Chess: Tal Memorial 2012

[Tal]

As my username is named after the man himself, it would seem only fair for the first thread I create to be about the tournament set up in his honour.

The seventh Tal Memorial started today with a blitz competition to decide colours for the rest of the tournament. Novel idea. Morozevich edged Carlsen on tiebreak, while Kramnik struggled against better - dare I say younger - blitz opposition.

Inevitably, the first round sees the World Number 1 take on the former World Champ,  as it is Carlsen-Kramnik. Aronian takes on Nakamura in what promises to be a flair-filled first match.

Also in the comp is Luke McShane, British number 3, who won a poll on a Russian Website. Luke has impressed against the elite in the past, particularly in the London Chess Classic. His rating is much lower than his talent, as he works in the City, whereas the majority of the top 100 are professionals. Luke starts as black against Grischuk.

Morozevich opens against young pretender Caruana, while third seed Radjabov faces Tomaschevsky.

Last year, the title was shared between Carlsen and Aronian. Hard to see past those two on current form.

[Tal]

Round one brought 4 White wins out of five. Kramnik held Carlsen to a draw.

Round 1: Friday, June 8, 2012 Alex. Morozevich 1-0 Fabiano Caruana Magnus Carlsen ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik Alexander Grischuk 1-0 Luke McShane Teimour Radjabov 1-0 Ev. Tomashevsky Levon Aronian 1-0 Hikaru Nakamura.

Anyone interested in the games can play through them here: http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8225

Some very neat play that is worth a look, if this takes your interest.

[pokerfan]

Can we bet on it ?      If so tips pls.

[Tal]

Can we bet on it ?      If so tips pls.

I've bet on chess in the past so you should be able to. Had a quick look on my phone but can't seem to find a market anywhere.

Pretty hard to assess value without prices!

[Tal]

Round 2: Saturday, June 9, 2012
Fabiano Caruana ½-½ Hikaru Nakamura
Ev. Tomashevsky ½-½ Levon Aronian
Luke McShane 0-1 Teimour Radjabov
Vladimir Kramnik 1-0 Alexander Grischuk
Alex. Morozevich ½-½ Magnus Carlsen

If anyone is interested in the games, I'll happily go into more detail. Otherwise, I'll leave it as it is.

McShane has had a tough time of it, having been on the wrong end of two difficult games. There's no respite, either, as next up he is black against World Number 2, Lev Aronian.

The great players are able not just to win level games but also draw ones that seemed lost. Carlsen seems to gain half points for fun and his save against Morozevich was impressive.

Kramnik played a line against the King's Indian Defence that was popular about 15 years ago, but has since fallen out of fashion (believe it or not, that does happen quite a lot in chess: an opening gets studied and played to death, so the top players subconsciously seem to pick something else and move on for a bit). The fun of this is that all the keen amateurs start to play those fashionable lines, so it sort of trickles down. The Berlin Defence became popular as soon as Kramnik was able to beat the great Garry Kasparov with it.

The only problem is you have to understand the game like the top players do, if you want to play the openings that have such subtle finesses in them as the Berlin does.

Anyway, on to the next game...

[skolsuper]

Knew I recognised the name when I saw you post on PHA. Unfortunately I've been out of chess so long I have nothing I could contribute to this thread. Would hate to see it die a death though. What was the most interesting move in Round 2 IYO?

[Tal]

Round 3: Sunday, June 10, 2012 Magnus Carlsen ½-½ Fabiano Caruana Alexander Grischuk 0-1 Alex. Morozevich Teimour Radjabov ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik Levon Aronian 0-1 Luke McShane Hikaru Nakamura ½-½ Ev. Tomashevsky

Some really interesting games but no doubt about the headline, as England's Luke McShane beat Aronian with Black.

The game turned on a very deep move by McShane, where he sacrificed a rook for a knight, in order to get a more active position. Having a material advantage is only good if the pieces you have are in better positions than those of your opponent. Sacrifices are generally more obvious than Luke's because there will be an immediate threat. In this case it was much more subtle; a "feel" that it was the right move.

Luke built a big centre and got his two bishops working quickly as a pair. Aronian never really got going.

http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8231 takes you through the game.

[WPIL]

When I was younger (like 9) I liked CHESS - kept getting beat by my 7 year old Sister
Chess Live
Rigged

[tikay]

Tal.

Keep this going, please, would be fascinating to many of us.

Would love to see you answer the question by skolsuper too, please.

What is your one chess background? How long, what, where, why?

[bobby1]

I used to play at an ok standard in my teens and looked to join a club again last year but was appalled to see the one nearest me actually played the games online which kind of spoilt the club idea for me. Haven't played for a long time tho but will be following the thread out of interest.

Many years ago I was actually given the job of betting live at a decent chess event in London ( it went along the lines of'does anyone like chess?, yes me, ok you are off to London in two weeks to bet some chess event if you fancy it)

I think after doing the work that black was about a 12/1 chance at that level in a match between two players of equal ability, does that sound about right at the top level?

It fell thru in the end and I never went which was a pity.

[The Baron]

Loving this thread more please.

The advent of youtube has brought right back into chess in the last few years.

[Longy]

I actually have been watching various youtube stuff about chess recently after coming across a Bobby Fischer documentary by accident. I played quite a bit as a kid attending county comps etc but have only played the odd game since.

I enjoyed reading/watching the analysis of the McShane game, that was linked earlier in the thread.

[tikay]

There we go, let's rev this thread up, loads of interest.

Over to you, Tal.

[TightEnd]

Yes please Tal

I played in a school team (and Bridge) but stopped playing competitively once I went to University


Used to love the William Hartson presented BBC programmes, going back 25 years or so!

[millidonk]

I loved chess as a kid! At Primary school before I turned into a dick I used to play my Chinese mate when it was raining outside and we weren't allowed in the playground.

We kept score, It ended up like 114-109 to me after a few yrs, added him on fb the other year, it turns out he went to Oxford and is now raking it in as a Doctor. Sighs, I threw it all away.

I really really loved the game and thought I was deece until I played someone who was actually good and got absolutely demolished. It was highly embarrassing as he had kept his skills under-wraps as I was spouting off as per..

Anyways not played in years but would certainly fancy a game some time.

Keep up the good work Tal.