Tal Memorial 2007. Moscow - Round 5 by Malcolm Pein

Round 5

Vassily Ivanchuk let Magnus Carlsen escape with a draw. Photo © http://www.europe-echecs.com

The Tal Memorial Tournament takes place in Moscow 9th-19th November 2007.

Official site: http://www.russiachess.org/

The Catalan Opening did it again for Vladimir Kramnik as he took the lead of the Tal Memorial at Moscow. Kramnik defeated Alexey Shirov after securing just a small advantage in the opening, exchanging pieces and gradually improving his position in a double knight endgame where Shirov’s queenside pawns were slightly weak. Kramnik is the only player on 3.5/5.

Vasily Ivanchuk suffered more misfortune as he failed to convert a winning endgame against Magnus Carlsen after allowing the 16 year old prodigy to force perpetual check in a position of queen v queen and two pawns.

Peter Leko also missed his chances against Dmitry Jakovenko and Gata Kamsky could make nothing of a slight edge against Evgeny Alekseev. Five players remain unbeaten

Kramnik,V (2785) - Shirov,A (2739) [E05]
Tal Mem Moscow RUS (5), 14.11.2007

1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.Qc2 dxc4 7.Qxc4 a6 8.Bf4 Bd6 9.0-0 b5 10.Qc2 Bb7 11.Nbd2 Nbd7 12.Nb3 Be4 13.Qd2 Qe7 14.Rfc1 Rfc8 15.Bxd6 [15.Ne5 Bxg2 16.Nxd7 Nxd7 17.Kxg2 Bxf4 18.Qxf4 c5 19.Nxc5 Nxc5 20.dxc5 Rxc5 21.Rxc5 Qxc5 22.Rc1 Qd5+ 23.Qf3 Qxf3+ 24.Kxf3 Kf8 25.Ke3 Ke8 26.Rc7 Rd8 27.Rc6 a5 28.Rc5 Rb8 29.Kd4 Kd7 30.e4 f6 31.f4 Kd6 32.e5+ fxe5+ 33.fxe5+ Kd7 34.Rc2 Rf8 35.Rc5 Rf2 36.Rxb5 Rxh2 37.a4 Kc6 38.b3 Rg2 39.Rxa5 Rxg3 40.Ra6+ Kb7 41.Rxe6 h5 42.b4 h4 43.Re7+ Kb6 44.Re6+ Kb7 45.Re8 Kc7 46.Rh8 g5 47.Rh7+ Kc6 48.b5+ Kb6 49.Rh6+ Kb7 50.a5 h3 51.Rh7+ Kc8 52.a6 Rg4+ 53.Kc5 Rh4 54.a7 1-0 Buhmann,R (2526)-Braun,P (2248)/Deizisau GER 2003/The Week in Chess 442] 15...cxd6 16.Qa5 Rcb8 17.Nbd2 Bd5 18.Rc2 Qd8 19.Qxd8+ Rxd8 20.Rac1 Nb6 21.Ne1 Rac8 22.Nd3 Rxc2 23.Rxc2 Rc8 24.Rxc8+ Nxc8 25.Nb4 Bxg2 26.Kxg2 a5 27.Nc6 a4 28.e4 Ne8 29.Kf3 Kf8 30.Ke3 Nc7 31.Kd3 Ke8 32.Kc3 Na6 33.Nb4 Nc7 34.Nf1 Kd7 35.Ne3 Ne7 36.g4 g5 37.Nd3 f6 38.f4 gxf4 39.Nxf4 e5 40.dxe5 fxe5 41.Nfd5 Ncxd5+ 42.exd5 Kc7 43.g5 Kb6

White has the advantage here because he can make a passed pawn on the kingside that is far away from the black king and will therefore detain the black knight. Black's passed pawn on e5 is easily contained. Black has a threat of Kb6-c5 and takes on d5 but Kramnik dealt with this as follows 44.b4! axb3 45.axb3 Ka5 [45...Kc5 46.b4+; 45...Ng6 46.Ng4 Nf4 47.Nf6 followed by h4 and if 47...Ne2+ 48.Kd3 Nf4+ 49.Ke4 Kc5 50.Nxh7 Nxd5 51.g6 Ne7 52.g7 Ng8 53.Kf5 and Nf6 winning] 46.h4 Ng6 47.h5 Nf4 48.g6 hxg6 49.h6 g5 50.h7 Ng6 51.Kd3 [Shirov resigned in view of 51.Kd3 Kb4 52.Ke4 Kxb3 53.Kf5 Nh8 54.Kf6 Kc3 55.Kg7 b4 56.Kxh8 b3 57.Kg7 b2 58.Nd1+ Kc2 59.Nxb2] 1-0