TWIC is 30. First issue 17th September 1994.
Alekhine Memorial 2013 (6)
All draws as Alekhine Memorial resumes in St Petersburg
Mark Crowther - Sunday 28th April 2013
Adams and Aronian discuss draw game at the end. Photo © | http://www.alekhine-memorial.com/
The Alekhine Memorial resumed in St Petersburg with Round 6. World Champion Viswanthan Anand held Vladimir Kramnik with his favourite Moscow variation. The game required very precise calculation from Anand as Kramik had some dangerous attacking ideas against his weakened kingside but a draw was a fair result.
Michael Adams came closest to a win as black against Levon Aronian in a Tartakower Queen's Gambit. Adams grabbed a pawn on the Queenside believing Aronian's knight sacrifice wasn't sound. With both players short of time coming up to move 40 Adams was winning but fell at the final hurdle meeting Aronian's final try 37.g4 fxg4? rather than the winning Kf7! Adams was still better after first time control but Aronian accurately held the draw.
Peter Svidler halted his losing run agreeing to a draw by repetition against Ding Liren who was slightly better but the way forward wasn't really that clear.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave got a small initiative with the Torre Attack against Boris Gelfand which he took into a Rook Endgame that was most probably drawish but which was tricky for Gelfand and there may turn out to have been something.
Laurent Fressinet didn't cause Nikita Vitiugov many problems in a Symmetrical English and black more or less forced a trade into a dead drawn endgame.
Round 6 Standings: Vachier 4pts, Fressinet, Gelfand, Adams, Aronian 3.5pts, Anand 3pts, Ding, Kramnik, Vitiugov 2.5pts Svidler 1.5pts
Round 7 Mon 29th Apr 2013 11am: Anand - Fressinet, Svidler-Kramnik, Gelfand-Ding Liren, Adams-Vachier-Lagrave, Vitiugov-Aronian.
Aronian,Levon (2809) - Adams,Michael (2727) [D58]
Alekhine Mem Paris/St Petersburg FRA/RUS (6), 28.04.2013
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 0-0 7.e3 b6 8.Be2 Bb7 9.Bxf6 Bxf6 10.cxd5 exd5 11.b4 c6 12.0-0 a5 13.b5 c5 14.Ne5 Qc7 15.Ng4 Nd7 16.Bf3 Rad8 17.Rc1
[17.Nxd5 Bxd5 18.Bxd5 cxd4 19.e4 Bg5 20.h4 Bxh4 21.Rc1 Nc5 22.g3 Bg5 23.f4 Be7 24.Qxd4 Qd7 25.Ne5 Qh3 26.Qe3 Bf6 27.Nc6 Rfe8 28.Rcd1 Rxd5 29.Rxd5 Rxe4 30.Qf3 Qe6 31.Rd2 Re3 32.f5 Qe8 33.Qf4 Nd3 34.Qd6 Qe4 35.a4 Be5 36.Qd8+ Kh7 37.Rg2 Ne1 38.Rff2 Nxg2 39.Ne7 Re1+ 40.Rf1 Qe3+ 0-1 Rahman,Z (2510)-Johannessen,L (2427)/Dhaka BAN 2002/The Week in Chess 390; 17.Nxd5 Bxd5 18.Bxd5 h5 19.Nxf6+ Nxf6 was an alternative mentioned my Aronian.]
17...Bg5
"I think I came out of the opening quite well after this Bg5." Adams.
18.Bxd5 Bxd5 19.Nxd5 Qd6 20.Nc3 cxd4 21.f4
Michael Adams
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Levon Aronian
Position after 21.f4
"Levon played ambitiously with this f4. I thought maybe Ne4 might be drawish." - Adams.
[21.Ne4 Qe7 22.Nxg5 dxe3 23.Nxe3 Qxg5]
21...Bf6
"This was a very strong move." - Aronian.
[21...Nc5 22.fxg5 dxc3 23.Qxd6 Rxd6 24.gxh6 "This is safe for white." - Aronian.]
22.Ne2 Qe6
"It got very sharp, perhaps my Qe6 was not so good but maybe it was OK." - Adams.
[22...d3 23.Rc6 Qa3 (23...Qd5 24.a4 (24.Ng3 Qxb5 25.Rd6 Be7? 26.Nxh6+! is the whole point to black's play.) 24...h5 25.Nf2 Nb8) 24.Ng3 "It's a crazy position." - Aronian.]
23.Nxd4 Bxd4 24.exd4 Qxa2! 25.Rc6 Qd5 26.Nxh6+?!
"It seems this sacrifice on h6 doesn't work, I wasn't completely sure during the game but it seems black's king always seems to run and I have a check on d4" - Adams.
[26.Qd3 Rfe8 27.Ne3 Qe4 28.Qxe4 Rxe4 29.Nc2 Rde8 30.d5 a4 31.d6 f5]
26...gxh6 27.Rxh6 Kg7!
The only move for an advantage but Adams finds it.
28.Rh5 f5! 29.Rg5+ Kf7 30.Qh5+ Ke6
[30...Ke7 31.Rg6 Nf6]
31.Rc1
[31.Qh7 Qxd4+ 32.Kh1 Kd6 33.Rc1 Rc8 34.Rg6+ Rf6]
31...Nf6 32.Rg6 Qxd4+ 33.Kh1 Qd2
[33...Qxf4 Also wins according to Aronian.; 33...Qe3 34.Rc6+ Rd6 35.Rxf6+ Kxf6 36.Rxd6+ was Aronian's "dream".]
34.Rg1 Rh8 35.Qg5 Qc3 36.Rf1 Rdg8 37.g4
Michael Adams
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Levon Aronian
Position after 37.g4
Frightening whilst both players were so short of time to reach move 40.
37...fxg4
[37...Kf7]]
38.Rxf6+ Qxf6 39.Re1+ Kf7 40.Qd5+ Kf8
"I think by move 40 it's probably a draw again." - Adams. White still needs to show good technique and did.
41.Re5 Rxh2+ 42.Kxh2 Qxf4+ 43.Kg1 Qg3+ 44.Kf1 Qf3+ 45.Qxf3+ gxf3 46.Re6 Rg2 47.Rxb6 Ke7 48.Rc6 Rb2 49.Rc3 Rxb5 50.Rxf3 Re5 51.Ra3 Kd6 52.Kf2 Kc6 53.Re3 Rd5 54.Ke2 a4 55.Ra3 Kb5 56.Rd3 Rc5 57.Kd2 Kb4 58.Rd8 a3 59.Rb8+ Rb5 60.Rxb5+ Kxb5 61.Kc1 a2 62.Kb2 a1N 1/2-1/2
Kramnik,Vladimir (2801) - Anand,Viswanathan (2783) [D43]
Alekhine Mem Paris/St Petersburg FRA/RUS (6), 28.04.2013
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 g6 8.Be2 Bg7 9.e4 0-0 10.e5 Qd8 11.0-0 c5 12.dxc5
[12.cxd5 1-0 Bacrot,E (2705)-Fressinet,L (2702)/Ajaccio FRA 2012/The Week in Chess 939 (36)]
12...dxc4 13.Bxc4 Nd7 14.Ne4
[14.Qe2 1/2-1/2 Wen Yang (2550)-Nezad,H (2393)/Ho Chi Minh City VIE 2012/The Week in Chess 913 (77)]
14...Nxe5 15.Nxe5 Bxe5 16.Qe2 Qc7 17.g3 b6 18.Rac1 bxc5 19.Bd3 Qb6 20.Nxc5 Bd4
[20...Qxb2 21.Rc2 Qd4 22.Be4 Rb8 23.Rd1 with the idea of Bg6.]
21.b4!?
Viswanathan Anand
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Vladimir Kramnik
Position after 21.b4
21...Qxb4
[21...e5]
22.Be4 Rb8 23.Rb1 Qxb1
[23...Bb2 24.Nd3 (24.Qc2) 24...Ba6 25.Bxg6 Qa3 (25...Qd6 26.Rfd1 fxg6 27.Nxb2 Qxg3+ 28.fxg3 Bxe2 29.Rd2) ; 23...Bxc5 24.Rxb4 Rxb4 25.Rc1 Bb6 26.Bxg6 fxg6 27.Rxc8 Bxf2+ 28.Kg2 wins for white.]
24.Rxb1 Rxb1+ 25.Bxb1 Bxc5 26.Qe5 Bb6 27.Be4 Bd7 28.h4 Rc8 29.h5 gxh5 30.Qf6 Bc6 31.Bd3 Rd8 32.Bc2 Rd2
Viswanathan Anand
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Vladimir Kramnik
Position after 32...Rd2
Now white has to force the draw.
33.Bh7+ Kxh7 34.Qxf7+ Kh8 35.Qf8+ Kh7 36.Qf7+ Kh8 37.Qf6+ Kh7 38.Qe7+ Kh8 39.Qf6+ Kh7 1/2-1/2
| Alekhine Memorial Paris/St Petersburg (FRA/RUS), 21 iv-1 v 2013 | cat. XX (2745) | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 1. | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | g | FRA | 2722 | * | ½ | ½ | . | . | ½ | . | 1 | ½ | 1 | 4 | 2872 | |||
| 2. | Gelfand, Boris | g | ISR | 2739 | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | . | ½ | . | . | ½ | 3½ | 2794 | |||
| 3. | Fressinet, Laurent | g | FRA | 2706 | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | . | . | ½ | ½ | 1 | . | 3½ | 2791 | |||
| 4. | Adams, Michael | g | ENG | 2727 | . | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | . | . | 1 | 3½ | 2806 | |||
| 5. | Aronian, Levon | g | ARM | 2809 | . | ½ | . | ½ | * | ½ | . | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3½ | 2807 | |||
| 6. | Anand, Viswanathan | g | IND | 2783 | ½ | . | . | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | . | 3 | 2746 | |||
| 7. | Vitiugov, Nikita | g | RUS | 2712 | . | ½ | ½ | ½ | . | ½ | * | . | 0 | ½ | 2½ | 2693 | |||
| 8. | Ding, Liren | g | CHN | 2707 | 0 | . | ½ | . | 1 | 0 | . | * | ½ | ½ | 2½ | 2704 | |||
| 9. | Kramnik, Vladimir | g | RUS | 2801 | ½ | . | 0 | . | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | * | . | 2½ | 2682 | |||
| 10. | Svidler, Peter | g | RUS | 2747 | 0 | ½ | . | 0 | 0 | . | ½ | ½ | . | * | 1½ | 2543 | |||
| Round 6 (April 28, 2013) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | - Gelfand, Boris | ½-½ | 45 | A48 | King's Indian Defence /c2-c4 | |
| Fressinet, Laurent | - Vitiugov, Nikita | ½-½ | 32 | A04 | Dutch System | |
| Aronian, Levon | - Adams, Michael | ½-½ | 62 | D58 | Queens Gambit Tartakover | |
| Ding, Liren | - Svidler, Peter | ½-½ | 29 | A04 | Dutch System | |
| Kramnik, Vladimir | - Anand, Viswanathan | ½-½ | 39 | D43 | Anti-Meran Gambit | |
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