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The first round of the Tal Memorial Chess Tournament in Moscow, Russia, saw three wins and two draws. Kramnik beat Shirov in a Slav Meran when the latter surprised with 19…Ra5?, a weak move i.m.h.o. More coverage in the video below.

Morozevich beat Alekseev in a nice way, in what I think was the best game of the day. True to his style he avoided well-trodden opening paths and played the Trompowsky. This turned into a Torre attack, an opening that has had my special attention over the last few years! I was happely surprised to see that White can handle this position in various ways, for instance with f2-f4 as Moro did. It had the added advantage I suppose, that Alekseev was on rather unknown territory. It must be said however, that he defended well at first, but later fell for a develish strategic idea (trap?) which turned Moro’s position into a winning one. Analysis in the video below. Well done Moro!

The third win of the day was for Ivanchuk who managed to overcome Kamksy in a game with a lot of ups and downs. The win was deserver however, Ivanchuk had been better for most of the game. Analysis of the final stage in the video below.

Leko - Mamedyarov and Ponomariov - Gelfand were pretty uneventful and balanced draws.

Enjoy the video!