Botvinnik Memorial Rapid Day two – Anand and Cmilyte take first

Botvinnik Memorial 100th anniversary, Moscow, Russia Tourney format: double round robin with over six rounds Time control: 25 minutes + 10 seconds/move Game start: 13:00 - 14:30 and 16:00 Tiebreak: 1st Direct game result; 2nd Number of wins; 3rd Berger scoring Special mode: in the middle of the game the clocks will be stopped and the players will give a live commentary during the match. The opponent has to wear headphones and will listen to music while his opponent giving the comment.

Day two

The competition concludes

Pictures by Anna Burtasova

Vishy Anand picked up the title by keeping a cool head amidst all the rapid action. In the first round of the day an interesting Semi-Slav arose between Kramnik-Anand where Black’s attempts to complicate the position by offering his bishop for a knight did not bear results.

"And then I will smash his king to smithereens..."

During the mid-game commentary, Anand admitted that 17….Bd4 was somewhat committal but hinted that he had plans which might work out. Kramnik’s thoughts remain a mystery to non-Russian speakers as he was commenting in his native tongue. Unfortunately for the Indian, his opponent made all the right moves to stop the advance of the d-pawn and split the point.

It was an offday for Carlsen as he missed chances and struggled to stay focused

Aronian defeated Carlsen with Black after the latter mishandled an exchange-up position. The more focused 28. f4 instead of Qd1 could have tied up Black’s pieces and restricted counterplay.

Cmilyte's aggressive chess once more brought her success after her victory at the
Women's European Championships earlier this year.

As to the women, Cmilyte played an active English opening against Danielian, creating simultaneous threats to capture the e7 pawn and promote the a6 pawn with 23. Qe4. Black’s position crumbled soon after.

Humpy-Kosintseva was a Nimzo-Indian in which White got out of the opening into a dangerous situation with her king in the centre. Subsequent queen exchanges took the bite out of the position and the game was drawn.

A hurricane of tactics followed in the next round which delivered decisive outcomes on all boards. Anand played the Anti-Marshall against Aronian but ended up defending a concentrated kingside attack nevertheless. Black’s enthusiasm turned fatal when White trapped his nosy rook with 38. Qg2, forcing resignation.

Meanwhile Carlsen’s irregular opening choice against Kramnik backfired badly. The Russian showed no mercy and launched a textbook attack, leaving a bishop hanging on g5 while transferring his rook to h3 to join the party. Carlsen looked rather grave before White’s rook maneuver 14.Re3.

“I don’t think I got a good position, but I’m hoping to survive,” he told the reporter who interviewed him during the game. The world’s highest rated player threw in the towel shortly before getting mated some moves later. In the post mortem 15….g6 was suggested as Black’s last chance to defend.

The game Cmilyte-Humpy ended abruptly with Black blundering a rook in an even position (31…. Qxe4?? sunk Black’s ship – though she had already erred with Bg4 the move before) Kosintseva’s fight against Danielian was similarly shortlived when she overlooked 22. Rxe6+!

The large screens on the both sides of the stage provided the video transmission, the
same as on the official site.

The commentary could be heard in the headphones provided to all visitors

The children watched in thankful silence

The sixth and final round once again threw up four winners: Anand, Aronian, Danielian and Kosintseva against Carlsen, Kramnik, Humpy and Cmilyte respectively. Carlsen succumbed to Anand for a second straight loss while Aronian overcame Kramnik in a double rook ending with the help of a passed pawn on d7.

The endgame between Humpy-Danielian was far trickier. After passing the initiative back and forth for a while, White finally got her golden chance – overlooked it, and lost! Humpy missed 47. Rg8+ Kf3 48. Kh3! Opening up the defensive h2 square for the bishop and intending an unstoppable h8=Q. A quiet, sweet victory it might have been. Instead the game move 47. f3? eliminated all hopes of a win. White could have still saved the game with 50. Kh3 threatening perpetuals but the second oversight proved costly for her.

And in what was possibly the most theoretical game of the tournament, Kosintseva checkmated Cmilyte from the white side of a Sicilian Dragon Yugoslav variation, but the tall Lithuanian held the highest scorecard at the end of the day’s struggles.

The mixed doubles blitz

This hectic contest was then succeeded by some lighter chess. The participants tested their mind-reading skills in a mixed blitz doubles tournament in the evening, where partners were instructed not to speak to each other except to say “please move” or “faster!” (Women players were also allowed to smile, but men were forbidden to do so because, in the words of the arbiter, it “looks strange”!) The Indian duo Anand-Humpy emerged the winners with 2.5/3.

Russian Chess Federation chariman, Ilya Levitov, launches the blitz

It was all about fun, and the players clearly took it in this spirit

Even so, there must be a winner, and Anand together with Humpy took the top honors

The last moments could be hectic to say the least even with a three-second increment

Cmilyte was paired with Carlsen

Magnus Carlsen is mobbed by Smurfs requesting an autograph

Kramnik also does the honors for the fans

The live and past video coverage is available at the Russian Chess Federation.

Final men's standings

Final women's standings

Event schedule

Links Official tournament site All men's games in PGN All women's games 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 a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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