Tal Memorial

Vassily Ivanchuk, winner of the 2008 edition

The Mikhail Tal Memorial is a chess tournament played in Moscow each year since 2006, to honour the memory of the former World Champion Mikhail Tal who died in 1992.

It is usually played in the first half of November, with many of the world's strongest players competing. The first three editions all reached Category XX (overall Elo average 2735).

Tournament winners

Mikhail Tal Memorial

#	Year	Elo average	Winner	Country	Score
I	2006	2727	Levon Aronian  Peter Leko  Ruslan Ponomariov	Armenia Hungary     Ukraine	5½ /9
II	2007	2741	Vladimir Kramnik	Russia	6½ /9
III	2008	2738	Vassily Ivanchuk	Ukraine	6 /9
IV	2009	2761	Vladimir Kramnik	Russia	6½ /9
V	2010	2757	Levon Aronian  Sergey Karjakin	Armenia Russia	5½ /9

The 2009 edition was held from November 5 to November 14, with 10 of the 13 highest rated players participating: Viswanathan Anand, the current World Champion, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik, Magnus Carlsen, Peter Leko, Vassily Ivanchuk, Boris Gelfand, Alexander Morozevich, Ruslan Ponomariov and Peter Svidler. The Elo average will be 2761 (Cat. XXI), the highest ever reached by this tournament. It was won solidly by Vladimir Kramnik with a +3 score, i.e. three wins and six draws. Ivanchuk and Carlsen shared second place with +2.

Photo-gallery of winners

• 
  Levon Aronian,
  co-winner in 2006 and 2010
• 
  Peter Leko,
  co-winner in 2006
• 
  Ruslan Ponomariov,
  co-winner in 2006
• 
  Vladimir Kramnik,
  winner in 2007 and 2009
• 
  Sergey Karjakin,
  co-winner in 2010

External links

• Presentation of the 2009 edition
• Final report of the 2010 edition from Chessbase]