Tal Chess Memorial: Magnus Carlsen Wins Title With Last Round Victory over Luke McShane

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

Magnus Carlsen pulled off a last-round victory to successfully defend his Mikhail Tal Chess title in Moscow on Monday. Carlsen beat Luke McShane with Black. Meanwhile, the leader from the eighth round, Italy's Fabiano Caruna lost to Levon Aronian leaving Carlsen to finish with a clear first. Caruana came second ahead of Teimour Radjabov on the tie-break rule of higher number of black games.

Magnus Carlsen - 7th Tal Chess Memorial Champion 2012

Evgeny Tomashevsky drew with Alexander Grischuk. The longest game of the day was Vladimir Kramnik and Alexander Morozevich which ended in a draw after 72 moves.

Results of the 9th round: L. Aronian - Caruana, 1-0, Nakamura - Radjabov draw, Tomashevsky - Grischuk draw, McShane - 0-1 Carlsen, Kramnik - Morozevich draw.

Results: M. Carlsen - 5,5, 2-3. Caruana, Radjabov - 5, 4-7. Aronian, Grischuk, Kramnik, Morozevich - 4,5, 8-9. McShane, Nakamura - 4, 10. Tomaszewski - 3.5.

Check out the official website for some high-resolution videos.

The event was a ten-player round robin event that took place from June 8-18 in Moscow, Russia. Time control: 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, and 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move one. Draw offers are not allowed until after the first time control. The prize fund was 100,000 euros.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
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Also see her personal blog at
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Tal Chess Memorial Complete Players' List Announced

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012


Hi everyone,


According to an update via www.chessdom.com, the players' list for the is now complete. The 7th Mikhail Tal Memorial will take place from June 7-19 in in Moscow, Russia.

Mikhail Tal - Eighth world chess champion

The players listed earlier were Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik, Levon Aronian, Radjabov Teimour, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana. The venue, tournament format and other participants will be announced later. The final list of players now includes Alexander Morozevich, Alexander Grischuk, Evgeny Tomashevsky and winner of the voting contest Luke McShane. McShane still needs to arrange a leave from his regular job.

The previous edition was held in November 2011, but this time the tournament is moved to June.

Mikhail Tal Memorial, winners of the previous editions:
2006 – Levon Aronian, Peter Leko, Ruslan Ponomariov – 5½ /9
2007 – Vladimir Kramnik 6½ /9
2008 – Vassily Ivanchuk 6 /9
2009 – Vladimir Kramnik 6½ /9
2010 – Levon Aronian, Sergey Karjakin, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov – 5½ /9
2011 – Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian – 5½ /9

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com