Only the day before yesterday the enigmatic Alexander Morozevich was the virtual no. 1 in the world. Yesterday he lost a somewhat silly game against Ivanchuk, taking too much risks and never seeing back his sacrificed pawns. Today he fought a fierce battle with the American revival Gata Kamsky and lost again after an interesting fight. The video analysis of this last game takes approximately 54 minutes. Yes, I’ve gone crazy… So get your coffee and donuts, sit back and enjoy the ride!
Tag Archives: Tal Memorial 2008
[video] Chess News #29: Moro Inflicts Poena On Pono
During the sixth round of the Tal Memorial Tournament in Moscow, Alexander Morozevich managed to beat Ruslan Ponomariov in a Nimzo-Indian game. The Muscovite played the surprising 7.c6!? and from there on both players were on their own. Not long thereafter Ponomariov played carelessly, allowing his knights to be bottled up and losing one of them. Even though Morozevich’s technique seemed to waver, the win was never in doubt. In the process Morozevich became virtually the new #1 in the FIDE rankings! Congrats, Moro!
[video] Chess News #28: Morozevich – Kramnik, Moscow 2008
[video] Chess News #27: Tal Memorial Starts Nicely, Shaky and Steady
The first round of the Tal Memorial Chess Tournament in Moscow, Russia, saw three wins and two draws. Kramnik beat Shirov in a Slav Meran when the latter surprised with 19…Ra5?, a weak move i.m.h.o. More coverage in the video below.
Morozevich beat Alekseev in a nice way, in what I think was the best game of the day. True to his style he avoided well-trodden opening paths and played the Trompowsky. This turned into a Torre attack, an opening that has had my special attention over the last few years! I was happely surprised to see that White can handle this position in various ways, for instance with f2-f4 as Moro did. It had the added advantage I suppose, that Alekseev was on rather unknown territory. It must be said however, that he defended well at first, but later fell for a develish strategic idea (trap?) which turned Moro’s position into a winning one. Analysis in the video below. Well done Moro!
The third win of the day was for Ivanchuk who managed to overcome Kamksy in a game with a lot of ups and downs. The win was deserver however, Ivanchuk had been better for most of the game. Analysis of the final stage in the video below.
Leko – Mamedyarov and Ponomariov – Gelfand were pretty uneventful and balanced draws.
Enjoy the video!