Chess - Th Scotsman 20/06/12

Published on 20/06/2012 00:18

World No 1 Magnus Carlsen ended Luke McShane’s dream of beating the top three players in the world in the same tournament, outplaying the English amateur in the final round to snatch the 7th Mikhail Tal Memorial title in Moscow.

Normally Carlsen winning would be of no surprise to anyone, but this was his first tournament in more than four months, and it took him a few games to blow off the cobwebs. The Norwegian superstar was certainly playing below par, and he should have lost at least a couple of games before winning when it really mattered at the end to clinch the title. “The victory is nice,” Carlsen said. “There were twists and turns nobody could foresee.”

Taking the lead was a bit like being handed a poisoned chalice with no fewer than five players in pole position but faltering. They were Russia’s Alexander Morozevich, who self-destructed by losing three games in a row, his fellow countryman, Vladimir Kramnik, who suffered his first loss of two successive games in over 20 years, and, in the final round, Italian teenager Fabiano Caruana, the overnight leader, saw his hopes crushed alongside a similar crushing at the board from Levon Aronian.

Final standings: 1. Carlsen, 5.5/9; 2-3. Caruana and Radjabov, 5; 4-7. Kramnik, Morozevich, Aronian and Grischuk, 4.5; 8-9. McShane and Nakamura, 4; 10. Tomashevsky, 3.5.

L McShane - M Carlsen

7th Mikhail Tal Memorial, (9)

Ruy Lopez

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0–0 Be7 6 Bxc6 dxc6 7 d3 Nd7 8 b3 0–0 9 Bb2 f6 10 Nc3 Re8 11 Kh1 Nf8 12 Ne2 c5 13 Nh4 Ne6 14 Nf5 Bf8 15 Ne3 Nd4 16 f4 Be6 17 fxe5 fxe5 18 Ng1 g6 19 c3 Nc6 20 Nf3 Bg7 21 Qe1 a5 22 Rd1 a4 23 bxa4 Rxa4 24 a3 Rf8 25 Bc1 Ra8 26 Qg3 Bb3 27 Rde1 Qxd3 28 Ng4 Be6 29 Nh6+ Kh8 30 Qh4 Bf6 31 Bg5 Bxg5 32 Qxg5 Kg7! 33 Qc1 Rf4 34 Rd1 Qc4 35 Rfe1 Raf8 36 Ng5 Bc8 37 g3 Rf2 38 Nf5+ gxf5 39 Nh3 Re2 40 Qg5+ Kh8 0–1