Tal Memorial 2007 Round 6.
The good news is that the draw ratio is going down both for the overall tournament and for Magnus, the bad news is that he lost against Shirov :-(
In a sideline in the Ruy Lopez, Shirov played 17.Rec3 instead of the usual Rd3 sacking an exchange for a passed pawn on c6 and better coordinated pieces. Still the computer likes black. Magnus thought he found the right continuation and even felt quite confident after 25.h4 Qb6 26.Rd2.
He considered the probably drawing line Bxd4 but thought Rd6 was better as he had missed the blow Nf5! After having made his 26th move Magnus immediately spotted Nf5 and really suffered during Shirov's long think.
After 30.Ne3 Magnus could not see any direct threats and took on h4 with his bishop to recapture the lost pawn, but after Qf3+ Rf6 he is simply loosing.
Maybe 31....Bf6 instead could have kept him alive but it was obviously a very dangerous position for black.
With 3/6 Magnus is still a full point ahead of his score in Tal Memorial last year and has had 4 black and 2 white with 2 white and 1 black to go.
Kramnik again played an impressive game with the white pieces to beat Alekseev, and Jakovenko managed to win a long endgame as black against Kamsky to climb back to 50%.
Gelfand-Ivanchuk and Leko-Mamedyarov ended in draws.
After 6 rounds Kramnik at impressive 4,5 is a full point ahead of Mamedyarov. Five players share 3rd with 50% (Magnus, Gelfand, Shirov, Jakovenko and Leko).
Interestingly Magnus spent more time preparing for his game against Shirov that he has done in the previous rounds. This could of course have paid off if the right variations but it may also be a contributing factor to his seemingly lack of energy during the critical stages of the game.
Anyway, his cold seems to be gone, he is sleeping alot, and he should be in excellent shape for the last three rounds.
Today he has white against Gelfand, let's hope it will be an interesting game!
Henrik Carlsen
Moscow, November 17th
In a sideline in the Ruy Lopez, Shirov played 17.Rec3 instead of the usual Rd3 sacking an exchange for a passed pawn on c6 and better coordinated pieces. Still the computer likes black. Magnus thought he found the right continuation and even felt quite confident after 25.h4 Qb6 26.Rd2.
He considered the probably drawing line Bxd4 but thought Rd6 was better as he had missed the blow Nf5! After having made his 26th move Magnus immediately spotted Nf5 and really suffered during Shirov's long think.
After 30.Ne3 Magnus could not see any direct threats and took on h4 with his bishop to recapture the lost pawn, but after Qf3+ Rf6 he is simply loosing.
Maybe 31....Bf6 instead could have kept him alive but it was obviously a very dangerous position for black.
With 3/6 Magnus is still a full point ahead of his score in Tal Memorial last year and has had 4 black and 2 white with 2 white and 1 black to go.
Kramnik again played an impressive game with the white pieces to beat Alekseev, and Jakovenko managed to win a long endgame as black against Kamsky to climb back to 50%.
Gelfand-Ivanchuk and Leko-Mamedyarov ended in draws.
After 6 rounds Kramnik at impressive 4,5 is a full point ahead of Mamedyarov. Five players share 3rd with 50% (Magnus, Gelfand, Shirov, Jakovenko and Leko).
Interestingly Magnus spent more time preparing for his game against Shirov that he has done in the previous rounds. This could of course have paid off if the right variations but it may also be a contributing factor to his seemingly lack of energy during the critical stages of the game.
Anyway, his cold seems to be gone, he is sleeping alot, and he should be in excellent shape for the last three rounds.
Today he has white against Gelfand, let's hope it will be an interesting game!
Henrik Carlsen
Moscow, November 17th
Comments:
Posted by: Sam
Hi Henrik,
If Magnus had taken the knight on F5, what would have been black's best continuation after that to put
white in trouble?
Best of luck to Magnus today!
If Magnus had taken the knight on F5, what would have been black's best continuation after that to put
white in trouble?
Best of luck to Magnus today!
Posted by: Sam
Sorry about the above mistake, it's early in the morning and I haven't fully woken up yet :-) I meant to say, what would have been white's best continutation if black had taken on F5....
Posted by: Olav Bakke
If 27...gxf5, black seems to be crushed in all variations after 28.Rxd5! There are threats all over the place.
Good luck to Magnus in the rest of the tournament, I think he is doing a fantastic job!! The endgame versus Ivanchuck was a real thriller, I couldn`t go away from the computer. Sports entertainment at the highest level, it was an incredible rush when the draw was secured!
Good luck to Magnus in the rest of the tournament, I think he is doing a fantastic job!! The endgame versus Ivanchuck was a real thriller, I couldn`t go away from the computer. Sports entertainment at the highest level, it was an incredible rush when the draw was secured!
Posted by: HOTDOG
after 31...Bf6 it seems there's any forced win for white,for example 32.Ng4 Re6 33.Rd7 Qc6 34.Rf7+! Kxf7 35.Ne5+ Rxe5 36.Qxc6 Re1+ 37.Kh2 Bxb2 38.Qb7+ Re7 39.Qxb4 Bf6,and Black can organize a fortress with his pieces
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