On Thursday, November 6, the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan visited the International TASHIR Chess Tournament in Memory of Tigran Petrosian which is held at the Novotel Moscow City Hotel.
He examined the photo exhibition dedicated to the 9th champion of the world with great interest, greeted the players and made a symbolic first move in the game L. Aronian (Armenia) vs. Ding Liren (China).
After that Serzh Sargsyan, who is also the President of the Armenian Chess Federation, took part in the signing ceremony of the agreement on cooperation between Armenia and Russia in the sphere of school chess and joint holding of the “White Castle” tournaments.
President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan making symbolic move
The leader of the International TASHIR Chess Tournament in Memory of Tigran Petrosian, the Moscow grandmaster Alexander Grischuk, prolonged his winning streak by defeating his fellow countryman Alexander Morozevich with Black. In the opening Grischuk managed to surprise his opponent with an infrequent continuation.
Morozevich evaded the most principled line and soon was stuck with a cramped position devoid of counterplay. With an aggressive attack in the center and on the kingside Grischuk managed to breach the opponent’s defences and won on the move 36.
Both Ernesto Inarkiev and Boris Gelfand had started poorly at the tournament and were in an equally uncompromising mood for their “internecine feud”. Victory was the only goal for both players. Sharp struggle began from the first moves. Black had sacrificed a pawn for the initiative but was unable to tip the scale in his favor. After a series of exchanges the game ended in a draw.
Major experts on opening theory Peter Leko and Vladimir Kramnik made their first 25 moves very rapidly – the variation was clearly well-known to both. As a result, a position with nonstandard balance of material arose: white queen was opposed by two enemy rooks and a pawn – and black forces were not very well coordinated at that. As became clear at the press conference, each player believed that his position was better, but upon a closer view it turned out that the chances were even.
Levon Aronian had been trying to pull out the victory in a slightly better endgame against Ding Liren for nearly six hours. At one point it looked like he would get rewarded for his pains, but the Chinese grandmaster used his chances skillfully and captured a draw.
The results of round 3:
Grischuk – Morozevich 1:0, Leko – Kramnik ½:½, Aronian – Ding Liren ½:½, Inarkiev – Gelfand ½:½.
Standings after round 3:
1. A. Grischuk – 3 points, 2. V. Kramnik – 2, 3-5. Ding Liren, P. Leko, L. Aronian – 1.5, 6-7. B. Gelfand, A. Morozevich – 1, 8. E. Inarkiev – 0.5.
Friday, November 7 is a rest day at the International TASHIR Chess Tournament in Memory of Tigran Petrosian.
Round 4 will be played on Saturday, November 8, at 15.00. The pairs are:
Kramnik – Gelfand, Morozevich – Inarkiev, Ding Liren – Grischuk, Leko – Aronian.
Additional information about the tournament:
Location: Hotel Novotel Moscow City, Presnenskaya naberezhnaya, 2.
Website and live webcast: www.tashir-chess.com
Nakamura is better.