8th Tal Chess Memorial Round 5: Carlsen Beats Anand; Nakamura, Gelfand Lead

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

The focus of the fifth round at the 8th Tal Chess Memorial in Moscow, on Tuesday, was the game between Challenger Magnus Carlsen and World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand. Carlsen picked up a rare variation in the Nimzo-Indian and got away by surprising the World Champion who chose to stay passive in the battle. Carlsen's central pawn break broke Black's defenses easily.


Speaking about the psychological advantage of the game, Magnus Carlsen said:

I think it's good before the World Championship match to remind him that I can outplay him once in a while. [Smiles.] Since obviously between us there have been a lot of draws, recently at least. But I'm not going to go around and think that he's going to have such a bad day every day at the World Championship. I'll have to prepare for the worst, definitely. And to clarify, I don't mean to prepare for the worst, that I'm going to lose necessarily, but that he's going to be at his best and not give away anything [for] free like today.

You can replay the Magnus Carlsen - Viswanathan Anand game with Chess King.

In other games of the day, tournament leader so far Hikaru Nakamura was held to a well-earned by Dmitry Andreikin. Boris Gelfand and Alexander Morozevich played the Benoni. Black's inaccuracies left Gelfand in control and earned him the full point. The victory allowed the former World Championship challenger to join Hikaru Nakamura in the lead.

Vladimir Kramnik and Sergey Karjakin settled for a draw after a long positional struggle. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Fabiano Caruna also drew despite an exciting struggle.

The standings after the 5th round:

1-2. H. Nakamura, B. Gelfand - 3.5, 3-4. S. Mamedyarov, M. Carlsen - 3, 5-6. F. Caruana, D. Andrejkin - 2.5, 7-8. V. Anand, S. Karjakin - 2, 9-10. Alexander Morozevich, Vladimir Kramnik - by 1.5.

Pairings 6th round:

Alexander Morozevich - S. Karjakin
F. Caruana - V. Kramnik
D. Andrejkin - S. Mamedyarov
V. Anand - H. Nakamura
B Gelfand - M. Carlsen

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