The 2013 Alekhine Memorial finished the Paris portion last Thursday, and recommenced yesterday in St. Petersburg, Russia. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave started round 6 half a point ahead of Michael Adams, Levon Aronian, Laurent Fressinet and Boris Gelfand; and that's just how he finished the round as all five games were drawn. Four of the games were pretty uneventful, but the action and pathos in the Aronian-Adams clash made up for it.
After 26 moves the position was approximately equal but imbalanced, and would have remained so after 26.Qd3 followed by 27.Ne3. Instead, Aronian was attracted by 26.Nxh6+, but this was an outright error, and soon he was completely lost. Practical chances remained though, as Adams' king was somewhat exposed and time was running short before the time control, and after Aronian's 37.g4 the Englishman had one last hurdle to clear. The cleanest solution would have been 37...Kf7, when 38.Qxf5 Rxh2+! leads to large material gains or a quick mate, while 38.gxf5 Qb2 39.h4 (39.Qg2 is "best" but pointless, as Black trades queens and rooks and will enjoy an effortless conversion) 39...Ne4 40.Qg4 Nf2+ and game over.
Unfortunately for Adams, who would have caught up with Vachier-Lagrave with a win, he fell for Aronian's trick by playing 37...fxg4?(?), and after 38.Rxf6+ Qxf6 39.Re1+ Kf7 40.Qd5+ Kf8 41.Re5! it was too late; the position was drawn. Adams went for the best try: 41...Rxh2+ 42.Kxh2 Qxf4+, but after Aronian's accurate 43.Kg1! (43.Kg2?! Qf3+ 44.Qxf3+ gxf3+ [check!] 45.Kxf3 and now Black can prevent Re6 with 45...Kf7 or 45...Rg6. It's still a draw, but Black can press a bit more than in the game.) 43...Qg3+ 44.Kf1 Qf3+ 45.Qxf3+ gxf3 46.Re6! the worst was over and Aronian held.
Vachier-Lagrave still leads after round 7, holding a draw with Black today against Adams, but he is no longer the sole leader. With a complicated win over Ding Liren, Gelfand has pulled into a tie for first with two rounds to go. The Chinese player seemed to be doing well out of the opening, an Averbakh King's Indian, but (citing Judit Polgar's commentary) he got into deep trouble with the combination of 26...c4, 31...f6 (31...g5!?) and 35...Kh8 (35...Qe5 was her suggestion and, for that matter, the move I was considering while watching the game. I haven't checked any of this with engines though, so while you're welcome to note improvements please avoid casting aspersions - this is just a quick summary and not a detailed analysis). Gelfand might have made things easier on himself in converting his advantage (another plausible-looking Polgar suggestion: 43.Bd1, aiming to create mating threats after [an eventual] Bc2), but all the same, he managed to reel in the full point.
Viswanathan Anand exchanged places with Fressinet by defeating him in a complicated game. Early on Fressinet seemed to be doing very well, but a crazy tactical skirmish led to an ending with both sides having a queen and rook and several passed pawns in front of their kings (which had castled on opposite flanks). Anand's pawns were faster, and Fressinet could only stop (or slow) them by allowing White's pieces to acquire dominating posts. Faced with mate or the loss of a full rook, Fressinet resigned, and the champ closed to within half a point of the leaders.
Standings After Round 7 (of 9):
1-2. Gelfand, Vachier-Lagrave 4.5
3-5. The A-Team (Adams, Anand, Aronian) 4
6. Fressinet 3.5
7-8. Vitiugov, Kramnik 3
9. Ding Liren 2.5
10. Svidler 2
Round 8 Pairings: