Kamsky Beats Top Dog in Tough Tourney
August 26, 2008
talmempic.jpgGata Kamsky is having a tough time in the Tal Memorial (Moscow, August 18-27), but he won today against the tournament's top-dog (by rating, with Kramnik) Alexander Morozevich (2788), giving him a chance to end on a high note. Kamsky is now on minus one, with 3.5/8 and he faces Ruslan Ponomariov with White tomorrow. Catch the game live on the Internet Chess Club or the official website at 7 AM EST. Gata started out the Tal Memorial on a see-saw, losing to Ivanchuk in round one and immediately rebounding in round two to Shirov . He lost two games in the middle though, to Mamedyarov and Leko. Here are a few tactical endgame problems from the unfortunate Kamsky-Leko game:

How did Leko finish Gata Kamsky off here?
48.Ke4.jpg
Position after 48.Ke4


Show Solution



In the following position, Leko played the prosaic and winning 41...Rf2. The spectacular 41...Kh7! is also possible-What is Black's idea after Kh7 Nxc2?
41.Ne3.jpg
Position after 41.Ne3


Show Solution



2301

Gata's win today over Morozevich was a topsy-turvy battle in which Morozevich blundered with 54.Qh5? (better is Qxf4 gxf4 Kg4 Bg5 d5!)

2303

Meanwhile, Ivanchuk is poisted to take first place, a full point ahead of the field with 5.5 out of 8. Read more about the following time scramble victory over Alexander Morozevich on chessbase.

2302

Tal Memorial

Standings after 8 rounds

1.GM Vassily Ivanchuk  UKR 2781- 5.5
2-5 -GM Vladimir Kramnik  RUS 2788, GM Alexander Morozevich  RUS 2788, GM Ruslan Ponomariov UKR 2718 and GM Boris Gelfand ISR 2720-4.5
6.-  GM Peter Leko HUN 2741-4
7-8. GM Evgeny Alekseev RUS 2708 and Gata Kamsky USA 2723 -3.5
9. GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov AZE 2742-3
10- GM Alexei Shirov ESP 2741-2.5