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A rather worthy but pretty dull second round saw all games drawn. Some brief express notes on the round.

Tal Memorial Moscow (RUS), 5-15 xi 2009												cat. XXI (2764)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1.	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2786	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	½	1	2746
2.	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2788	.	*	.	.	½	½	.	.	.	.	1	2755
3.	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2801	.	.	*	.	.	½	.	½	.	.	1	2761
4.	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2758	.	.	.	*	.	.	½	.	½	.	1	2745
5.	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2739	.	½	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	½	1	2771
6.	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2772	.	½	½	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	1	2794
7.	Leko, Peter	g	HUN	2752	.	.	.	½	.	.	*	½	.	.	1	2754
8.	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	2750	.	.	½	.	.	.	½	*	.	.	1	2776
9.	Ponomariov, Ruslan	g	UKR	2739	½	.	.	½	.	.	.	.	*	.	1	2772
10.	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2754	½	.	.	.	½	.	.	.	.	*	1	2762

Round 2 (November 6, 2009)
Carlsen, Magnus	- Morozevich, Alexander	½-½	39	E25	Nimzo Indian Saemisch
Kramnik, Vladimir	- Anand, Viswanathan	½-½	29	D85	Gruenfeld Defence
Leko, Peter	- Gelfand, Boris	½-½	44	C42	Petroff's Defence
Ponomariov, Ruslan	- Aronian, Levon	½-½	32	D87	Gruenfeld Botvinnik
Svidler, Peter	- Ivanchuk, Vassily	½-½	27	C65	Ruy Lopez Berlin

Round 2 was another well played round but there weren't many moments of excitement as all the games were drawn.

Alexander Morozevich comfortably defended against Carlsen's Nimzo-Indian with 4.f3. Pieces gradually came off and a sterile ending was reached.

Carlsen,M (2801) - Morozevich,A (2750) [E25]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (2), 06.11.2009

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.dxc5 Qa5 9.e4 Nf6 10.Be3 0-0 11.Qb3 Na6 12.Nh3

[12.Bxa6 0-1 Lie,T-Soreng,E/Oslo NOR 2005/The Week in Chess 542 (26)]

12...Nd7

[12...Bd7 13.Nf4 Ba4 14.Qb2 b6 15.cxb6 Rab8 16.Nd3 Nd7 17.Nb4 Nac5 18.bxa7 Qxa7 19.Bf2 Ne5 20.Be2 Rxb4 21.axb4 Ned3+ 22.Bxd3 Nxd3+ 23.Kf1 Qd7 24.Qd2 Bb5 25.Kg1 e5 26.h3 f5 27.Ra7 Qe6 28.Qg5 Bd7 29.exf5 Qd6 30.Be3 Rf6 31.Ra8+ Kf7 32.Qh5+ Ke7 33.Qxh7 Rxf5 34.Qxg7+ Ke6 35.Qg8+ Rf7 36.Qg4+ 1-0 Volkov,S (2460)-Zangiev,P/Krasnodar 1996]

13.Bxa6 Qxa6

This may be a tiny bit better for white but it doesn't turn out to be much at all.

14.c4 Ne5 15.Rc1 Bd7 16.Qc3 f6 17.0-0 Ba4 18.Nf4 Rfd8 19.Bd4 Ng6 20.Nxg6 hxg6 21.e5 f5 22.h4 Rd7 23.Rf2 Rad8 24.Rd2 Qc6 25.Kh2 Qc7 26.Qe3 Kf7 27.Kg3 Rh8 28.Qf4 Qd8 29.Rb1 Bc6 30.Rbb2 Qa5 31.Be3 Rxd2 32.Rxd2 Qxa3 33.Qd4 Rc8 34.Rd1 Qa5 35.Ra1 Qd8 36.Qxd8 Rxd8 37.Rxa7 Rd3 38.Bg5 Rd4 39.Be3

There is nothing of interest left in the position.

1/2-1/2

Ruslan Ponomariov must have achieved some sort of advantage against Levon Aronian's Gruenfeld and Fritz liked his position rather a lot at one stage but I can't see any obvious improvements to his play. He chose to open up black's king with a knight sacrifice on move 26 in order to give perpetual check.

Ponomariov,R (2739) - Aronian,L (2786) [D87]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (2), 06.11.2009

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 0-0 8.Ne2 c5 9.0-0 Nc6 10.Be3 Qc7 11.Rc1 Rd8 12.Qd2 b6 13.Bh6 Rb8

[13...e5 14.Bg5 Rd7 15.Bd5 Ba6 16.dxc5 bxc5 17.Rcd1 Rb8 18.Qc2 h6 19.Be3 Bf8 20.Rb1 1/2-1/2 Mihailovs,J (2298)-Kalod,R (2492)/Pardubice CZE 2005/The Week in Chess 560]

14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.Qe3 e5 16.Qg3 cxd4 17.cxd4 Qd6 18.d5 Na5 19.Bd3 Rb7 20.f4

20...exf4 21.Nxf4

[21.Rxf4]

21...Kg8 22.Qg5 f6 23.Qh6 Rf7 24.Rf3 Qe5 25.Rg3 Rg7 26.Nxg6 hxg6 27.Rxg6 Rxg6 28.Qxg6+ Kh8 29.Qh6+ Kg8 30.Qg6+ Kh8 31.Qh6+ Kg8 32.Qg6+ 1/2-1/2

Vladimir Kramnik has quite a reputation on the white side of the Exchange Gruenfeld, especially with Rb1. Today however he didn't achieve very much and his exchange of Queen for Rook and Minor piece quickly led to a halving of the points.

Kramnik,V (2772) - Anand,V (2788) [D85]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (2), 06.11.2009

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.Rb1 0-0 9.Be2 cxd4 10.cxd4 Qa5+ 11.Bd2 Qxa2 12.0-0 Bg4 13.Bg5 h6 14.Bh4 g5 15.Bg3 Nc6 16.d5 Rad8 17.Rxb7 e6

[17...f5]

18.Bc7 Bxf3

[18...exd5 19.Bxd8 dxe4 20.Be7 Re8 21.Bc5 Rd8 22.Qb3 Qxb3 23.Rxb3 Rd5 24.Ba3 exf3 25.Bxf3 Bxf3 26.Rxf3 Nd4 27.Re3 Nc2 28.Re8+ Kh7 29.Bf8 Bd4 30.Re2 Na1 31.Rb1 Ra5 32.g3 Kg6 33.Kg2 Ra6 34.Rd2 Bh8 35.Bc5 Ra4 36.Rd6+ 1-0 Chernin,A (2600)-Horvath,J (2505)/Hungary 1992]

19.Bxf3 Rd7

20.dxc6

I'm not clear why Kramnik chose to give up the queen here, it doesn't seem to give him any chances.

20...Rxd1 21.Rxd1 Qc2 22.Bd6 g4 23.Bxg4 Qxc6 24.Rc7 Qb6 25.Rd7 Rd8 26.Bc7 Rxd7 27.Bxb6 Rxd1+ 28.Bxd1 axb6 29.Kf1 1/2-1/2

Vassily Ivanchuk played the Ruy Lopez Berlin Defence with 4...Bc5 against Peter Svidler and after some intricate piece play the position was equal and the players drew by repeating the position.

Svidler,P (2754) - Ivanchuk,V (2739) [C65]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (2), 06.11.2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Bc5 5.Nxe5 Nxe4 6.Qe2 Nxe5 7.Qxe4 Qe7 8.d4 Nc6 9.Qg4 h5

[9...f5]

10.Qxg7

[10.Qd1]

10...Bxd4 11.Qg3 a6

[11...h4; 11...d6]

12.Bc4

[12.Bxc6 dxc6 13.c3 h4 14.Qf3 Be5 15.Qe3 Bf5 16.Nd2 0-0-0 17.Nf3 Bd6 18.Qxe7 Bxe7 1/2-1/2 Vogt,L (2495)-Kirov,N (2435)/Polanica Zdroj 1977]

12...h4 13.Qf4 d6 14.Bd5 Be5 15.Qc4 Bd7 16.c3 0-0-0 17.Nd2 Be6 18.f4 Bf6 19.Ne4 Rde8 20.Re1 Bxd5 21.Qxd5 Qe6 22.Qxe6+ Rxe6 23.Bd2 Bd8 24.Ng5 Rf6 25.Ne4 Re6 26.Ng5 Rf6 27.Ne4 Re6 1/2-1/2

Peter Leko faced Boris Gelfand's Petroff Defence. Gelfand was the first to innovate and with that he allowed Leko to win the exchange for a pawn. Black's extra pawn gave him more than enough counter play and the game simplfied to a sterile ending and a draw after 44 moves.

Leko,P (2752) - Gelfand,B (2758) [C42]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (2), 06.11.2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0-0 Be7 8.c4 Nb4 9.Be2 0-0 10.Nc3 Bf5 11.a3 Nxc3 12.bxc3 Nc6 13.Re1 Re8 14.cxd5 Qxd5 15.Bf4 Rac8 16.Bd3 Qd7 17.Rb1 b6 18.d5 Bxd3 19.Qxd3 Bxa3 20.Ng5 g6 21.Ne4 Qf5N

New so probably black prepared the exchange sacrifice that follows. The unbalanced material still leaves the position equal.

[21...Be7 22.Rbd1 f5 23.d6 cxd6 24.Qd5+ Kh8 25.Nxd6 Bxd6 26.Bxd6 Rxe1+ 27.Rxe1 Re8 28.Rxe8+ Qxe8 29.h3 h6 30.c4 Kh7 1/2-1/2 Jakovenko,D (2710)-Kramnik,V (2785)/Moscow RUS 2007/The Week in Chess 680]

22.Bxc7 Rxc7 23.Nf6+ Qxf6 24.Rxe8+ Kg7 25.dxc6 Bc5 26.Rb2 Rxc6 27.Qd8 Qxd8 28.Rxd8 a5 29.Kf1 a4 30.Ke2 a3 31.Ra2 b5 32.Rb8 Bd6 33.Rxb5 Rxc3 34.Kd2 Rc6 35.g3 h5 36.Kd1 h4 37.Ra5 hxg3 38.hxg3 Rb6 39.Rc2 Rb1+ 40.Ke2 Rb2 41.Kd3 Bb4 42.Ra4 Be1 43.Rxa3 Rxc2 44.Kxc2 Bxf2 1/2-1/2

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