Tal Memorial

Vassily Ivanchuk, winner of the 2008 edition

The 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).

Tal Memorial 2012 took place from June 7 - June 18, 2012, with participants Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik, Teimour Radjabov, Alexander Grischuk, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, Alexander Morozevich, Evgeny Tomashevsky and Luke McShane. A blitz chess tournament preceded on June 7 with a separate prize fund to determine the numbering of the players in the main tournament.^[1]

Tournament winners

Tal Memorial
#	Year	Avg. Elo	Winner	Score
1	2006	2727	Levon Aronian (Armenia) Peter Leko (Hungary) Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine)	5½ / 9
2	2007	2741	Vladimir Kramnik (Russia)	6½ / 9
3	2008	2738	Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)	6 / 9
4	2009	2761	Vladimir Kramnik (Russia)	6½ / 9
5	2010	2757	Levon Aronian (Armenia) Sergey Karjakin (Russia) Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan)	5½ / 9
6	2011	2776	Magnus Carlsen (Norway) Levon Aronian (Armenia)	5½ / 9
7	2012	2777	Magnus Carlsen (Norway)	5½ / 9

The 2009 competition was held from 5 to 14 November, 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 was 2761 (Cat. XXI), which was the highest ever reached by the 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.

The 2011 competition was held from 16 to 25 November. Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, Levon Aronian and Vladimir Kramnik; all four rated 2800+ at the time of the tournament participated. With seven out the top ten participating the tournament had its highest average ELO yet at 2776 (Cat. XXII). Both Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian finished on 5½ / 9 (a +2 score, two wins and seven draws). Due to the tie-break rules of the tournament Magnus Carlsen was declared the winner because he played the black pieces five times, while Levon Aronian played the black pieces only four times.

Results

Tal Memorial 2012
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Tot
1	Magnus Carlsen (Norway)	2835	X	½	1	½	½	½	½	1	½	½	5½
2	Fabiano Caruana (Italy)	2770	½	X	½	1	0	0	½	1	½	1	5
3	Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan)	2784	0	½	X	½	½	½	½	1	½	1	5
4	Vladimir Kramnik (Russia)	2801	½	0	½	X	½	½	1	0	½	1	4½
5	Alexander Morozevich (Russia)	2769	½	1	½	½	X	1	1	0	0	0	4½
6	Levon Aronian (Armenia)	2825	½	1	½	½	0	X	½	0	1	½	4½
7	Alexander Grischuk (Russia)	2761	½	½	½	0	0	½	X	1	1	½	4½
8	Luke McShane (England)	2706	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	X	½	½	4
9	Hikaru Nakamura (USA)	2775	½	½	½	½	1	0	0	½	X	½	4
10	Evgeny Tomashevsky (Russia)	2738	½	0	0	0	1	½	½	½	½	X	3½