2008 Tal Memorial round 7: Ivanchuck defeated Morozevich, grabs the lead

The new tournament leader

With just 20 seconds left on the clock to complete the last ten moves, Vassily Ivanchuck painfully held his composure to beat the surging Alexander Morozevich and grab the lead after seven rounds of the super tournament 2008 Tal Memorial in Moscov Russia. Over all, round seven is a fighting day that saw two more matches ended in decisive wins. Ponomariov beat the struggling Shirov after the 38th moves of the Sicilian Rosolimmo Variations while 2008 Dortmund titlist Peter Leko bounced back after two devastating loss and trounced Gata Kamsky with the black pieces after 48th moves in the highly complicated Indian Systems. Newly crowned 2008 Biel king, Evgeny Alekseev show superb fantastic form to humbled the ever dangerous Shak Mamedyarov after 38th moves of the French/Rubenstein Variation. The only draw of the day was the match up between ex-world champion Vladimir Kramnik and Boris Gelfand. The drawn was agreed after 47th moves of the Semi-Slav.

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Standings after 7 rounds:

1. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2781 5

2. Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2788 4½

3. Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2720 4
4. Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2718 4

5. Alekseev, Evgeny g RUS 2708 3½
6. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2788 3½
7. Leko, Peter g HUN 2741 3½

8. Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2742 3

9. Kamsky, Gata g USA 2723 2½

10. Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2741 1½

Ivanchuk, V (2781) - Morozevich, A (2788) [D87]
2008 Tal Memorial (7), 25.08.2008

1.c4 Nf6 2.d4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 c5 8.Ne2 0–0 9.0–0 Nc6 10.Be3 Na5 11.Bb5 Bd7 12.Bd3 b6 13.Rb1 e5 14.dxc5 Ba4 15.Qd2 Qd7 16.cxb6 axb6 17.Nc1 Rfc8 18.Rxb6 Bf8 19.Ra6 Qb7 20.Rxa8 Qxa8 21.Nb3 Nxb3 22.axb3 Bxb3 23.Rb1 Qa3 24.h3 Be6 25.Rc1 Rd8 26.Qc2 Bb3 27.Qb1 Ba2 28.Qb5 Rc8 29.Qxe5 Bc5 30.Bxc5 Rxc5 31.Qb8+ Kg7 32.Qf4 Qb2 33.Qe3 f6 34.Bf1 Qxc1 35.Qxc5 Qe1 36.Qd4 g5 37.c4 Qc1 38.c5 Be6 39.f3 h5 40.Kf2 h4 41.Qe3 Qc2+ 42.Kg1 Bc4 43.Bxc4 Qxc4 44.Kh2 Kf7 45.Qa3 Ke6 46.Qa7 Qc1 47.Qb6+ Kf7 48.Qd6 Qf4+ 49.Qxf4 gxf4 50.Kg1 Ke6 51.Kf2 Kd7 52.Ke2 Kc6 53.Kd3 Kxc5 54.Kc3 Kd6 55.Kd4 Ke6 56.Kc4 Kd6 57.Kb5 Ke6 58.Kc6 Ke5 59.Kd7 f5 60.exf5 1–0

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Alekseev, Evgeny (2708) - Mamedyarov, S (2742) [C10]
2008 Tal Memorial (7), 25.08.2008

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Bd3 c5 7.0–0 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Nxe4 9.Bxe4 Nf6 10.Bf3 Be7 11.Bf4 0–0 12.c3 a6 13.Re1 Ra7 14.a4 Bd7 15.Qb3 Qc8 16.a5 Bc5 17.Rad1 Bxd4 18.Rxd4 Bc6 19.Qb6 Ra8 20.Bxc6 Qxc6 21.Qxc6 bxc6 22.c4 Rfd8 23.Red1 Rxd4 24.Rxd4 Kf8 25.g4 Ke8 26.g5 Ng8 27.Be5 f6 28.gxf6 gxf6 29.Bc7 Ne7 30.Rd6 Kf7 31.Bb6 e5 32.Bc5 Ng6 33.Rxc6 Nf4 34.Be3 Nd3 35.b3 f5 36.Rd6 e4 37.f4 Rg8+ 38.Kf1 Rg4 1–0

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Kamsky, G (2723) - Leko, P (2741) [A46]
2008 Tal Memorial (7), 25.08.2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5 c5 4.e3 Be7 5.c3 b6 6.a4 a6 7.Nbd2 Bb7 8.Bd3 cxd4 9.exd4 d6 10.0–0 Nbd7 11.Re1 0–0 12.Nc4 Qc7 13.Ne3 Rfe8 14.Rc1 e5 15.Bb1 b5 16.c4 bxa4 17.Nf5 Bf8 18.c5 dxc5 19.dxe5 Nxe5 20.Rxe5 Rxe5 21.Bxf6 Rxf5 22.Bxf5 Qf4 23.Nh4 Qh6 24.Qc2 Qxf6 25.Bxh7+ Kh8 26.Be4 Rb8 27.Bxb7 Rxb7 28.Qxa4 Qxb2 29.Rf1 Qb5 30.Qf4 Qd3 31.g3 Kg8 32.Qc1 c4 33.Rd1 Qb3 34.Kg2 c3 35.Rd8 Rc7 36.Nf5 Qb7+ 37.f3 Qb2+ 38.Qxb2 cxb2 39.Rb8 Rc2+ 40.Kh3 a5 41.Ne3 Rf2 42.Nc4 a4 43.Nxb2 a3 44.Nc4 a2 45.Ra8 f6 46.Kg4 Kf7 47.Kf5 Rxf3+ 48.Ke4 Ra3 0–1

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Ponomariov, R (2718) - Shirov, A (2741) [B30]
2008 Tal Memorial (7), 25.08.2008

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.0–0 Nge7 5.Re1 a6 6.Bxc6 Nxc6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 e5 9.Nb3 d6 10.Nc3 f5 11.f4 g6 12.fxe5 dxe5 13.Qxd8+ Kxd8 14.Bg5+ Ke8 15.exf5 Bxf5 16.Nd5 Kf7 17.Rf1 h6 18.Bh4 Kg8 19.c3 Bd3 20.Rfe1 g5 21.Bg3 Rd8 22.Nf6+ Kf7 23.Ng4 e4 24.Nf2 Be7 25.Nxe4 Bc4 26.Nbc5 Bxc5+ 27.Nxc5 Kg6 28.b3 Bf7 29.Nxb7 Rd2 30.Nd6 Bd5 31.Ne4 Rc2 32.c4 Bxe4 33.Rxe4 Nb4 34.Re6+ Kf5 35.Rd6 Rxa2 36.Rf1+ Ke4 37.Re1+ Kf5 38.h3 1–0

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