TWIC is 30. First issue 17th September 1994.
Botvinnik Memorial Rapid in Moscow 2011 (Day 2)
Viswanathan Anand wins the Botvinnik Memorial Rapid
Mark Crowther - Saturday 3rd September 2011
Viswanathan Anand won with 4.5/6 beating Magnus Carlsen who lost all his games on the second day. Photo © | http://chess.ugrasport.com
Viswanathan Anand dominated the Botvinnik Memorial with a score of 4.5/6. World number one Magnus Carlsen lost all his games on the second day and finished last with 1.5/6. Kramnik and Aronian tied for 2nd on 3/6. I don't know if the players were asked to be more enterprising but the quality of play was, for me, quite low on day 2 with only Aronian's win against Kramnik in the final round appealing. Viktorija Cmilyte won the women's event and there too the top seed finished last.
Round 4
Aronian - Carlsen Round 4. Photo © Russian Chess Federation Video Website
Levon Aronian sacrificed two exchanges against Magnus Carlsen in their game four. It was very much in the spirit of the event of crowd entertainment.
Apparently Evgeny Bareev called Aronian's 2nd exchange sacrifice against Carlsen "poetic", and the game overall "an absolute masterpiece" according to a tweet from Chess in Translation. This is really way over the top. Carlsen subsided to a loss in 85 moves after not playing terribly well would be a better summary.
Anand - Kramnik Round 4. Photo © Russian Chess Federation Video Website
Anand and Kramnik drew a regulation Semi-Slav in 41 moves.
Anand defeated Aronian in a game that might easily be described as complete garbage. Aronian's attack was at best speculative, even so he was rewarded with an error of 33.Kf1 instead 33.g4. He was right back in the game with either 33...Qh5 or 33...Bh6 instead 33...Bf4 just lost the house. Whether it is unfair to look at the game with an engine is up to you. But I think we're used to better rapid games from the top four in the world than this.
Carlsen-Kramnik Round 5. Photo © Russian Chess Federation Video Website
Carlsen too hardly added to the quality with the choice of 1.Nf3 b5? Kramnik quickly took control of the whole of the centre of the board and then mated Carlsen.
Round 6
Kramnik-Aronian in Round 6. Photo © Russian Chess Federation Video Website
Levon Aronian won one of the better games of the day to catch Vladimir Kramnik, he exploited black's inability to find a home for his light squared bishop to the maximum and then pushed home his passed d-pawn to win the game.
Viswanathan Anand against Magnus Carlsen. Photo © Russian Chess Federation Video Website
I doubt very much Carlsen wanted to lose all three games on the day but that is what happened. He lost the exchange and although he had some compensation he was ground down by Viswanathan Anand who finished with 4.5/6.
| Botvinnik Memorial Moscow (RUS), 2-3 ix 2011 | cat. XXIII (2810) | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||||||||||||||
| 1. | Anand, Viswanathan | g | IND | 2817 | * | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 4½ | 3000 | |||
| 2. | Kramnik, Vladimir | g | RUS | 2791 | ½ | ½ | * | * | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 3 | 2815 | |||
| 3. | Aronian, Levon | g | ARM | 2807 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | * | * | ½ | 1 | 3 | 2810 | |||
| 4. | Carlsen, Magnus | g | NOR | 2823 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | * | * | 1½ | 2612 | |||
| Round 1 (September 2, 2011) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anand, Viswanathan | - Kramnik, Vladimir | ½-½ | 34 | C65 | Ruy Lopez Berlin | |
| Aronian, Levon | - Carlsen, Magnus | ½-½ | 43 | E15 | Queens Indian | |
| Round 2 (September 2, 2011) | ||||||
| Aronian, Levon | - Anand, Viswanathan | 0-1 | 48 | D10 | Slav Defence | |
| Carlsen, Magnus | - Kramnik, Vladimir | ½-½ | 35 | E32 | Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2 | |
| Round 3 (September 2, 2011) | ||||||
| Anand, Viswanathan | - Carlsen, Magnus | ½-½ | 27 | C65 | Ruy Lopez Berlin | |
| Kramnik, Vladimir | - Aronian, Levon | ½-½ | 51 | B70 | Sicilian Dragon | |
| Round 4 (September 3, 2011) | ||||||
| Kramnik, Vladimir | - Anand, Viswanathan | ½-½ | 41 | D43 | Anti-Meran Gambit | |
| Carlsen, Magnus | - Aronian, Levon | 0-1 | 85 | A36 | English Botvinnik | |
| Round 5 (September 3, 2011) | ||||||
| Anand, Viswanathan | - Aronian, Levon | 1-0 | 38 | C88 | Ruy Lopez Closed | |
| Kramnik, Vladimir | - Carlsen, Magnus | 1-0 | 28 | A04 | Dutch System | |
| Round 6 (September 3, 2011) | ||||||
| Aronian, Levon | - Kramnik, Vladimir | 1-0 | 45 | A18 | English Opening | |
| Carlsen, Magnus | - Anand, Viswanathan | 0-1 | 66 | C65 | Ruy Lopez Berlin | |
Women's Event
Winner Viktorija Cmilyte. Photo © Russian Chess Federation Video Website
Viktorija Cmilyte won the women's event with 4 wins and two losses (one in the final round with first place secured). Top seed Humpy Koneru finished bottom.
| Botvinnik Memorial w Moscow (RUS), 2-3 ix 2011 | cat. XII (2545) | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||||||||||||||
| 1. | Cmilyte, Viktorija | g | LTU | 2525 | * | * | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2676 | |||
| 2. | Danielian, Elina | g | ARM | 2517 | 1 | 0 | * | * | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 3½ | 2610 | |||
| 3. | Kosintseva, Tatiana | g | RUS | 2536 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | * | * | 0 | ½ | 2½ | 2490 | |||
| 4. | Koneru, Humpy | g | IND | 2600 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | * | * | 2 | 2401 | |||
| Round 1 (September 2, 2011) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danielian, Elina | - Cmilyte, Viktorija | 1-0 | 53 | E60 | King's Indian without Nc3 | |
| Kosintseva, Tatiana | - Koneru, Humpy | 0-1 | 46 | C84 | Ruy Lopez Centre Attack | |
| Round 2 (September 2, 2011) | ||||||
| Kosintseva, Tatiana | - Danielian, Elina | 1-0 | 41 | B12 | Caro Kann Advanced | |
| Koneru, Humpy | - Cmilyte, Viktorija | 0-1 | 45 | A61 | Benoni | |
| Round 3 (September 2, 2011) | ||||||
| Cmilyte, Viktorija | - Kosintseva, Tatiana | 1-0 | 33 | D38 | QGD Ragozin | |
| Danielian, Elina | - Koneru, Humpy | ½-½ | 66 | D02 | Queen's Pawn Game | |
| Round 4 (September 3, 2011) | ||||||
| Cmilyte, Viktorija | - Danielian, Elina | 1-0 | 61 | A35 | English Symmetrical | |
| Koneru, Humpy | - Kosintseva, Tatiana | ½-½ | 69 | E46 | Nimzo Indian Rubinstein | |
| Round 5 (September 3, 2011) | ||||||
| Cmilyte, Viktorija | - Koneru, Humpy | 1-0 | 32 | D38 | QGD Ragozin | |
| Danielian, Elina | - Kosintseva, Tatiana | 1-0 | 24 | A09 | Reti Opening | |
| Round 6 (September 3, 2011) | ||||||
| Kosintseva, Tatiana | - Cmilyte, Viktorija | 1-0 | 38 | B77 | Sicilian Modern Dragon | |
| Koneru, Humpy | - Danielian, Elina | 0-1 | 52 | D11 | Slav Defence | |
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