2008 Tal Memorial Round 8: Kamsky,Kramnik, Shirov wins

Mikahil Tal: 1936-1992

Vassily Ivanchuk held on for a draw against the determined fellow Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov to extend his lead to a full point heading into the final round. Because of severe time trouble, Ivanchuck had to sacrifices some of his pieces to obtain a draw in the end game and he did. Vladimir Kramnik meanwhile defeated his fellow Russian counter part, Evegeny Alekseev after the 41st moves of the English Opening. Black sacrifices a pawn in the 18th move to gain a counterplay on the king side But Kramnik reacted calmly by superbly mobilizing his pieces on either side of the board. Round 8 also saw Alexei Shirov pulled of his first victory of the tournament by defeating Shak Mamedyarov after the 33d moves of the Sicilian Taimanov. But arguably the most interesting match of the day is the match between he unofficial wold no.1 player in the world, Alexander Morozevich and Gata Kamsky. Kamsky, opt for the Cao Kann defense with the black pieces and although a pawn down he rejected a threefold repetetion in the 18th moves to go for the win and it payed well for him. Then in the crucial end game, Morozevich made a huge blunder by reacting 54.Qh5? to black's own offer 53...Qf4 instead of the obvious 54.Qxf4 where the game would have been a draw. The other draw of the day is a quick one, the match up between Boris Gelfand and Pete Leko. The draw was agreed after 24th moves of the Petroff.

GM Morozevich (2788) - GM Kamsky (2723) [B12]
26.08.2008 - Tal Memorial

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 c5 6.Be3 Nd7 7.0–0 Ne7 8.c4 dxc4 9.Na3 c3 10.Nb5 Nd5 11.Nxc3 Nxe3 12.fxe3 Be7 13.Qb3 0–0 14.Qxb7 Rb8 15.Qxa7 cxd4 16.exd4 Ra8 17.Qb7 Rb8 18.Qa7 Rxb2 19.Bb5 Nb6 20.a4 Bg4 21.Kh1 Bb4 22.Na2 Be7 23.Nc1 Nd5 24.Nd3 Rc2 25.Rac1 Rxc1 26.Nxc1 Ne3 27.Re1 Nf5 28.Bc6 Bb4 29.Rd1 Bxf3 30.Bxf3 Qh4 31.a5 Be1 32.Ne2 g5 33.Qb7 Bxa5 34.g3 Qh6 35.Qe4 Ne7 36.Ra1 Bd8 37.Qd3 Ng6 38.Nc3 Be7 39.Ne4 Rd8 40.Qe3 Qf8 41.Kg2 Rb8 42.Bh5 Qc8 43.Rc1 Rb2+ 44.Kh3 Qb7 45.Bxg6 fxg6 46.g4 h5 47.Rc3 Qa6 48.Rd3 Qa1 49.Nd2 Qd1 50.Qf3 Qe1 51.gxh5 Rxd2 52.Rxd2 Qxd2 53.hxg6 Qf4 54.Qh5?? Qh4+ 55.Qxh4 gxh4 56.Kg4 Kg7 57.h3 Bd8 58.Kf4 Bb6 59.Ke4 Bxd4 60.Kxd4 Kxg6 61.Ke4 Kg5 62.Ke3 Kf5 63.Kf3 Kxe5 64.Kg4 Ke4 65.Kxh4 Kf4 66.Kh5 e5 67.h4 e4 68.Kg6 e3 69.h5 e2 Black wins 0–1

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Kramnik, V (2788) - Alekseev, Evgeny (2708) [A37]
2008 Tal Memorial (8), 26.08.2008

1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 e5 4.g3 g6 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.0–0 d6 7.a3 Nge7 8.b4 h6 9.Rb1 Rb8 10.d3 0–0 11.Bd2 Be6 12.Ne1 f5 13.Qa4 f4 14.e3 g5 15.b5 Na5 16.Ne2 b6 17.exf4 gxf4 18.gxf4 Ng6 19.fxe5 dxe5 20.Qd1 Qd7 21.Be4 Bf5 22.Bxa5 bxa5 23.Ng3 Bxe4 24.dxe4 Qh3 25.Nf5 Rbd8 26.Qf3 Qxf3 27.Nxf3 Rd3 28.Ne1 Rc3 29.Kh1 Bf6 30.Rg1 Kh7 31.b6 axb6 32.Rxb6 Rf7 33.Ng2 Rxa3 34.Nge3 a4 35.Ng4 Bg5 36.Ngxh6 Bxh6 37.Rgxg6 Bf4 38.Kg2 Rb7 39.Rh6+ Bxh6 40.Rxb7+ Kg6 41.Rb6+ 1–0

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Shirov, A (2741) - Mamedyarov, S (2742) [B46]
2008 Tal Memorial (8), 26.08.2008

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Nf6 7.f4 d6 8.Qf3 e5 9.Nxc6 bxc6 10.fxe5 dxe5 11.Bc4 Qa5 12.0–0 Bc5 13.Qf2 Bxe3 14.Qxe3 0–0 15.h3 Re8 16.Bb3 Be6 17.Na4 Rad8 18.Nc5 Qb6 19.Rf3 Bxb3 20.axb3 a5 21.Nd3 Qc7 22.Raf1 Rd4 23.Rxf6 gxf6 24.Nf2 h5 25.Qh6 Re6 26.Qxh5 Kf8 27.c3 Rd7 28.Ng4 Ke7 29.Kh2 Qb6 30.Qh8 Qxb3 31.Nxf6 Rd8 32.Qg7 Qxb2 33.Ng8+ Kd6 1–0

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Round 8 results:

Ponomariov, Ruslan - Ivanchuk, Vassily ½-½
Morozevich, Alexander - Kamsky, Gata 0-1
Kramnik, Vladimir - Alekseev, Evgeny 1-0
Leko, Peter - Gelfand, Boris ½-½
Shirov, Alexei - Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 1-0

Standings after 8 rounds:

1. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2781 5½

2. Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2788 4½
3. Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2720 4½
4. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2788 4½
5. Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2718 4½

6. Leko, Peter g HUN 2741 4

7. Alekseev, Evgeny g RUS 2708 3½
8. Kamsky, Gata g USA 2723 3½

9. Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2742 3

10. Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2741 2½

Final Round Pairings:

Vassily Ivanchuk - Alexei Shirov
Boris Gelfand - Alexander Morozevich
S. Mamedyarov - Vladimir Kramnik
Gata Kamsky - Ruslan Ponomariov
Evgeny Alekseev - Peter Leko