Tuesday November 14th 2006

Round 5

The placings remained unchanged as all five games were drawn in the fifth round of the Mikhail Tal Memorial at Moscow.

The leader Ruslan Ponomariov produced an unusual line against Peter Svidler’s Gruenfeld Defence and created a dangerous looking passed queen’s pawn. If this pawn survives too long in the Gruenfeld Black is usually impaled upon it but Svidler blockaded, surrounded and then captured it to draw comfortably.

Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen aged just fifteen looks increasingly at home in his first Super Tournament and scored his fourth draw as Alexey Shirov showed his respect for the youngster by playing the solid Petroff Defence. In their previous meeting Shirov defended the Closed Ruy Lopez and was blown off the board with a hail of sacrifices in true ‘Shirovian’ fashion.

Aronian draw Leko, Queen’s Indian, 27; Carlsen draw Shirov, Petroff, 30; Ponomariov draw Svidler, Gruenfeld Defence, 30; Gelfand draw Morozevich, Semi Slav, 43; Grischuk draw Mamedyarov, Ruy Lopez Breyer, 34;

Scores: 1 Ponomariov (Ukraine) 3.5/5; 2-4 Svidler (Russia), Aronian (Armenia), Leko (Hungary) 3 ; 5-6 Gelfand (Israel), Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) 2.5; 7-9 Carlsen (Norway), Shirov (Spain), Morozevich (Russia) 2; 10 Grischuk (Russia) 1.5;

Peter Leko missed a win in round five

Game Notes in PGN

Aronian,L (2741) - Leko,P (2741) [E15]
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (5), 11.11.2006
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qc2 c5 6.d5!? Gelfand's pawn sacrifice which has become very popular recently. 6...exd5 7.cxd5 Bb7 8.Bg2 Nxd5 [8...Bxd5 9.Nc3 Bc6 10.e4 d6 11.Bf4 Nh5 12.0-0-0 Nxf4 13.gxf4 Be7 14.e5 0-0 15.h4 Qc7 16.Ng5 g6 17.Bd5 dxe5 18.Nxh7 Kxh7 19.h5 Kg7 20.hxg6 fxg6 21.Rdg1 Qd6 22.fxe5 1-0 Tregubov,P (2596)-Greet,A (2439)/Feugen AUT 2006] 9.0-0 Be7 10.Rd1 Nc6!? 11.Qf5 [11.Rxd5? Nb4 12.Qd1 Bxd5 13.a3 Bxf3 14.Bxf3 Nc6] 11...Nf6 12.e4 White will get some play on the d file and on the kingside. 12...g6 13.Qf4 0-0 14.e5!? [14.Nc3 does not trouble Black after 14...d6 15.e5? dxe5 16.Nxe5 Qc8] 14...Nh5 15.Qh6 Nd4!? 16.Nxd4 Bxg2 17.Kxg2 cxd4 18.g4 Rc8!! [18...Ng7 19.Rd3 White attacks h7.] 19.Rxd4 [19.gxh5 g5! and Rc6 traps the queen.] 19...Ng7 [19...Rc2!? 20.gxh5 Bc5 21.Be3 Bxd4 22.Bxd4 Qh4 23.Na3] 20.Nc3 f5 21.Qd2 Bc5 22.Rxd7 Qh4 23.Nd5? [23.Kh1 Qxg4 (23...fxg4 24.Qh6) 24.Qd5+ Kh8 25.Bh6] 23...Qxg4+ 24.Kf1 Qh3+ 25.Kg1

25...Qg4+? [25...f4 intending f3 is strong, after 26.Nf6+ (26.Nxf4? Bxf2+ 27.Kxf2 (27.Qxf2 Qxd7) 27...Rc2 28.Qxc2 Qxh2+) 26...Kh8 27.Qxf4 Rxf6 28.exf6 Qxd7 29.fxg7+ Qxg7 Black is much better.] 26.Kf1 Qh3+ 27.Kg1 Qg4+ 1/2-1/2

This has been an interesting tournament in the main but today we will look to the Magician of Riga himself for inspiration.

Tal,Mihail - Teschner,Rudolf [C84]
EU-chT (Men) Vienna (2), 1957
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 d6 6.c3 Be7 7.d4 b5 8.Bb3 Bg4 9.h3! We have a normal position but without Re1 or 0-0. Tal has an idea to use the rook on f1 and offers a pawn. 9...Bxf3 10.Qxf3 exd4 11.Qg3 g6 [11...0-0 12.Bh6 Ne8 13.Bd5 Qd7 14.Qg4 Qxg4 15.hxg4 dxc3 16.Nxc3 gxh6 17.Bxc6 Rb8 18.Nd5] 12.Bd5 Qd7 13.Bh6! Rb8 14.f4 [14.Re1!? dxc3? 15.Qxc3 Rb6 16.Bg7] 14...Nd8 15.Nd2 c6 16.Bb3 dxc3 Black has no choice, cxd4 would give White a dominating position. 17.Qxc3 Qa7+ [17...b4 18.Qe3 Bf8 19.Bxf8 Kxf8 20.f5 with a huge attack.] 18.Kh1 Qc5 19.Qd3 Nd7 20.e5!

20...d5 [20...dxe5 21.fxe5 Nxe5 22.Qe2 leaves Black helpless against the threats of Ne4-f6+ combined with Bg7 or simply Bf4 and Nf3 with a decisive pin on the knight.] 21.f5! gxf5 22.Qxf5 Nf8 23.Ne4! Tal must have been tempted by e6 also. 23...dxe4 24.Rac1 Qb6 25.Rcd1 The culmination of Tal's plan, Black cannot defend f7. If Nfe6 Bxe6 and Qh5+. 1-0

Position after 25.Rcd1