TWIC is 29. First issue 17th September 1994.
10th Tal Memorial 2016 (4)
Giri leads the Tal Memorial after beating Svidler in Round 4
Mark Crowther - Friday 30th September 2016
Anish Giri won his third game in a row to take the sole lead of the Tal Memorial with 3.5/4 after beating Peter Svidler. Svidler played an English inviting complications with 14. Qb3 Nc7 15. Qb6 which didn't turn out in his favour especially after missing the shot 17...Nxe2! Although Giri was a pawn up it was far from easy to convert but also a pretty miserable defensive task and 49.Kf3 seems to have been the decisive mistake.
Ian Nepomniachtchi missed a fleeting chance to reach 3.5 points with 16.Re1 Ng4 17.Qf3 as his opponent Levon Aronian pointed out after the game. Aronian was probably a little better but allowing the trade of rooks meant he had to find the accurate 36...b6 to secure the draw.
Boris Gelfand is obviously in bad form and he lost another game today, this time against Li Chao. 12...Nc2 was a novelty from Li giving up a pawn for dynamic play and after 19.Bb5?! Gelfand was already worse and just a few moves later he was forced to give up Queen and Pawn for Rook and Knight and went on to lose.
Vladimir Kramnik beat Viswanathan Anand in a Giuoco Piano, an opening his opponent had been using a lot himself. Kramnik broke through with an attack with all his pieces in the heart of his opponent's position and eventually picked up three pawns in consecutive moves to win the game.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov got a little too aggressive in his attempt to punish the struggling Evgeny Tomashevsky and was close to lost but in the end Tomashevsky couldn't make his Bishop and Knight vs Rook advantage count.
Round 4 standings: Giri 3.5pts/4 Nepomniachtchi 3pts, Li Chao 2.5pts, Anand, Kramnik, Aronian, Mamedyarov 2pts Svidler 1.5pts, Tomashevsky 1pt, Gelfand 0.5pts.
Round 5 pairings: Aronian-Kramnik, Giri-Nepomniachtchi, Mamedyarov-Svidler, Li-Tomashevsky, Anand-Gelfand
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