Tal Memorial 04: All games drawn, Morozevich leads

Tal Memorial in Moscow

The Tal Memorial is taking place from August 17th to 31st 2008 in the Exhibition Hall of GUM mall, located directly on the Red Square. The players are former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, who won the tournament last year, Alexander Morozevich, currently the world's second highest ranked player, Vassily Ivanchuk, ranked fourth, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (8th), Alexei Shirov (9th), Peter Leko (10th), Gata Kamsky (17th), Boris Gelfand, (18th), Ruslan Ponomariov (19th), and Evgeny Alekseev (26th).

Time controls are two hours for the first 40 moves, one hour for the next 20 moves and 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move after move 61. There is a blitz tournament on August 29th-30th, with a qualifier two days earlier. Magnus Carlsen and Antoly Karpov are seeded invitees.

Round four report

The games of the day

• Alexei Shirov played it safe against Boris Gelfand's Petroff Defence – the former Latvian who today plays for Spain didn't need another risky game, but rather to get rid of the zero in the cross table, which he did, scoring his first draw, in 29 moves.

• Evgeny Alekseev won a pawn against Gata Kamsky and pressed for 76 moves, unsuccessfully, to take home the full point. The endgame with knight and three pawns vs bishop and two was unwinnable.

• Mamedyarov vs Ivanchuk was a wild and complicated struggle, with the Azeri GM taking risks against his wily and experienced Ukrainian opponent, and then opting for the draw by perpetual check.

• After his shock loss to Alexander Morozevich on the previous day Vladimir Kramnik played a solid game against Ruslan Ponomariov, never going outside the draw margin and finishing the game peacefully after 35 moves. It is a sound strategy to catch your breath and steady your nerves after suffering a painful defeat. Watch for a big comeback by Kramnik on Sunday after the free day.

• Peter Leko got involved in an interesting and somewhat unusual Exchange Ruy Lopez against Alexander Morozevich, with the game ending immediately after the time control at move forty in a just draw.

Current standings

Europe Echecs videos reports

These reports are provided by Europe Echecs.com, which is doing extensive coverage of the Tal Memorial Tournament

Schedule and results

Links Official tournament site (in Russian) All games so far in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse the PGN games.