Says GM Sergey Shipov: “Black [Mamedyarov] conceded the center to White [Gelfand], but forgot to counterattack it. And died by suffocation.” This allowed Armenia’s Lev Aronian and Russia’s Sergey Karjakin to catch up with the Azeri, and so the three ended on top with 5.5 points. Aronian and Karjakin, however, had the better tie-break scores and won first prize. Mamedyarov finished third. Sharing fourth-sixth places were Russian champ Alexander Grischuk, America’s Hikaru Nakamura and China’s Wang Hao with 5 points. Former world champ Vladimir Kramnik of Russia ended in seventh place with 4.5. points;Gelfand, eighth, 3.5; Spain’s Alexei Shirov, ninth, 3; and Ukraine’s Paul Eljanov, dead last, 2.5. Four players did not lose a game: Aronian, Karjakin, Grischuk and Nakamura.
Held in honor of the Magician from Riga, the late former world champ Mikhail Nekhemievich Tal (1936-1992), the Nov. 5 to 14 tournament was a Category 21 event with an average ELO of 2757.
Game of the week. In the penultimate round, reports ChessBase, “Karjakin played an extremely inspired game against Kramnik, and not only scored his first win against the ex-world champion at tournament time controls, but did so spectacularly.” Annotations are from ChessBase.
White: S. Karjakin (2760)
Black: V. Kramnik (2791)
Petrov Defense
Tal Memorial, Moscow 2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Be3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nd7 9.0-0-0 Again this line, and again Kramnik joins Gelfand to seek an adequate plan for black. Although he drew against Nakamura, it was after landing himself in a heap of trouble, so he deviates from that line and instead tries 9…Ne5 10.h4 c6 11.c4 Be6 12.Ng5 Bf5 A theoretical novelty, but can this be good? Just one move before Black played Be6, and now Bf5? Aside from the risk that this may be wasting a much needed tempo, it also places the bishop directly in the line of fire of White’s kingside pawn phalanx. 12…Nxc4 13.Qd3 Bxg5 14.hxg5 g6 15.Bf4 Qb6 16.Qd4 Qxd4 17.Rxd4 d5 18.Bxc4 dxc4 19.Be5 f5 20.gxf6 Rae8 21.Rh6 c3 22.Rxh7 cxb2+ 23.Kxb2 Kxh7 24.Rh4+ Kg8 25.f7+ Kxf7 26.Rh7+ Kg8 27.Rh8+ Kf7 28.Rh7+ Kg8 29.Rh8+ 1/2-1/2 Gashimov,V (2734)-Gelfand,B (2741)/Astrakhan 2010/CB20_2010 13.Kb1 Re8 14.f3 h6 15.Be2! The exclamation is for courage and ambition. The move is not winning per se, at least no win presents itself, but nor is it losing by any means. 15…d5 The obvious question is what happens if black takes. It looks risky, but still, one should never let looks be the sole deciding factor. 15…hxg5 16.hxg5 Qd7 is worse, and after (16…Qc8 is Black’s best option, which would lead to an equal game after 17.g4 Bg6 18.Rdg1 (18.Bd4 c5) 18…Qe6 19.f4 Be4 20.Rh3 Bxg5 21.fxg5 c5) 17.g4 Bg6 18.Bd4! would be in trouble. Aside from placing the bishop on a better diagonal, the immediate threat is Bxe5, after which White would get a strong attack with f4. 16.g4 Bg6?! 17.f4! dxc4 18.Qc3 Nd3. Black has no choice since his queen is also under attack. 19.f5! Outstanding! Karjakin is extremely inspired today. In any case, the d3 knight is going nowhere. 19…Bxg5 20.fxg6 Rxe321.gxf7+? An inaccuracy that might have let Kramnik survive. 21.Qxc4! was best. 21…Bxh4 22.Bxd3 Qe7 23.Bf5 and Black is in trouble. 21…Kf8 22.Qxc4 Rxe2? 22…Bxh4! 23.Bxd3 Bf6 23.hxg5 Qxg5? 23…b5 was best, keeping the queen covering d3 still. 24.Qb3 Qd5 25.Qxd5 cxd5 26.Rxd3 Kxf7 27.gxh6 gxh6 28.Rxd5 24.Qxd3+- Qe3 25.Qh7 Qe4 26.Qg8+ Ke7 27.Qxg7 Qxc2+ 28.Ka1 Rf8 29.Rhf1 Rd2 30.Rfe1+ Re2 31.Qc3 Kxf7 32.Qf3+ and White wins a rook, so… 1-0
Puzzler.
White: Qa8, Nd5, Bg5, Kh7
Black: Ke5
White to play and mate in three.
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