Moscow's Tal Memorial has the world top five playing, while England's Luke McShane is seeded to finish last. But McShane, 28, defied the odds by beating the world No2, Levon Aronian, in wonderfully imaginative style. Sacrificing rook for knight, he built a sustained attack and when Aronian erred by 22 f3? (22 Ra7! Bxg2 23 Rg1 to activate the rooks is needed) the Londoner's queen rampaged through the white defences. At the end 34 Ke1 Qe3+ 40 Kd1 Nb3 soon mates. It will surely go down as one of the games of the year and one of the best wins ever by an Englishman.
The final three rounds at Moscow are played this weekend and will be shown live on the internet with free video, grandmaster and computer commentary. On Saturday (noon BST start) McShane plays White against the world No3, Vlad Kramnik, and in Monday's final round White against the world No1, Magnus Carlsen.
L Aronian v L McShane
1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 c4 c6 4 Nc3 a6 5 Bg5 dxc4 6 a4 h6 7 Bh4 b5!? 8 axb5 cxb5 9 Nxb5 axb5 10 Rxa8 Bb7 11 Ra1 g5 12 Bg3 e6 13 b3 Bb4+ 14 Ke2 Nc6 15 Ne1 Na5! 16 Be5 0-0 17 h4 g4 18 Nc2 Be7 19 Ke1 Nb3 20 Ra2 h5 21 Be2 Bd6 22 f3? Nd5 23 fxg4 Bxe5 24 dxe5 Qb6 25 Bf3 Nxe3 26 Nxe3 Qxe3+ 27 Qe2 Qc1+ 28 Qd1 Qe3+ 29 Qe2 Qc1+ 30 Qd1 Bxf3 31 gxf3 Qe3+ 32 Qe2 Qc1+ 33 Qd1 Qe3+ 34 Qe2 Qf4 35 Qh2? Qxf3 36 Rf1 Qe4+ 37 Kf2 Nd2 38 Rg1 Qf3+ 0-1
With four rounds left Aronian was in the bottom half of the table. Carlsen has been inactive for several months – 'the longest period since I was a child' – and started slowly with four draws, though an impressive round five endgame could presage a strong finish. With three rounds left, Russia's Alex Morozevich and Vlad Kramnik shared the lead on 4/6.
3258 1 Rd8+ Nxd8 (if Nf8 2 Rxf8+ Kxf8 3 Qd8 mate) 2 Qxd8+ Kh7 3 Ng5+ Kh6 4 Nxf7+! Qxf7 5 Qh4+ Kg6 6 Qh5 mate.
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