Wednesday November 15th 2006

Round 6

One injudicious move in a drawn rook and pawn endgame cost the Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen dearly in the sixth round of the Mikhail Tal Memorial at Moscow. The youngster had defended well against Levon Aronian to reach an ending with rook and one pawn against rook and two pawns which became rook and one pawn against rook. Carlsen played accurately before blundering on move 73 and resigning straight away.

Scores: 1-3 Ponomariov (Ukraine), Aronian (Armenia), Leko (Hungary) 4/6; 4-6 Svidler (Russia), Gelfand (Israel), Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) 3; 7-8 Grischuk (Russia), Shirov (Spain) 2.5; 9-10 Carlsen (Norway), Morozevich (Russia) 2;

Game Notes in PGN

Aronian,L (2741) - Carlsen,M (2698) [E15]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (6), 12.11.2006
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qc2 Nc6 [5...Bb7; 5...c5] 6.Nbd2 d5 7.cxd5 Qxd5 8.e4 Nb4 9.Qa4+ Qd7 10.Qxd7+ Nxd7 11.Bxa6 Nxa6 12.0-0 Nf6 13.a3 c5 14.Re1 Be7 15.Ne5 Rc8 16.b4 cxd4 17.Ndf3 Nb8 18.Nxd4 Nfd7 19.Nef3 0-0 20.Bf4 Nc6 21.Rac1 Nxd4 22.Nxd4 g5 23.Nc6 Rxc6 24.Rxc6 gxf4 25.Rc7 Ne5 26.Rxe7 Nf3+ 27.Kf1 Nxe1 28.Kxe1 a5 29.Rb7 axb4 30.axb4 Rd8 31.f3 Rd3 32.Ke2 Rb3 33.Rxb6 Rb2+ 34.Kd3 Rxh2 35.gxf4 h5 36.Rb5 h4 37.Rh5 h3 38.Kd4 Kf8 39.Ke5 Ke7 40.f5 exf5 41.Kxf5 Rb2 42.Rxh3 Rxb4 43.f4 Rb5+ 44.e5 Kf8 45.Rd3 Rb4 46.Kg5 Kg7 47.Rd7 Rb5 48.Kg4 Kf8 49.Kf5 Kg7 50.Ke4 Rb4+ 51.Rd4 Rb1 52.Rd7 Re1+ 53.Kd5 Rd1+ 54.Kc6 Rf1 55.Rd4 Kf8 56.Kd7 Rf2 57.Kd6 Rf1 58.Kd5 Ke7 59.Ra4 f6 60.Ra7+ Kf8 61.Kd6 fxe5 62.Ra8+ Kf7 63.Ra7+ Kf8 64.fxe5 Rd1+ 65.Ke6 Re1 66.Rf7+ Ke8 67.Rh7 Kf8 68.Rh8+ Kg7 69.Rd8 Ra1 70.Ke7 Ra5 71.e6 Ra7+ 72.Rd7 Ra8 73.Rd6

73...Ra7+?? [73...Kg6! 74.Rd7 (74.Rd8 Ra7+ 75.Rd7 Ra8 76.Rd6 Kg7 again forced but this repeats the position before the blunder and keeps the position drawn; ; 74.Kd7 Kf6= Threatening to play Ra7+ and meeting Kc8 with Ke7; 75.e7+ Kf7 76.Ra6 Rb8 77.Ra7 Re8 78.Kd6 Rb8 repeats.) 74...Kg7 75.Kd6+ Kf8 76.Rh7 Ra6+ 77.Ke5 Ra1 and checks from behind.] 74.Ke8 and Carlsen resigned because he cannot prevent the pawn getting to the seventh rank and White wins after [74.Ke8 Ra8+ 75.Rd8 Ra1 76.e7 Rb1 (76...Ra7 77.Rd1 intending Rg1+ and Kf8 wins.) 77.Kd7] 1-0

Svidler,P (2750) - Grischuk,A (2710) [B90]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (6), 12.11.2006
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Ng4 7.Bc1 Nf6 Black offers a 'silent draw'. 8.f3 Qb6 Preventing Be3 because of the attack on b2. 9.g4 Nc6 10.Nb3 e6 11.Bf4 [11.Qe2 Qc7 12.Be3 b5 13.0-0-0 Nd7 14.Qf2 b4 15.Na4 Rb8 16.f4 Nd8 17.Nd2 Bb7 18.Nb6 Nc5 19.Bxc5 dxc5 20.Nbc4 Be7 21.g5 0-0 22.Rg1 f5 23.e5 Nc6 24.Ne3 Nd4 25.Bc4 Kh8 26.Rg3 Bc6 27.Rh3 Be8 28.Rg1 Bg6 29.Nf3 Nxf3 30.Qxf3 Qb6 31.Rh4 Rbd8 32.Qh3 Rd4 33.Rxh7+ Kg8 34.Rh8+ Kf7 35.Rxf8+ Bxf8 36.Qf3 Ke7 37.Rd1 Be8 38.c3 bxc3 39.bxc3 Bc6 40.Qe2 Rxd1+ 41.Qxd1 Be4 42.Qb3 Qxb3 43.axb3 Bb7 44.Kd2 g6 45.h4 Kf7 46.Ke2 Bc8 47.h5 Be7 48.h6 Bd8 49.Bd3 Kg8 50.Nc4 1-0 Kasimdzhanov,R (2653)-Xu Jun (2643)/Hyderabad IND 2002/The Week in Chess 414] 11...Qc7 12.Qd2 Ne5! Covering the weakness on d6, attacking f3 and opening the c file for counterplay. In some positions Ne5-c4 presages a counter-attack. 13.Be2 Just a small sign that Black is OK, Be2 is not a very useful move in this kind of position where the speed of the opposing attacks is of the essence. 13...Be7 14.Bg3 This also looks a little slow. 14...b5 15.g5 Nfd7 16.h4 Nb6 Threatening Nc4 which would force Qc1. 17.Qd4 0-0 18.0-0-0 Rd8 19.a3 [19.f4 Nc6 20.Qe3 b4 21.Nb1 a5 and Black is ahead in the race.] 19...Nec4 20.Bxc4 Alternatives: [20.Kb1; 20.Nd2] 20...bxc4!

Black uses the open b file to good effect. 21.Nd2 e5 22.Qe3 Be6 23.Kb1 Rab8 24.Ka1 Qc6 25.Rb1 Na4 26.Rhd1 Rd7! 27.f4 exf4 28.Bxf4 Rdb7 29.Nxa4 Qxa4 30.Qc3 g6 with the idea of Bf8-g7. 31.h5 [31.Nf1 Rb3 32.cxb3 Rxb3 33.Qc1 c3! followed by cxb2+ and Qxa3+ winning.; 31.Be3 Bd8 32.Bd4 Ba5 33.Qf3 c3!] 31...gxh5 32.Rh1 Bf8 33.Rxh5 Bg7 34.e5 d5 35.Be3 Bf5 36.Bd4 Bxc2 37.e6 Bxb1 38.Nxb1 fxe6 0-1