Mikhail Tal memorial
The tournament was held on the first weekend of March in Jurmala Latvia. On Friday there was a blitz tournament followed with the rapid on next two days. The blitz tournament ended with a surprising victory by the tournament organizer Alexey Shirov. The rapid was won by rating favorite Vladimir Onischuk from Ukraine. There were a lot of interesting games in rapid. I started well winning against strong grandmasters Daniel Fridman and Loek Van Wely in the first day. In the second day I had winning advantage against Onischuk in round seven which was crucial for me. After that disappointment I could not win a single game and finished in tenth place.
[Event "Mikhail Tal memorial 2017" ]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.03.05"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Onischuk, Vladimir"]
[Black "Ehlvest, Jaan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B15"]
[Annotator "Jaan Ehlvest"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteClock "0:00:43"]
[BlackClock "0:00:30"]
1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c6 4. f4 d5 5. e5 Nh6 6. Nf3 f6 7. Bd3 Bg4 8. h3 Bxf3
9. Qxf3 O-O 10. exf6 $1 (10. e6 f5 11. g4 Qd6 12. Qe2 Rf6 13. Be3 Rxe6 14. gxf5
Nxf5 15. Bxf5 gxf5 16. O-O-O Nd7 17. Rdg1 Rg6 18. Qh5 Qe6 19. Bf2 Qf7 20. Re1
e6 21. Qf3 Nf6 22. Kb1 Ne4 23. Nxe4 fxe4 24. Qb3 b6 25. Be3 Rc8 26. Qa4 c5 27.
dxc5 bxc5 28. h4 Rb8 29. Bc1 Qf6 30. Qa3 Rg3 31. c3 Rxc3 32. Qa6 Rxc1+ 33. Kxc1
Qxb2+ 34. Kd1 Qd4+ 35. Ke2 Rb2+ {0-1 (35) Bosboom,M-Ehlvest,J (2450) Groningen
1982}) 10... Rxf6 $5 (10... Bxf6 11. Be3 e5 12. dxe5 Bxe5 13. O-O-O Bxc3 14.
bxc3 Qa5 15. h4 {with a strong attack.}) 11. Ne2 (11. h4 $1) 11... Nd7 12. Qe3
Nf5 13. Qf2 Nd6 14. c3 e5 $1 15. dxe5 Nxe5 16. Bc2 Ne4 17. Qh4 Nc4 ({I
calculated also} 17... g5 18. fxg5 Rf3 {but after} 19. Bf4 {White is better.})
18. O-O Qb6+ 19. Kh2 Re8 20. Nd4 Rff8 21. Rd1 g5 $6 {too hazardous, much
better was} (21... Bf6 22. Qe1 Nxb2 23. Rb1 Nxc3 24. Qxc3 Nxd1 {and Black is
winning.}) 22. Qh5 gxf4 23. Bxf4 Qd8 24. Rf1 Rxf4 $6 {now we both were very
short on time. The time control was 12 minutes plus 5 second increment.} 25.
Rxf4 Be5 26. Raf1 Ne3 27. Bxe4 $2 (27. Kg1 $1) 27... Nxf1+ 28. Kg1 Bxf4 29.
Bxh7+ Kf8 30. Qf5+ Kg7 31. Qxf4 (31. Bg6 $1 Qe7 32. Bxe8 Qe3+ 33. Kxf1 Qc1+ {
and perpetual checks.}) 31... Kxh7 (31... Ne3 $1) 32. Qf5+ Kh8 33. Qh5+ Kg7 34.
Kxf1 Rf8+ 35. Kg1 Qf6 36. Qg4+ Kh6 37. Nf3 Qf5 (37... a6 $1) 38. Qh4+ Kg7 39.
Qd4+ Qf6 40. Qxa7 Rf7 41. Qf2 Qf4 42. Qe1 Kf8 43. Kh1 Re7 44. Qf1 Ke8 45. Qf2
Qc1+ 46. Kh2 Qf4+ 47. Kh1 Qc1+ 48. Kh2 {with seconds left on clock we agreed to a
draw.} 1/2-1/2
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Loek Van Wely outplayed Arturs Neiksans, but in time scramble lost control.
[Event "Mikhail Tal memorial 2017 "]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.03.04"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Neiksans, Arturs"]
[Black "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A28"]
[Annotator "Jaan Ehlvest"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r5k1/1pp2pp1/2n1qn2/4p3/p7/P1BPPPP1/1PQN3K/6R1 b - - 0 24"]
[PlyCount "36"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteClock "0:00:08"]
[BlackClock "0:02:36"]
24... Nd5 {Black has a big advantage.} 25. Nf1 Qh6+ 26. Kg2 Qxe3 $1 {
After this it is difficult to imagine that White can survive this in
grandmaster’s game.} 27. Rh1 Nd4 28. Qd1 Qg5 29. Kf2 Nxc3 30. bxc3 Nb3 (30...
Ne6 $1 {It is always better to keep the N closer to the center.}) 31. Ne3 Rd8
32. Rh4 f6 33. d4 exd4 34. cxd4 c5 $2 35. d5 (35. f4 $1 Qg6 36. Qh1 {was
already winning.}) 35... b5 $2 36. Qd3 Qe5 37. Qh7+ Kf7 38. Nf5 Qb2+ 39. Kg1
Qc1+ 40. Kh2 Qd2+ 41. Kh3 Rg8 42. Nh6+ 1-0
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Igor Kovalenko one of the pretournament favorites was punished by veteran Evgeny Sveshnikov.
[Event "Mikhail Tal memorial 2017 "]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.03.04"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Kovalenko, Igor"]
[Black "Sveshnikov, Evgeny"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D45"]
[Annotator "Jaan Ehlvest"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r1br2k1/pp2qppp/5n2/2p5/1bP3P1/1P2PN1P/PBQ1KPB1/R6R b - - 0 17"]
[PlyCount "15"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteClock "0:05:04"]
[BlackClock "0:03:37"]
17... h5 {Black sacrificed a pawn in the opening, but here instead of}
18. g5 {White could simply play} (18. Rad1 {and everything is under control.
Kovalenko probably underestimated his opponent and was punished.}) 18... Ne4
19. Rad1 Bf5 20. Qc1 Rab8 {This move looks strange, but it has some idea to
play b5 later in the game.} 21. h4 $4 (21. Rhg1 $1) 21... Bg4 22. Rxd8+ Rxd8
23. Rd1 Bd2 $1 24. Qc2 Ng3+ 0-1
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In rapid chess some very strange games may be found. Alexey Aleksandrov from Belorussia created very funny ending against Victor Laznicka.
[Event "Mikhail Tal memorial 2017 "]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.03.05"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Laznicka, Viktor"]
[Black "Aleksandrov, Aleksej"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A05"]
[Annotator "Jaan Ehlvest"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5rk1/prp2ppp/3pp3/P2n4/1n1PN3/R2P2P1/4PP1P/2B2RK1 w - - 0 19"]
[PlyCount "38"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteClock "0:00:23"]
[BlackClock "0:00:09"]
19. Bd2 Nc2 $5 (19... Nc6 {was the normal move.}) 20. Ra4 Rfb8 21. Kg2
Rb1 22. Rxb1 Rxb1 23. Nxd6 $1 {This was the shot Alexey definately did not see.
} f5 24. Nc8 a6 25. e4 Ndb4 26. exf5 Kf7 $1 (26... exf5 27. Ne7+ Kf7 28. Nxf5 {
is just winning.}) 27. Bf4 $2 Ne1+ 28. Kh3 exf5 29. Bxc7 Nbxd3 {and suddenly
the White king is in the mating net.} 30. Ra2 Rc1 (30... g5 {was even stronger.
}) 31. Nd6+ Ke6 32. Re2+ Kd7 33. Ne8 g5 $1 34. Bd6 Rc8 35. Re7+ Kc6 36. g4 f4
37. Re2 Rxe8 0-1
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My best game was against Daniel Fridman.
[Event "Mikhail Tal memorial 2017 "]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.03.04"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Ehlvest, Jaan"]
[Black "Fridman, Daniel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C11"]
[Annotator "Jaan Ehlvest"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteClock "0:00:09"]
[BlackClock "0:00:35"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Nce2 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Nf3 (7. f4 {
is an other option.}) 7... b5 8. a3 a5 9. h4 {I borrowed this idea from
Alexander Morozevich.} Ba6 10. Nf4 h6 11. Bd3 Qb6 12. Be3 cxd4 13. cxd4 b4 14.
O-O Be7 15. Qd2 a4 16. Bxa6 Rxa6 17. Nh5 Bf8 18. axb4 (18. Rfc1 $1 {was
correct move according to computer valuation.}) 18... Qxb4 19. Qxb4 {I was
overestimating my position here, assuming that I have much better endgame.}
Nxb4 20. Rfc1 Kd8 {just missing this simple move.} 21. Rc3 Nb6 22. Nd2 Kd7 23.
g4 {now I was kind of angry with myself, but managed to put myself together.
The position is approximately equal.} Be7 24. Kg2 $1 g6 $2 {Now Fridman was
overestimating his position as he mentioned after the game.} 25. Nf6+ Bxf6 26.
exf6 h5 27. Bf4 $1 Ra7 28. Nf3 Nc6 29. gxh5 Rxh5 30. Ng5 Nc4 31. b3 $1 {
During the game I hada a feeling that my opponent just missed this simple move.
} Nd6 32. Rxa4 Rxa4 33. bxa4 Nxd4 34. Bxd6 Kxd6 35. Nxf7+ Kd7 36. Ng5 Rxh4 37.
f7 Rg4+ 38. Kf1 Rf4 39. Rh3 Ke7 40. Rh8 1-0
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