Fighting Chess in Moscow

All five games were hard fought deep into the endgame in round seven of the 2010 Tal Memorial.
Wang Hao was the only winner after he succeeded to eke out a win in a pawn-up rook ending against Boris Gelfand.

Wang Hao has now joined the leaders Levon Aronian and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov with two rounds to go.

Round 7 (12th of November):

Levon Aronian	ARM	2801	0.5-0.5	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2741	60	King's Indian g3 Panno	The American kept his position active and liquidation never really upset the balance in a lively encounter.
Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2791	0.5-0.5	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	AZE	2763	51	Grünfeld Exchange Be3	The two rooks and opposite bishop pseudo-endgame became very sharp with passed pawns and target kings leading to complications but ultimately a repetition.
Wang Hao	CHI	2727	1-0	Boris Gelfand	ISR	2741	75	Semi-Slav Defence Marshall	Black eventually liberated but Wang Hao nevertheless kept his pieces active and snatched a pawn whilst simplifying to a rook ending with an extra pawn.
Pavel Eljanov	UKR	2742	0.5-0.5	Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2760	56	Catalan Opening	Karjakin pressed in the endgame with his potential outside passed pawn, but Eljanov created enough threats of his own to force drawish opposite bishops.
Alexander Grischuk	RUS	2771	0.5-0.5	Alexei Shirov	ESP	2735	88	Queen's Gambit Cambridge Springs	Shirov grabbed a hot pawn and rode the storm emerging with 4 v 3 on the kingside but Grischuk held firm.

Many draws today but the players can't be accused of being timid. They created some exciting games that were fought out to the bitter end.

The table after seven rounds is as follows:

Standing	Name	Country	Rating	World rank	Age	+	=	-	Points
1=	Levon Aronian	ARM	2801	3	28	2	5	0	4.5
1=	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	AZE	2763	8	25	2	5	0	4.5
1=	Wang Hao	CHI	2727	18	21	2	5	0	4.5
4=	Alexander Grischuk	RUS	2771	6	27	1	6	0	4
4=	Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2760	9	20	1	6	0	4
4=	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2741	15	23	1	6	0	4
7	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2791	4	35	1	5	1	3.5
8=	Pavel Eljanov	UKR	2742	13	27	1	2	4	2
8=	Boris Gelfand	ISR	2741	14	42	1	2	4	2
8=	Alexei Shirov	ESP	2735	16	38	0	4	3	2

As a reminder the results of the earlier rounds were as follows:

Round 1 (5th of November):

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	AZE	2763	0.5-0.5	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2741	43	Queen's Gambit Declined Lasker
Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2760	1-0	Boris Gelfand	ISR	2741	57	Petroff Defence
Alexei Shirov	ESP	2735	0-1	Wang Hao	CHI	2727	51	French Defence
Levon Aronian	ARM	2801	1-0	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2791	41	Queen's Gambit Ragozin
Alexander Grischuk	RUS	2771	1-0	Pavel Eljanov	UKR	2742	58	Catalan/Bogoljubov

Round 2 (6th of November):

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	AZE	2763	0.5-0.5	Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2760	39	Nimzoindian Defence 4.g3
Boris Gelfand	ISR	2741	1-0	Alexei Shirov	ESP	2735	61	Slav Defence
Wang Hao	CHI	2727	0.5-0.5	Levon Aronian	ARM	2801	39	Catalan Opening
Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2791	0.5-0.5	Alexander Grischuk	RUS	2771	39	Queen's Gambit Declined
Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2741	1-0	Pavel Eljanov	UKR	2742	40	Catalan/Bogoljubov

Round 3 (7th of November):

Alexei Shirov	ESP	2735	0-1	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	AZE	2763	71	Spanish Breyer
Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2760	0.5-0.5	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2741	70	Spanish Berlin
Levon Aronian	ARM	2801	1-0	Boris Gelfand	ISR	2741	43	Catalan Opening
Alexander Grischuk	RUS	2771	0.5-0.5	Wang Hao	CHI	2727	22	Slav Defence
Pavel Eljanov	UKR	2742	0-1	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2791	51	Nimzoindian Defence 4.Qc2

Round 4 (8th of November):

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	AZE	2763	0.5-0.5	Levon Aronian	ARM	2801	35	Slav Defence
Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2760	0.5-0.5	Alexei Shirov	ESP	2735	63	Spanish Neo-Archangel
Boris Gelfand	ISR	2741	0.5-0.5	Alexander Grischuk	RUS	2771	43	Catalan/Bogljubov
Wang Hao	CHI	2727	0.5-0.5	Pavel Eljanov	UKR	2742	79	English Opening
Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2741	0.5-0.5	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2791	33	Petroff Defence

Round 5 (10th of November):

Alexander Grischuk	RUS	2771	0.5-0.5	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	AZE	2763	49	Anti-Grünfeld
Levon Aronian	ARM	2801	0.5-0.5	Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2760	56	Nimzoindian with g3
Alexei Shirov	ESP	2735	0.5-0.5	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2741	79	Spanish Berlin
Pavel Eljanov	UKR	2742	1-0	Boris Gelfand	ISR	2741	53	Semi-Slav Meran
Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2791	0.5-0.5	Wang Hao	CHI	2727	34	Semi-Tarrasch

Round 6 (11th of November):

Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2741	0.5-0.5	Wang Hao	CHI	2727	25	French Steinitz
Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2760	0.5-0.5	Alexander Grischuk	RUS	2771	46	Sicilian Najdorf
Alexei Shirov	ESP	2735	0.5-0.5	Levon Aronian	ARM	2801	33	Spanish Marshall
Boris Gelfand	ISR	2741	0.5-0.5	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2791	32	Catalan/Bogoljubov
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	AZE	2763	1-0	Pavel Eljanov	UKR	2742	49	Slav Defence

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