 12:56 PM

Re: Tal Memorial, Moscow

I think he posted somewhere Vancouver Canucks, maybe you could also mention Naka's new sponsorship deal sounds very interesting.

**Wayne Komer** · Sunday, 16th June, 2013, 04:22 PM

Re: Tal Memorial, Moscow

Hans, you must be reading my mind. I was going to include that when I wrote how popular Naka is, but didn't. This is the release:

"Return The Crown to the US."
Hikaru Nakamura Signs a Contract With Personal Sponsor

Wednesday, 12.06.2013

Yet another chess player has signed a contract with a personal sponsor: now Hikaru Nakamura will be helped by the company "Silence Therapeutics", that develops technologies for gene therapy.

Executive Director Ali Mortazavi noted that the cooperation with Hikaru should help the latter in achieving his goal - to become a World Champion. "We are proud to work with a chess player, who is internationally renowned for his bright and uncompromising playing style."
++++++++

I think it going to be a ding-dong battle between Caruana and Nakamura tomorrow. I would bet no draw.

**Wayne Komer** · Monday, 17th June, 2013, 11:04 AM

Re: Tal Memorial, Moscow

Round Four

Monday, June 17, 2013

Matchups and Standings
Morozevich(1)-Kramnik(0.5)
Karjakin(1)-Mamedyarov(2)
Caruana(2)-Nakamura(2)
Andreikin(1.5)-Carlsen(1.5)
Anand(1.5)-Gelfand(2)

Caruana-Nakamura is a win for Hikaru.

(Nakamura) I decided to play the Najdorf because Fabiano has lost four or five times in a row against the Najdorf.

White has a slight advantage but black has no trouble finding his moves. I am completely active now. After white’s 24th move, I thought I could play for more than equality.

But Fabiano is starting to be short of time – maybe six minutes left. With my move 28….b5 the position is dangerous. White attacked my great bishop with 34.Nc6 and the only good reply is moving my bishop to b6.

After white’s 36.c5 black is completely winning.

Fabiano resigns because there is no way to avoid losing material.

(Same audience member is asking all the questions today) You attend the press conferences even if you lose?

(Nakamura) It has become very natural for me to come to the press conference whether you win or lose – in the Grand Prix series and I am used to it. It is quite good when both players show up. Even if one has lost, you get a more interesting press conference.
I do think it is in better in general.

(Same audience member at microphone) Gata Kamsky and you are fighting for first place in America, is that a positive thing?
(Nakamura) It is good in any country. When you have more competition, it is better.

(Same audience member) Your coach was here during the first game, which you lost. He’s not here now. What happened to him?
(Nakamura) He actually decided not to come to the second round – perhaps to change luck. And it seems to be working. He is very alive and well! It seems to be normal with other seconds not to be here.

(Same chap) How is important is the mental side with your coach?
(Nakamura) I think in general he is a very positive person and that is good. In general it is good to have such people around.

It is good to see that Nakamura is happy and in good form.

(more to follow later)

**Wayne Komer** · Monday, 17th June, 2013, 02:53 PM

Re: Tal Memorial, Moscow

Round Four (conclusion)

Andreikin-Carlsen
Andreikin had the edge from the first but it went nowhere. The pieces were exchanged and the game drawn.

An audience member had evidently spent the day before writing questions to ask the grandmasters at the press conferences and read them into the microphone from some pieces of paper. They were fairly sensible. Admittedly, posing interesting queries is not always easy. One is reminded that the great interviewer Barbara Walters once asked Katharine Hepburn at an interview, “If you were a tree, what kind would you be?”

(Audience member) If you become World Champion, would you support the rule of the return match?

(Carlsen) No, I think at best that that rule is outdated. I think the Champion should have fewer privileges, not more.

(Audience member) What did you do during the rest day?

(Carlsen) I was out in the sun too long and got a headache, so that was a bad idea.
++++++++

Anand-Gelfand
(CB) Just like in the World Championship match, Gelfand relies on his Sveshnikov Sicilian to defend against 1. e4. Anand was able to obtain a small edge with a Rossolimo set-up, but black's position remained very solid and after a couple of inexact moves by the World Champion, Gelfand was able simplify into an easily defensible rook endgame and the draw was agreed soon afterwards.

(Audience member) What do you do in order to be fit?

(Anand) Most of my physical training happens before a tournament. During a tournament it is a bit tricky. If you are working out then, you might be tired during a game.

So, that’s the big difference. I do most of my training before a tournament and just a light regimen during the tourney. On the rest day yesterday, I was working out in the gym with Goran Ivanišević (tennis player?). Last year during our match I was in pool with my second and (Andrei) Arshavin (footballer) was there too. So you meet some interesting people.

Karjakin-Mamedyarov and Morozevich-Kramnik were draws.
+++++++++

Some comments from online forums. (Not to be taken too seriously)

Hikaru is tearing it up. His three victories have been really great games to follow. Unique positions, complexity, fiery tactics. Awesome play so far!

Nearing the half-way point, it is kind of nuts to see Kramnik, Anand, and Carlsen with two wins between them, and four losses. Kramnik at the bottom of the table ... the Candidates must have taken a lot out of him.

Tomorrow is going to feature Carlsen-Anand. An appetizer, if you will.
++++++++

Of course calling a win from a lost position "awesome play" is debatable - fan perspective and/or annotating by the result? As Nakamura freely admitted, he couldn't have complained about a loss against Kramnik.
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Very good game from Nakamura today!

Today’s press conference with Nakamura was really nice too.

I start to like this guy, he seems humble and a positive person over all, which is somewhat surprising if you just know him as a player as I did before!  Because he still has to learn how to lose!
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Caruana is Caruana who also plays for wins or losses, which is what one should do at the Tal after all.

Ok let’s see if Team Carlsen is helping or not; usually Carlsen shifts gears about now and starts pulling hard.

Kramnik already suffered more losses than one would expect for the entire event will be interesting, can he pull it together like he did at the Candidates putting in of the most impressive performances of his life?

Anand has shown more frequent flashes of his dynamic self - will it continue?

Morozevich seems burnt out already and Gelfand probably will finish midpack. Can Karjakin get his recent form back? Who knows but this has been great thus far!
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I used to dislike Nakamura as I had first known him as a bullet/blitz player full of cheap tricks. But recently I have realized that a) chess is full of cheap tricks anyway and b) Nakamura is very very strong in the endgame, partly because he is good at tricks (which are very useful in the endgame) and partly because he knows endgame theory very well, probably better than his peers.
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And what is Aronian doing while his peers are fighting it out in Moscow? This tweet:

Levon Aronian@LevAronian

Back to Yerevan to enjoy the summer, to attend my friend Gabriel's wedding, and get in shape for the World Cup! Very excited!