Tal Memorial Rapid 01-03: Anand stopped by Mamedyarov

Photo: Amruta Mokal/ ChessBase India

The Tal Memorial Rapid is a 10-player single round-robin taking place in the Museum of Russian Impressionism in Moscow from 2-4 March 2018. Ten top players are competing for a $130,000 prize fund, with $25,000 for 1st place. Players have 25 minutes for all moves, with a 10-second increment from move 1.

The players are GMs Viswanathan Anand (India), Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), and Boris Gelfand (Israel). Rest are all from Russia, Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Grischuk, Peter Svidler, Sergey Karjakin, Ian Nepomniachtchi, and Daniil Dubov.

Four of these players are also in the Candidates’ which is scheduled to start next week: Kramnik, Grischuk, Karjakin and Mamedyarov.

Rank after Round 3

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	1	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	AZE	2755	2,5	0,0	3,25	1,5
2	6	GM	Grischuk Alexander	RUS	2792	2,0	0,0	2,75	1,5
3	3	GM	Anand Viswanathan	IND	2805	2,0	0,0	2,00	1,0
4	4	GM	Nakamura Hikaru	USA	2820	2,0	0,0	1,50	0,0
5	8	GM	Dubov Daniil	RUS	2663	1,5	0,0	2,75	1,5
6	5	GM	Karjakin Sergey	RUS	2724	1,5	0,0	2,25	1,0
7	10	GM	Kramnik Vladimir	RUS	2795	1,5	0,0	1,75	0,5
8	7	GM	Gelfand Boris	ISR	2644	1,0	0,0	1,75	1,0
9	2	GM	Svidler Peter	RUS	2770	0,5	0,5	0,25	0,0
	9	GM	Nepomniachtchi Ian	RUS	2803	0,5	0,5	0,25	0,0

GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov [Photo: Amruta Mokal/ ChessBase India]

Reigning World Rapid Champion Viswanathan Anand is back in action at the 13th edition of Tal Memorial. He started his campaign with two wins against GM Dubov Daniil and GM Ian Nepomniachtchi but couldn’t continue the streak after losing with white pieces to Azerbaijani Grandmaster Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. After this loss, Anand is sharing a joint second place with Alexander Grischuk and Hikaru Nakamura.

Anand registered his first win against GM Dubov Daniil in a crushing manner. Dubov resigned on move 35.

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In the second round, GM Ian Nepomniachtchi chose to castle on the Queenside in English Opening. He sacrificed his g2-pawn for typical attack on Black’s kingside. Anand outwitted him with counterattack and eventually gained an upperhand in the resulting rook endgame.

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Anand suffered his first loss to GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. The Azerbaijani Grandmaster employed French Defence with black. In the middle game, Mamedyarov’s knight dominated the center and soon gained a advantage. Anand resigned on move 46.

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The fourth round starts today at 5.30 p.m IST

Round 4 on 2018/03/03 at 15:00
Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.
1	10	2795	GM	Kramnik Vladimir		GM	Gelfand Boris	2644	7
2	8	2663	GM	Dubov Daniil		GM	Grischuk Alexander	2792	6
3	9	2803	GM	Nepomniachtchi Ian		GM	Karjakin Sergey	2724	5
4	1	2755	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar		GM	Nakamura Hikaru	2820	4
5	2	2770	GM	Svidler Peter		GM	Anand Viswanathan	2805	3