Tal Round 7: Peace in Moscow

by Alejandro Ramirez
10/4/2016 As the title suggests, there were five draws today in Moscow after we had been spoiled with hard-fought,
Close x violent rounds. Several of
the games saw little to no chances for either side to win, or even create real threats. Nepomniachtchi keeps his half point lead over Giri, who had
amazing news yesterday! On the rest day his son Daniel was born! Congratulations to him and Sopiko.

O p e n i n g

E n c y c l o p e d i a

2 0 1 6

In chess, braving the gap often leads to disaster after a few moves. We should be able to avoid things going so far. The
ChessBase Opening Encyclopaedia offers you an effective remedy against all sorts of semi-digested knowledge and a means
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X Jubilee Tal Memorial is taking place from 25 September to 6 October 2016 in the Moscow Museum of Russian Impressionism. The tournament
will be a continuation of the program "Chess in Museums", which is being implemented by the Russian Chess Federation together with the
Charitable Foundation of Elena and Gennady Timchenko. The General Partner of the Russian Chess Federation for the X Tal Memorial is the state
company "Russian Highways" ("Avtodor").
The prize fund for the event is 200 thousand USD.
The tournament is a round-robin over nine rounds played at 100 minutes for 40 moves plus 50 minutes for 20 moves and 15 minutes until the end
of the game with 30 seconds for each move starting from the first. The chief arbiter is International Arbiter Anatoly Bykhovsky.

Round Seven
Photos by Eteri Kublashvili
Round 7 - Oct. 4 - 14h CET
1 4 2755 GM Giri Anish
2 5

- GM Kramnik Vladimir

2795

- GM Nepomniachtchi Ian

2740

4 7 2776 GM Anand Viswanathan

- GM Svidler Peter

2745

- GM Tomashevsky Evgeny 2731

2743 GM

Mamedyarov Shakhriyar - GM Aronian Levon

2808 10

3 6 2746 GM Li Chao B

5 8

2761 GM

Gelfand Boris

Giri, Anish - Kramnik, Vladimir

Giri's dxc5 idea against what Kramnik used vs. Nakamura in the Olympiad wasn't particularly successful. The isolated pawn that Kramnik got was
not a huge cause of concern and the Russian player held the draw.

Kramnik's new line seems to keep yielding results

Yesterday marked a big milestone in Anish Giri's life: Daniel Giri was born! Congratulations to Anish and Sopiko.
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar - Aronian, Levon
This game's structure was almost a carbon copy of the Giri-Kramnik: an isolated d-pawn for Black with White having a lightsquared bishop against
a knight. Aronian traded the d-pawn rather quickly in this game, though, and obtained near full equality.

No problems in the IQP

Li Chao - Nepomniachtchi, Ian
Cool prep by Nepomniachtchi, using an MVL idea that was improved on by Chirila earlier this year. At the end the quick liquidation of many pieces
led to a completely drawn rook endgame.

Li Chao is very proficient in the black side of the Grunfeld...

But so is Nepo!
Anand, Viswanathan - Svidler, Peter
Perhaps the liveliest of today's games.

[Event "10th Tal Mem 2016"] [Site "Moscow RUS"] [Date "2016.10.04"] [Round "7.4"] [White "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C88"] [WhiteElo "2776"] [BlackElo "2745"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "88"] [EventDate
"2016.09.26"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4 b4 9. d3 d6 10. a5 Be6 11. Nbd2 (11. Bxe6 {was
Topalov's twist against Svidler at the Sinquefield Cup, but 11.Nbd2 remains by far as the main move.}) 11... Bxb3 {Svidler chooses a move that is
not as common as 11...Qc8 or 11...Rb8, but certailny deserves attention.} 12. Nxb3 Re8 13. h3 h6 14. Nh4 $5 {an interesting juncture. White is
daring Black to capture on e4.} (14. d4 { was Anand-Adams from 2006.}) 14... Bf8 (14... Nxe4 15. Nf5 (15. Rxe4 Bxh4 16. Rc4 {regains a pawn
but surely isn't what White was intending.} Nd4 17. Nxd4 exd4 18. Rxb4 Bxf2+ $5 19. Kxf2 Qh4+ 20. g3 Qxh3 21. Qf3 $1 $11) 15... Ng5 ( 15...
Nf6 16. Qf3 Qd7 {how else to defend the knight?} (16... Nd4 17. Nxe7+ Rxe7 18. Nxd4 exd4 19. Rxe7 Qxe7 20. Qxa8+ $18) (16... Na7 17. Bxh6
$18) 17. Bxh6 Bf8 18. Bg5 {with pressure on the kingside, even though White's advantage isn't decisive my any means.}) 16. Qg4 $5 {And Black
has to be very careful. Again it is possible that the attack is not as serious as it looks, but Black must be incredibly accurate and at best he
reaches an equal position.}) 15. Nf5 Ne7 16. Ne3 Qd7 17. Ng4 Nh7 (17... Nxg4 18. hxg4 {is slightly better for White, who can break on g5 when
he wants to.}) 18. d4 (18. Nd2 $5 {and maneuvering the knight back ot the kingside was also worthy of attention.} f5 $5) 18... exd4 19. Nxd4 c5
20. Ne2 $1 {The best square for hte knight, as it threatens to reroute to f4 and control d5.} h5 21. Ne3 Nf6 22. Ng3 (22. f3 $5) 22... h4 $1 23.
Nh5 Nxh5 24. Qxh5 Qe6 $1 25. Qxh4 Ng6 26. Qg4 Qxe4 27. Qxe4 Rxe4 { A nice defense so far by Svidler, really avoiding any major problems.
The endgame is close to equal, but still a bit more pleasant for White due to the passive position of the bishop on f8 and how easily attackable d5
and d6 are.} 28. Rd1 Rae8 29. Kf1 Be7 30. g3 Ne5 31. Nf5 Rc4 $6 32. c3 $6 (32. Rxd6 $1 { was missed by the players.} Rxc2 33. Rxa6 {and
now} Nc4 34. b3 $1 Bf6 35. Rxf6 Nxa5 36. Bh6 $3 (36. Nxg7 Kxg7 37. Rf3 $14) 36... gxf6 37. Rxa5 {is a much better endgame for White, but
still needs accuracy after} c4) (32. Nxe7+ Rxe7 33. Rxd6 Rxc2 34. Rxa6 Nc4 {with sufficient counterplay.}) 32... bxc3 33. bxc3 Rxc3 34. Nxd6
Bxd6 35. Rxd6 Nc4 36. Rxa6 Rc2 {again, Black simply has too much counterplay in this line.} 37. Rc6 Ree2 38. Be3 Nxe3+ 39. fxe3 Rh2 40. Kg1
Rcg2+ 41. Kf1 Rxg3 42. a6 Rxe3 43. Kg1 Rexh3 44. Ra4 Rh1+ {Black has to force the draw or the a-pawn will just win.} 1/2-1/2

There were some chances for Anand today, but he needed to be extremely precise
Gelfand, Boris - Tomashevsky, Evgeny
The players found a way to repeat in a closed Catalan that had no particular interest.

The Israeli player gets his first half point in the last six rounds, doubling his score!

Replay today's games

Select games from the list below the board

Standings after Round Seven

Schedule and pairings

Round 1 - Sept. 26 - 14h CET
Bo. No.

Rtg

Name

Result

Svidler Peter

Name

Rtg

No.

GM Kramnik Vladimir

2808

10

GM Tomashevsky Evgeny

2731

2745 GM

2740 GM Nepomniachtchi Ian

2795 GM Aronian Levon

GM Gelfand Boris

2743

2755 GM

GM Anand Viswanathan

2776

2761 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar

GM Li Chao B

2746

2746

1-0

Giri Anish

Round 2 - Sept. 27 - 14h CET

1

10

2808 GM Kramnik Vladimir

GM Li Chao B

2776 GM Anand Viswanathan

1-0

GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2761

2743 GM Gelfand Boris

0-1

GM Giri Anish

2755

2731 GM Tomashevsky Evgeny

GM Aronian Levon

2795

2745 GM Svidler Peter

GM Nepomniachtchi Ian

2740

GM Kramnik Vladimir

2808

10

GM Svidler Peter

2745

1-0

GM Tomashevsky Evgeny

2731

1-0

GM Gelfand Boris

2743

GM Anand Viswanathan

2776

Rest day
Round 3 - Sept. 29 - 14h CET
1

2740 GM Nepomniachtchi Ian

2795 GM Aronian Levon

2755 GM Giri Anish

2761 GM

2746 GM Li Chao B

1-0
-

Mamedyarov Shakhriyar

Round 4 - Sept. 30 - 14h CET

1

10

2808 GM Kramnik Vladimir

1-0

GM Anand Viswanathan

2776

2743 GM Gelfand Boris

0-1

GM Li Chao B

2746

2731 GM Tomashevsky Evgeny

GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2761

2745 GM Svidler Peter

GM Giri Anish

2755

2740 GM Nepomniachtchi Ian

GM Aronian Levon

2795

-
0-1
-

Round 5 - Oct. 1 - 14h CET

1

2795 GM Aronian Levon

GM Kramnik Vladimir

2808

10

2755 GM Giri Anish

GM Nepomniachtchi Ian

2740

2761 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar

GM Svidler Peter

2745

2746 GM Li Chao B

GM Tomashevsky Evgeny

2731

2776 GM Anand Viswanathan

GM Gelfand Boris

2743

GM Gelfand Boris

2743

1-0

Round 6 - Oct. 2 - 14h CET

1

10

2808 GM Kramnik Vladimir

2731 GM

GM Anand Viswanathan

2776

2745 GM Svidler Peter

1-0

GM Li Chao B

2746

2740 GM Nepomniachtchi Ian

1-0

GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2761

2795 GM

1-0

GM Giri Anish

2755

1-0

Tomashevsky Evgeny

Aronian Levon

Rest day
Round 7 - Oct. 4 - 14h CET
1

2755 GM

GM Kramnik Vladimir

2808

10

2761 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar

Giri Anish

GM Aronian Levon

2795

2746 GM Li Chao B

GM Nepomniachtchi Ian

2740

2776 GM Anand Viswanathan

GM Svidler Peter

2745

2743 GM Gelfand Boris

GM Tomashevsky Evgeny

2731

Round 8 - Oct. 5 - 14h CET

1

10

2808 GM Kramnik Vladimir

GM Tomashevsky Evgeny

2731

2745 GM Svidler Peter

GM Gelfand Boris

2743

2740 GM Nepomniachtchi Ian

GM Anand Viswanathan

2776

2795 GM Aronian Levon

GM Li Chao B

2746

2755 GM Giri Anish

GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2761

Round 9 - Oct 6 - 12h CET

1

2761 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar

GM Kramnik Vladimir

2808

10

2746 GM

GM Giri Anish

2755

2776 GM Anand Viswanathan

GM Aronian Levon

2795

2743 GM Gelfand Boris

GM Nepomniachtchi Ian

2740

2731 GM

GM Svidler Peter

2745

Li Chao B

Tomashevsky Evgeny

Links
Official tournament site
All blitz games in PGN
All games in PGN
The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess serverPlaychess.com. If you
are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also
use ChessBase 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

Alejandro Ramirez
Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004
and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is
author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.
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Topics
Tal Memorial

See also

Tal Round 6: White bloodbath

10/2/2016 What an exciting and powerful round we had in Moscow! Four white wins, which blast the tournament
wide open! The most important ones for the top standings were Aronian's win against Giri, finishing with a flourish, and
Nepo's positional domination against Mamedyarov: the Russian now regains sole lead. Svidler blew Li Chao off the
board while Kramnik beat Gelfand, who suffered his fifth loss in a row. [Discuss]

Tal Round 4: Giri on fire, two other wins

9/30/2016 With his third straight victory it is Anish Giri that is stealing the show in Moscow. He leads with 3.5/4, half
a point ahead of Ian Nepomniachtchi who drew against Levon Aronian. Two other games were decisive: Vladimir
Kramnik returns to 50% by defeating Vishy Anand, while Li Chao came with strong preparation and beat a luckless
Gelfand with the black pieces. Report of round four. [Discuss]

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KrushonIrina 10/5/2016 05:31
Why is Giri playing chess when he should be at his wife's side?

sidbis 10/5/2016 05:42

somebody has to pay the milk!!! LOL

Pilgrim2011 10/5/2016 11:14

Maybe sometime in future Giri will regret his absence in the childbirth. Such high level chessplayer as him has no problems to earn
money. Only his watch has higher value than all diapers needed for a baby for two years.
He is young, strong and ambitious and maybe a bit of selfish.

sidbis 10/6/2016 12:14

Guys, please do not judge him! This is not necessary!

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