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Alexander Morozevich draw Magnus Carlsen

Alexander Morozevich tried a rare sideline in the Nimzo-Indian Classical with 11.Rc1 which offers the a-pawn for a lot of compensation against Magnus Carlsen. This move has been seen before but not many times and Carlsen immediately went wrong. Either he can capture on a2 straight away or probably he doesn't do it at all. Both players agreed his 11...Nd7? was a bad idea and it was one mentioned as such in the very popular club player's manual The Kaufman Repertoire for Black and White (US). The point is 12.Nge2 Qxa2 13.Kd1! is close to winning for white. (Draw Priborsky-Gordon Liverpool 2008 but Priborsky was rated well below Stephen Gordon). Carlsen quickly realised his mistake and went into immediate defensive mode just trying not to be lost straight away. He certainly put up strong resistance in a pretty disgusting looking position. The players didn't come up with an absolutely concrete win, and Carlsen didn't think it was his place to make that judgement.

Question: Have you considered your position to be completely lost or just to be something a bit down.

Carlsen: It doesn't make any sense for me to evaluate whether my position is lost or not you know. I just have to fight and find my best chances. Yes I knew my position was difficult but whether it was lost or not was not a question that was on my mind.

The alternative 24.Be2 suggested by Morozevich looks like a probable improvement because Carlsen started to get a lot of counterplay as his opponent got into time trouble. It seems Morozevich was counting on 37.Kc5 but realised it failed to 37...Bxf3 when he has to be careful, Carlsen didn't spot this but also seemed to have things under control with 37...Rg5. Morozevich very short of time lost all remaining winning chances and even put himself in slight danger with 40...Rxc4 shedding a pawn back. Carlsen tried for a bit after first time control but a draw was always the right result then.

I do wonder what Magnus Carlsen has being doing these last 5 months he has had off. An ambitious player would have been working on his openings and theoretical skills (there is no arguing about the quality Carlsen's practical play) but there is precious sign of that so far.

Morozevich,Alexander - Carlsen,Magnus [E35]
7th Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (2.1), 09.06.2012

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 c5 8.dxc5 g5 9.Bg3 Ne4 10.e3 Qa5 11.Rc1

"Rc1 is a rare but promising gambit" according to p235 of the The Kaufman Repertoire for Black and White."

11...Nd7?

"I couldn't really remember what to do but 11...Nd7 is probably just an awful move." - Carlsen. "Actually 11..Nd7 is just a blunder." - Morozevich.

[11...Bf5 12.Bxb8 (12.Bd3 Nd7 (12...Nc6) 13.f3 Nxg3 14.hxg3 Bxd3 15.Qxd3 0-0-0 16.a3 Bxc5 17.Nge2 Kb8 18.b4 Qxa3 19.bxc5 Nxc5 20.Qc2 Qa6 21.0-0 Rhe8 22.Nd4 Rxe3 23.Nd1 1-0 Albadri,A (2221)-Ernst,M (2177)/Vienna 2011.) 12...Rxb8 13.Bd3 was about equal but 1-0 Gupta,A (2644)-Yu,Y (2626)/Zaozhuang 2012.; 11...Qxa2 was possible here draw Finegold,B (2563)-Perelshteyn,E (2522)/Chicago 2006.; 11...Nc6 12.Bd3 (12.a3) 12...Bxc3+ (12...Nxg3 13.hxg3 d4 14.exd4 Nxd4 15.Qd2 Be6 16.a3 Bxc5 17.b4 Qxa3 18.bxc5 0-0-0 19.Nb1 Qa4 20.Qc3 Rhe8 21.Ne2 Nxe2 22.Bxe2 Bc4 23.0-0 Bxe2 24.Rfe1 Bb5 25.Rxe8 Bxe8 26.Na3 Qd4 27.Qe1 Kb8 28.Qe7 Bc6 29.Nc4 Re8 30.Qxf7 Qxc5 31.Rb1 Rf8 32.Qg7 Qxf2+ 33.Kh2 Qxg2# 0-1 Tozer,R (2380)-Lalic,S (2405)/London 1997/CBM 058 ext) 13.bxc3 Nxc5 eventual draw Lomineishvili,M (2437)-Zaiatz,E (2364)/St Petersburg 2009.]

12.Nge2

[12.f3 1/2-1/2 Dautov,R (2630)-Khenkin,I (2579)/Germany 2002/EXT 2003]

12...Ndxc5

[12...Qxa2 was Carlsen's initial intention missing: 13.Kd1! which has been seen before in Priborsky-Gordon Liverpool 2008 but the game was agreed drawn here. The big rating difference was probably a factor with black being much the better player. This is close to winning for white.]

13.a3 Bxc3+ 14.Nxc3

14.Nxc3 Whites advantage is clear whatever black plays - Kaufman.

14...Nxc3 15.Qxc3 Qxc3+ 16.Rxc3 Ne4 17.Rc7

"I couldn't see anything better than to try not to lose immediately. Everywhere white has many attractive options." - Carlsen. "That's the big problem!" - Morozevich.

17...Nxg3 18.hxg3 Rb8 19.Bb5+

[19.f4 "was very interesting I thought." - Carlsen. 19...Be6 (19...gxf4 20.gxf4 Be6 "OK looks ugly. But this is not something immediate." - Morozevich.) 20.fxg5 Kd8 "I wanted to play like this." - Carlsen. 21.Rc5 h5]

19...Kf8 20.Kd2

[20.f4]

20...Kg7 21.Rhc1 Rd8 22.Re7 Kf6 23.Rcc7 Rf8

24.b4

[24.Be2 Morozevich's post game suggestion. 24...g4 But this does remove the counterplay in the game. (24...a5 25.Bh5 (25.Bf3 Be6 26.Rxb7 Rfe8 27.b4) 25...Bf5) 25.b4 "This is totally lost I think." - Morozevich. 25...a5]

24...a6 25.Bd3 a5

[25...b6 "OK still looking dubious but I didn't see something concrete here." - Morozevich 26.Ra7 a5 27.bxa5 bxa5 28.Rec7 "At least something, no?" - Morozevich. 28...h5 29.Rxa5 Be6 "OK it's not completely lost anyway." - Carlsen.]

26.bxa5 Ra8 27.Bb5 Rxa5 28.a4 Ra8 29.Kc3 h5 30.Kb4!?

Both players agreed after the game this might not be best but it really isn't that clear. "Now I think I have very good drawing chances." - Carlsen.

[30.Kd4 "was the correct move of course." Morozevich. 30...h4 31.Re8 Rxe8 32.Bxe8 "The difference of course is that your king now can't move." - Morozevich. 32...Be6 33.Bb5 b6 34.Rb7 Rc8 35.Rxb6 Rc2 36.a5 Rxf2 37.a6 Ra2 "This is not so easy." - Morozevich.]

30...h4 31.Re8 Rxe8 32.Bxe8 Be6 33.Bb5 d4 34.gxh4 gxh4 35.exd4 Bd5 36.f3 Rg8

Black has suddenly activated all his pieces but he is two pawns down for the moment.

37.Rc2

"37.Rc2 is obviously not a very happy move." - Morozevich.

[37.Kc5 "There was a problem, 37.Kc5 wasn't working." - Morozevich talking about a tactical idea that came as a surprise to Carlsen. 37...Bxf3!! (37...Rg5 Carlsen's planned move. 38.Kd6 Morozevich. 38...Be6 39.Rc2 Rd5+ 40.Kc7 Rxd4 41.Kxb7 Bb3 42.Rc6+ Kg5 "OK this is interesting but Bf3 was my main concern." - Morozevich.) 38.gxf3 h3 "This is something strange but OK." - Morozevich.]

37...Ke7 38.a5 Kd6 39.Bc4

Morozevich was thinking right down to the last few seconds each move here (there was a 30 second increment)

[39.Bd3 Ian Rogers suggestion. ]

39...Bxc4 40.Rxc4

[40.Kxc4 "The result will be the same but black will be suffering probably." - Morozevich. 40...Rc8+ (40...Rg5 was Carlsen's suggestion. 41.Rb2 Rxa5 42.Rb6+ Kc7 43.Rf6 Rg5 44.Rxf7+ Kd6 with a probable draw too.) 41.Kb3 Rxc2 42.Kxc2 Kc6 43.Kd3 Kb5 44.Ke4 Kxa5 45.Kd5! b5 46.Kc5 b4 47.d5 b3 48.d6 b2 49.d7 Ka4 and black should hold.]

40...Rxg2 41.Rc5

There shouldn't be any winning chances for black here according to Carlsen.

41...h3

[41...Rb2+ 42.Kc3 Rf2 43.Rf5 Ke6 44.Re5+ Kf6 45.Rb5 white has no problems.]

42.Rh5 h2 43.Kc4 Rc2+ 44.Kd3 Ra2 45.Ke4 f5+ 46.Kf4 Kd5 47.Rxf5+ Kxd4 48.Rh5 Rg2 49.Rh7 Kd3 50.Ke5 Ke2 51.f4 Kf1 52.f5 Ra2 53.f6 Rxa5+ 54.Ke6 Ra6+ 55.Ke7 Rxf6 56.Kxf6 Kg1 57.Ke5 h1Q 58.Rxh1+ Kxh1 59.Kd4 1/2-1/2

Vladimir Kramnik beat Alexander Grischuk

There is very little that is pragmatic about the play of Alexander Grischuk. Whilst a good time trouble player it was almost certainly his clock handling that cost him a chance to play for the World Chess Championship. Now today he played the King's Indian against a man who has a supreme record against the opening. Kramnik played a big novelty with 13.Bg2 which he had prepared for the Candidates tournament in Kazan. Whilst Grischuk soldiered away getting way behind on the clock Kramnik played what one can presume was some very deep analysis that may have taken him almost to the end of the game. 22...Rb6? was an error and after a further mistake with 28...h5? Grischuk resigned on the following move.

Kramnik,Vladimir - Grischuk,Alexander [E97]
7th Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (2.2), 09.06.2012

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.d4 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 Nh5 10.g3 f5 11.Ng5 Nf6 12.Bf3 c6 13.Bg2

Kramnik prepared this for the Candidates in Kazan where he played Teimour Radjabov who decided not to play the King's Indian. Then he forgot his lines when he played Giri but then made sure he remembered for this game.

[13.Ba3 cxd5 14.exd5 e4 15.Be2 Ne8 16.Rc1 h6 17.Ne6 Bxe6 18.dxe6 Nc7 19.b5 Be5 20.Qb3 Kg7 21.Rfd1 Nxe6 22.c5 Nd4 23.Rxd4 Bxd4 24.cxd6 Ng8 25.Nd5 Kh8 26.Rc7 Be5 27.Bb2 Qxd6 28.Rxb7 g5 29.b6 a5 30.Bh5 Rab8 31.Ra7 Bxb2 32.Qxb2+ Nf6 33.Bf7 Kg7 34.Rd7 Qc6 35.Be6+ 1-0 Kramnik,V (2791)-Giri,A (2722)/Hoogeveen NED 2011/The Week in Chess 884]

13...h6 14.Ne6 Bxe6 15.dxe6 Nxe4 16.Nxe4 fxe4 17.b5 Rf6 18.Bxe4 Rxe6 19.Qa4 d5 20.Rd1 Kh7 21.cxd5 cxd5 22.Qb3

All the still looks like Kramnik preparation.

22...Rb6?

There are a number of moves to continue at a disadvantage here. Rf6, Rc8 or Qc8 for instance, it is hard to defend a worse position in terrible time trouble.

23.a4 a6 24.Ba3 axb5 25.Bxe7 Qxe7 26.Rxd5 b4 27.a5! Qf7 28.h4 h5?

Black is lost but now he can resign.

29.Qd1! 1-0

Luke McShane 0-1 Teimour Radjabov

Not being a full time player Luke McShane certainly has to work hard at the board in events like these. He also makes time trouble work for him somehow. Today both he and Radjabov used acres of time in a difficult amorphous position with lots of possibilities on each move. Probably McShane should have take the opportunity to simplify at one of a couple of stages coming up to the first time control because on move 40 he was the one facing all the difficulties and 40.Kh2 was one that lost directly to an attack. McShane actually thought he was fine and only came to the realisation that he was lost after a lengthy think following the time control. Radjabov moved into a lead alone on 2/2 and McShane was also alone on 0/2.

McShane,Luke J - Radjabov,Teimour [B30]
7th Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (2.4), 09.06.2012

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.Bxc6 bxc6 5.b3 d6 6.e5 dxe5 7.Nxe5 Qd5 8.Nf3

[8.Nc4]

8...Qe4+ 9.Kf1 Qf5

[9...Nf6 10.d3 Ba6 11.Qe2 Qd5 12.Nc3 Qd8 13.Ne4 Be7 14.Bb2 Qc7 15.Re1 Rd8 16.Nfg5 Nxe4 17.Nxe4 0-0 18.h4 f6 19.Qe3 Qa5 20.Bc3 Qb6 21.h5 e5 22.Nd2 Bd6 23.h6 g5 24.Ne4 c4 25.bxc4 Qxe3 26.Rxe3 Be7 27.g3 g4 28.f3 gxf3 29.g4 Bc8 30.Rxf3 Bxg4 31.Rg1 f5 32.Bxe5 Kf7 33.Rxg4 Ke6 34.Ng5+ Bxg5 35.Rxg5 Kxe5 36.Rg7 Kd4 37.Rxh7 Kc3 38.Rxa7 Kxc2 39.h7 c5 40.Kf2 Rxd3 41.Rxd3 Kxd3 42.Rg7 Rh8 43.Kf3 Kxc4 44.Kf4 Kb4 45.Kxf5 Ka3 46.Kg6 1-0 Caruana,F (2409)-Vazquez Igarza,R (2513)/Madrid 2006.]

10.Nc3 Nf6 11.d3 Be7 12.Qe2 Nd5 13.Bd2 Nb4 14.Be1 0-0 15.Ne4 f6 16.h3 e5 17.Kg1 Rb8 18.Kh2 Qg6 19.Ng3 Qf7

"It was a very complicated middle-game, I was struggling with a number of questions for example whether to play a5, letting white manoever the knight to c4 or not, At every move there were plenty of alternatives for both sides." - Radjabov.

20.Bc3 Bd7 21.Rhe1 Rfe8 22.Qd2 Bf8 23.Ng1

Aronian questioned whether this was a good idea.

23...Rbd8 24.Bb2 Nd5 25.Kh1 Be6 26.a3 Qc7 27.Qd1 Nf4 28.N3e2 g5

"Maybe I didn't play g5 at the right moment." - Radjabov.

29.Nxf4 gxf4

Radjabov thought that black at worst could hold the ending with his two bishops.

30.Qh5 Qg7 31.Ne2 Be7

[31...Bf7 "maybe" - Radjabov.]

32.Nc3

[32.Nxf4 was an interesting suggestion seen by both players. McShane thought it equal. Give how the game turned out he probably should have gone for it. It shows his ambition for his games at least. 32...Bf7 33.Qf5 exf4 34.Rxe7 Rxe7 35.Bxf6 does indeed seem about equal.]

32...Kh8 33.Rg1 Qg6 34.Qf3

[34.Qxg6]

34...Qh6 35.g4 Rg8 36.Ne4 Rg6 37.Rg2 Rdg8 38.Rag1 Qg7 39.a4 Rh6 40.Kh2?

This is a really unfortunate choice that loses by force.

[40.Nc3 but black's position looks threatening.]

40...Rh4!

Exactly so. Radjabov too only had seconds left here.

41.Kh1

"I guess that the thing that I'm surprised about is that I seem to be completely lost after move 40.... I had the impression it was rather unclear but after move 40 I thought for half an hour and I just thought I was hopelessly lost." - Luke McShane.

41...h5 42.Rh2

[42.g5 was the only move to continue according to Radjabov. 42...Rxh3+ (42...Bxh3 43.Rh2 Bg4 44.Rxg4 Rxh2+ 45.Kxh2 hxg4 46.Qxg4 with play for white.; 42...fxg5 43.Nxg5 Bxg5 44.Rxg5 Qxg5 45.Rxg5 Rxg5 is completely winning for black.) 43.Qxh3 Bxh3 44.Rh2 "and it looks like black is winning but it still needs some exact moves." - Radjabov. 44...fxg5 45.Rxh3 Qf7 and black should win.]

42...hxg4 43.Qd1 Qh7 44.Rgg2 Rg6 45.Qg1 Rgh6

It is obviously hopeless for white.

46.hxg4 Bxg4 47.Nd2 f3

Finishes things off.

48.Rxh4 fxg2+ 0-1

Fabiano Caruana draw against Hikaru Nakamura

Fabiano Caruana hung on to draw against Hikaru Nakamura in 7 hours and 107 moves. Nakamura claimed on twitter he has "almost certainly missed a win today". After equalising at some point in the middle-game Nakamura was most certainly pressing for a long time and causing his opponent a lot of difficulties but I'm not in a position to say if he missed a win as this game rather got lost in the shuffle and not surprisingly given its length didn't have a press conference.

Caruana,Fabiano - Nakamura,Hikaru [D22]
7th Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (2.5), 09.06.2012

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 a6 4.a4 Nf6 5.e3 e6 6.Bxc4 b6 7.0-0 Bb7 8.Qe2 Nbd7 9.Rd1 Bb4 10.Bd2 Bd6 11.Nc3 c5 12.e4 cxd4 13.Nxd4 Qb8 14.g3 0-0 15.f3 Ne5 16.Bb3 Bc5 17.Be3 Qc7 18.Rd2 h6 19.Rad1 Rad8 20.Bf2 g5 21.h3 Ng6 22.Bc4 Ne5 23.Kg2 Qc8 24.Bb3 Kh8 25.Nc2 Rxd2 26.Qxd2 Bxf2 27.Kxf2 Qc5+ 28.Qd4 Rb8 29.Ne3 Kg7 30.Nc4 Qxd4+ 31.Rxd4 Nc6 32.Rd2 Ba8 33.Nd6 Kf8 34.Bc4 Nb4 35.Na2 Nxa2 36.Bxa2 Rd8 37.e5 Nd7 38.f4 gxf4 39.gxf4 a5 40.Rd4 Ke7 41.Bb1 f6 42.Nc4 Bd5 43.exf6+ Nxf6 44.Bd3 Nd7 45.Be2 Rf8 46.Bf3 Bxc4 47.Rxc4 Nc5 48.Ke3 Rd8 49.b4 axb4 50.Rxb4 Rd3+ 51.Ke2 Ra3 52.Rxb6 Rxa4 53.f5 Ra2+ 54.Ke3 Ra3+ 55.Ke2 exf5 56.Rxh6 Ne6 57.Rh4 Kd6 58.Kf2 Ke5 59.Rc4 Nd4 60.Bg2 Ra2+ 61.Kf1 Rd2 62.Rc3 Kf4 63.Ra3 Kg5 64.Rg3+ Kh4 65.Rg8 Nc2 66.Kg1 Ne1 67.Rg7 Rb2 68.Rg8 Nd3 69.Rg7 Nf4 70.Rg8 Ne6 71.Kh2 Kh5 72.Kg1 Kh6 73.Rg3 Nf4 74.Bf3 Rb3 75.Kh2 Rb2+ 76.Kg1 Ra2 77.Kh1 Ng6 78.Bd5 Rd2 79.Bb7 Kg7 80.Rg2 Rd3 81.Kh2 Kf6 82.Rf2 Nh4 83.Be4 Re3 84.Bg2 Ke5 85.Bb7 Kf6 86.Bg2 Rc3 87.Bb7 Kg5 88.Bg2 f4 89.Bb7 Nf5 90.Be4 Ne3 91.h4+ Kf6 92.Bf3 Kf5 93.h5 Ra3 94.Rb2 Nc4 95.Rb5+ Ne5 96.Kg2 Kf6 97.Rb6+ Kg5 98.Rb5 Re3 99.Bd1 Rg3+ 100.Kf1 Re3 101.Ra5 f3 102.Kf2 Kf4 103.Ra4+ Re4 104.Rxe4+ Kxe4 105.Bxf3+ Nxf3 106.h6 Ng5 107.h7 Nxh7 1/2-1/2

Evgeny Tomashevsky draw Levon Aronian

Evegeny Tomashevsky admitted that he hoped this would be the most boring game of the event. Tomashevsky was determined not to start with 0/2 after a loss in the first round and he didn't think Levon Aronian was the guy to try and beat and so when offered a repetition early on by the Armenian in a Catalan he was happy to take the draw.

Tomashevsky,Evgeny - Aronian,Levon [E06]
7th Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (2.3), 09.06.2012

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Be7 4.g3 Nf6 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Qxc4 Bc6 10.Bf4 Bd6 11.Bg5 Nbd7 12.Nc3 h6 13.Bxf6 Nxf6 14.Nd2 Bxg2 15.Kxg2 a5 16.Rfd1 Bb4 17.Rac1 Qd7 18.Nf3 Rfd8 19.Ne5 Qe7 20.e3 c6 21.Qb3 Qc7 22.Nb5 Qb8 23.Nc3 Qc7 24.Nb5 Qb8 25.Nc3 1/2-1/2

7th Mikhail Tal Memorial Moscow (RUS), 7-19 vi 2012															cat. XXII (2776)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1.	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2784	*	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	.	1	2
2.	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2801	.	*	.	.	½	1	.	.	.	.	1½	2991
3.	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	2769	.	.	*	.	½	.	.	.	1	.	1½	2995
4.	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2825	.	.	.	*	.	.	½	1	.	.	1½	2949
5.	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2835	.	½	½	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	1	2785
6.	Grischuk, Alexander	g	RUS	2761	.	0	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	1	1	2753
7.	Tomashevsky, Evgeny	g	RUS	2738	0	.	.	½	.	.	*	.	.	.	½	2611
8.	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2775	.	.	.	0	.	.	.	*	½	.	½	2604
9.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	ITA	2770	.	.	0	.	.	.	.	½	*	.	½	2579
10.	McShane, Luke J	g	ENG	2706	0	.	.	.	.	0	.	.	.	*	0

Round 2 (June 9, 2012)
Kramnik, Vladimir	- Grischuk, Alexander	1-0	29	E97	King's Indian Classical
Morozevich, Alexander	- Carlsen, Magnus	½-½	59	E35	Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Tomashevsky, Evgeny	- Aronian, Levon	½-½	25	E06	Catalan
Caruana, Fabiano	- Nakamura, Hikaru	½-½	107	D22	QGA
McShane, Luke J	- Radjabov, Teimour	0-1	48	B30	Sicilian Rossolimo

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