Tal Memorial 2007. Moscow - Round 4 by Malcolm Pein

Round 4

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. 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 placings remained unchanged after five draws in the fourth round of the Tal Memorial at Moscow. The players of the black pieces all needed to defend actively to neutralise the advantage of the first move but all managed to do so. Vasily Ivanchuk even managed to secure a slight advantage against Alexey Shirov but could make no progress in the endgame.

Peter Leko and Gata Kamsky sacrificed pawns against Evgeny Alekseev and Vladimir Kramnik and did not seem to have full compensation when the draws were agreed so it was slightly disappointing not to see these games continue.

Mamedyarov,S (2752) - Ivanchuk,V (2787) [D43]
Tal Mem Moscow RUS (3), 12.11.2007

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 The solid Moscow Variation 7.e3 Nd7 8.Bd3 dxc4 9.Bxc4 g6 10.0-0 Bg7 Black has the two bishops and hopes to open the game for them with c6-c5 or e6-e5 later. However White has the centre and chances to attack or push d4-d5 in response 11.Qc2 0-0 12.Bb3 Qe7 13.Ne4 e5 14.Nc3! Intending Qxg6 and supporting a later d4-d5 14...a5 [14...Kh8 15.Rad1 b6 (15...f5 16.d5 e4 17.Nd4 Ne5 18.Nce2 Bd7 19.Nf4 Rfc8 20.d6 Qf6 21.Nde6 Rab8 22.Qc5 Kh7 23.Qxa7 b6 24.Nxg7 Qxg7 25.Be6 Rd8 26.Bxd7 Qxd7 27.Qa3 g5 28.Qc3 Re8 29.Nh5 Kg6 30.Ng3 Re6 31.f3 exf3 32.gxf3 Rf8 33.Qd4 c5 34.Qd5 f4 35.Qe4+ Kg7 36.exf4 Ng6 37.Nh5+ Kh8 38.Qd5 gxf4 39.Rfe1 Rxe1+ 40.Rxe1 Rf5 41.Qe6 1-0 Makarov,M (2518)-Lastin,A (2583)/Krasnoyarsk RUS 2007/The Week in Chess 670) 16.d5 gave Kramnik the edge in a game against Jeroen Piket from] 15.a3 [15.Qxg6 a4 16.Nxa4 Rxa4] 15...Kh7 16.Rfe1 In a similar position from the World Championship tournament at Mexico City Levon Aronian tried to prevent f7-f5 by playing g2-g4 against Boris Gelfand and came to a grisly end 16...b6 17.Rad1 Bb7 18.d5 White is fully mobilised so its time for action 18...Rac8 [18...cxd5 19.Bxd5 Nc5 20.e4 is pleasant for White because the bishop on g7 is bottled up and he try to get a knight to d5] 19.d6 Qe8 20.h4 f5 [20...c5 21.Bd5 Bxd5 22.Rxd5] 21.e4! f4 22.Na4 Quite annoying . Black's continuation is far from obvious here as any pawn move creates a weakness and the Nd7 is now tied to the defence of b6. 22...Bf6 23.g3 Bd8 To free the knight but weakening the king a little 24.Kg2 Rf6 25.g4 Ba6 26.g5 Rf8 27.gxh6 Kxh6 28.Rg1 c5 29.Bd5 b5 30.Nc3 b4 31.Ne2 Nb6 [31...Rf6 32.Kh2 c4 33.axb4 axb4 34.Qa4 Rxd6 35.Bf7! wins] 32.Kh2 Rh8 33.Bf7!

33...Qxf7 34.Nxe5 Qe8 35.Nxg6 Nd7 36.Nexf4 Black's pieces are too far from his king and the d6 pawn causes a fatal obstruction 36...Ne5 37.d7 Nxd7 38.e5 Qxe5 Rd6 is one threat [38...Rc6 39.Qf5 followed by Qh5+] 39.Nxe5 1-0

Carlsen,M (2714) - Mamedyarov,S (2752) [B09]
Tal Mem Moscow RUS (4), 13.11.2007

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 c5 6.Bb5+ Bd7 7.Bxd7+ Nbxd7 8.e5 Nh5 9.exd6 0-0 10.0-0 exd6 11.Be3 Re8 12.Qd2 Nhf6 [12...Nb6 13.b3 Qd7 14.Rad1 Qe6 15.Rfe1 c4 16.d5 Qf5 17.Nb5 Qd7 18.a4 cxb3 19.cxb3 Nf6 20.Bxb6 axb6 1/2-1/2 Aung Aung (2524)-Theerapabpaisit,W (2271)/Bangkok THA 2004/ The Week in Chess 504] 13.Kh1 Nb6 14.b3 Nbd5 15.Nxd5 Nxd5 16.Bg1 Nf6 17.Rae1 Qd7 18.dxc5 dxc5 19.Qxd7 Nxd7 20.Rxe8+ Rxe8 21.Rd1 Re7 22.Bf2 b6

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