Kramnik wins Tal Memorial with a round to go
18 November 2007 9:28 PM | Last modified: 21:30
The “draw-with-Black-playing-for-a-win-with-White” strategy was not enough for Kramnik in Mexico (mainly because he also lost one game) but in Moscow it proved a succesful method. Four draws and his fourth win with White today (against Mamedyarov) were enough to secure his tournament victory with a round to go. The other games of the eighth round ended in a draw.
It’s difficult to say something about the other games but concerning the key game Kramnik-Mamedyarov, it’s good to inform you that quite early the players were already in time trouble. Kramnik proved to be the coolest and, well, when we look back at the tournament, without Anand and Topalov participating, he’s really in a class of his own. We’re looking forwared to Corus already!
Standings after eight rounds:
1. Kramnik 6
2. Shirov 4,5
3-6. Carlsen, Jakovenko,
Gelfand, Leko 4
7-9. Kamsky, Ivanchuk,
Mamedyarov 3,5
10. Alekseev 3
The schedule:
10 November 2007 11 November 2007 Leko - Shirov 1-0 Leko - Kamsky ½-½ Kamsky - Gelfand ½-½ Gelfand - Kramnik ½-½ Kramnik - Carlsen ½-½ Carlsen - Alekseev ½-½ Alekseev - Ivanchuk ½-½ Ivanchuk - Jakovenko ½-½ Jakovenko - Mamedyarov ½-½ Shirov - Mamedyarov ½-½ 12 November 2007 13 November 2007 Kramnik - Leko 1-0 Leko - Alekseev ½-½ Kamsky - Shirov 0-1 Kamsky - Kramnik ½-½ Alekseev - Gelfand ½-½ Gelfand - Jakovenko ½-½ Jakovenko - Carlsen 0-1 Carlsen - Mamedyarov ½-½ Mamedyarov - Ivanchuk 1-0 Shirov - Ivanchuk ½-½ 14 November 2007 16 November 2007 Jakovenko - Leko ½-½ Leko - Mamedyarov ½-½ Alekseev - Kamsky ½-½ Kamsky - Jakovenko 0-1 Kramnik - Shirov 1-0 Kramnik - Alekseev 1-0 Mamedyarov - Gelfand ½-½ Gelfand - Ivanchuk ½-½ Ivanchuk - Carlsen ½-½ Shirov - Carlsen 1-0 17 November 2007 18 November 2007 Ivanchuk - Leko ½-½ Leko - Carlsen ½-½ Mamedyarov - Kamsky 0-1 Kamsky - Ivanchuk ½-½ Jakovenko - Kramnik ½-½ Kramnik - Mamedyarov 1-0 Alekseev - Shirov 0-1 Alekseev - Jakovenko ½-½ Carlsen - Gelfand ½-½ Shirov - Gelfand ½-½ 19 November 2007 Gelfand - Leko .-. Carlsen - Kamsky .-. Ivanchuk - Kramnik .-. Mamedyarov - Alekseev .-. Jakovenko - Shirov .-.
Two videos by Robert Fontaine & Gérard Demuydt of Europe-Echecs:
Time trouble in Kramnik-Mamedyarov
Ivanchuk talking to the media…? Well, shortly!
What did Robert Fontaine say before Ivanchuck’s “Ok, what you want?” (which sounds very rude, but perhaps it’s just his bad English)?
Kramnik, a class by his own without Tapalov and Anand participating. I don’t think so, what about Ivanchuk?
Well yes, I’m a big fan of Ivanchuk too and he’s actually the no. 2 in the world right now. But is he still capable of winning the Big Ones? Let’s hope he’ll succeed in Siberia…
“Kramnik, a class by his own without Tapalov and Anand participating”. I didn’t mention any remark like that in the article abouts the “Liga de Campeonesâ€? winner (http://www.chessvibes.com/?p=1369)…
I felt that we saw another Kramnik in his game versus Mamedyarov. It was nothing like a solid line as White and an real open fight. Is some way Kramnik showed no fear to lose which seems normally his first concern. I am now really looking forward to the Kramnik-Anand match.
Yes, Kramnik is in a class of his own. Corus will certainly be very interesting, will Kramnik be able to torture Topalov and Anand as cruelly as he did to Shirov and Leko.
On Utrechtschaak, somebody compared Kramnik with the terrible Vlad dracul, who used to inflict unspeakable terror on his victims before killing them. It must indeed be terrible to be black against this Vlad.
Kramnik is one of the greatest of all times that is a reality that everyone have to see! By the way how can you think that Topalov is in same class with Kramnik? Topalov is student of computer age (I don’t mean he cheats I mean he rised in a period that computer preperation became very important) but Kramnik is a student of classical chess echol and he is surely a genius player! The top of chess kingdom belongs to Fischer, Capablanca, Kramnik, Kasparov, Karpov and Anand for me.
Kramnik is the same age as Topalov! What ages are you talking about?
Hayri r u kidding me? r u going to tell me that kramnik didnt use computer for his preparation?.. LOL! this is not a round robin tournament.. it doesnt reflect the person real strength. Linares will prove this next year.