All draws in Moscow

In play (official site)

A day of five hard-fought draws in the Tal Memorial in Moscow. The lead is still shared by four players: Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Sergey Karjakin and Ian Nepomniachtchi.

In Svidler-Gelfand, the Israeli player sacrificed a pawn for pressure and won the material back leading to a drawn endgame.

Levon Aronian had better development, but an inferior structure. Later in order to liberate himself, Viswanathan Anand also gave up a pawn for activity, which he maintained into the endgame and proved to be sufficient to earn half-a-point.

After a quiet line in the Dragon, opposite bishops gave the middlegame a drawish nature. Later however a tactical sequence led to Black gaining the advantage. The Rook endgame was saved, under duress, by Ian Nepomniachtchi although my feeling is that Hikaru Nakamura may have missed a win.

In a Nimzoindian, Sergey Karjakin activated his knights and followed up with a pawn sacrifice which led to him obtaining interesting play. Magnus Carlsen however consolidated, but his attempt to break out led to complications and ultimately a drawn knight endgame.

Kramnik obtained pressure with a temporary pawn sacrifice. Later on he regained the pawn, and even picked up the exchange, but the endgame with pawns only on one wing was drawn.

Here is a summary of the fourth round games:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Moves	Opening description
Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	0.5-0.5	Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2763	67	Nimzoindian 4.Qc2
Peter Svidler	RUS	2755	0.5-0.5	Boris Gelfand	ISR	2744	40	Reti Opening
Ian Nepomniachtchi	RUS	2730	0.5-0.5	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	85	Sicilian Dragon
Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	0.5-0.5	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	60	Queen's Gambit Declined 5.Bf4
Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	0.5-0.5	Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2775	57	Chebanenko Slav

The table after the fourth round:

Place	Name	Country	Rating	Points
1-4	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	2.5
1-4	Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	2.5
1-4	Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2763	2.5
1-4	Ian Nepomniachtchi	RUS	2730	2.5
5-7	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	2
5-7	Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2775	2
5-7	Peter Svidler	RUS	2755	2
8-9	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	1.5
8-9	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	1.5
10	Boris Gelfand	ISR	2744	1

Details of the earlier games:

The first round:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Moves	Opening description
Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	0.5-0.5	Boris Gelfand	ISR	2744	34	Queen's Gambit Declined 5.Bf4
Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	0.5-0.5	Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2763	42	Nimzoindian 4.Qc2
Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2775	1-0	Peter Svidler	RUS	2755	61	Grünfeld 4.e3
Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	0-1	Ian Nepomniachtchi	RUS	2730	53	English Symmetrical
Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	0.5-0.5	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	57	Queen's Indian 4.g3 Ba6

The second round:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Moves	Opening description
Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	1-0	Boris Gelfand	ISR	2744	38	Slav Defence 4.e3
Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2763	0.5-0.5	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	43	Sicilian Najdorf 6.Be2
Peter Svidler	RUS	2755	0.5-0.5	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	23	Caro-Kann Advance
Ian Nepomniachtchi	RUS	2730	0.5-0.5	Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2775	76	Sicilian Sveshnikov
Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	0.5-0.5	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	49	Queen's Gambit Tarrasch

The third round:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Moves	Opening description
Boris Gelfand	ISR	2744	0-1	Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2763	59	Open Catalan
Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	0-1	Peter Svidler	RUS	2755	48	Grünfeld Exchange 7.Bc4
Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	0.5-0.5	Ian Nepomniachtchi	RUS	2730	27	Grünfeld (Russian Variation)
Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2775	0-1	Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	57	Spanish Berlin
Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	0.5-0.5	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	41	English (Botvinnik)

More information from the official site:

http://www.russiachess.org/

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