2012 Tal Memorial (Moscow, Russia)

While the 2012 edition is not as strong as last year’s field (quartet of 2800s), the world’s top five players in the world will pawn off in Moscow, Russia. Both Viswanathan Anand and Boris Gelfand will obviously be missing from this year’s competition, but Magnus Carlen, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik, Teimour Radjabov and Hikaru Nakamura will grace the field. Italian champion Fabiano Caruana and Alexander Grischuk will add to the star power of the field. Evgeny Tomashevsky and Luke McShane round out the field.

This year there is a unique method of devising the pairings. A blitz tournament (with a separate prize fund) will determine the pairing numbers. With the winner getting #1, second getting #2 and so on. The top five in the blitz will get five whites and four blacks, but tiebreaks will give the advantage to those having played more games with black. Thus, the perception of playing the majority whites may be a mere illusion.

Note: Alexander Morozevich won the blitz tournament with superior tiebreaks over Magnus Carlsen. Morozevich beat Carlsen in their head-to-head encounter.

2012 TAL MEMORIAL
June 7th-19th, 2012 (Moscow, Russia)
Players
#
Name
Title
Federation
Flag
Rating
1 Carlsen, Magnus GM Norway
2835
2 Aronian, Levon GM Armenia
2825
3 Kramnik, Vladimir GM Russia
2801
4 Radjabov, Teimour GM Azerbaijan
2784
6 Nakamura, Hikaru GM USA
2775
7 Morozevich, Alexander GM Russia
2769
8 Grischuk, Alexander GM Russia
2761
9 Tomashevsky, Evgeny GM Russia
2739
10 McShane, Luke GM England
2706
Official Site (Russian)

All PGN Games: TWIC

14 Comments

  1. Round 1: Friday, 8 June 2012

    Teimour Radjabov 1-0 Evgeny Tomashevsky
    Alexander Grischuk 1-0 Luke McShane
    Alexander Morozevich 1-0 Fabiano Caruana
    Levon Aronian 1-0 Hikaru Nakamura
    Magnus Carlsen ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik

  2. Round 2: Saturday, 9 June 2012

    Alexander Morozevich ½-½ Magnus Carlsen
    Fabiano Caruana ½-½ Hikaru Nakamura
    Evgeny Tomashevsky ½-½ Levon Aronian
    Vladimir Kramnik 1-0 Alexander Grischuk
    Luke McShane 0-1 Teimour Radjabov

  3. Round 3: Sunday, 10 June 2012

    Luke McShane was in a good mood prior to his battle with Levon Aronian. He then played an inspired game. Photo by Eteri Kublashvili.

    Levon Aronian 0-1 Luke McShane
    Alexander Grischuk 0-1 Alexander Morozevich
    Magnus Carlsen ½-½ Fabiano Caruana
    Teimour Radjabov ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik
    Hikaru Nakamura ½-½ Evgeny Tomashevsky

  4. Round 4: Tuesday, 12 June 2012

    Fabiano Caruana inches forward on the “Live Rating” list with win.
    Photo by Eteri Kublashvili.

    Fabiano Caruana 1-0 Evgeny Tomashevsky
    Luke McShane ½-½ Hikaru Nakamura
    Vladimir Kramnik ½-½ Levon Aronian
    Alexander Morozevich ½-½ Teimour Radjabov
    Magnus Carlsen ½-½ Alexander Grischuk

    Standings
    (after four rounds)

    1st-2nd: Morozevich, Radjabov, 3; 3rd: Kramnik, 2½; 4th-6th: Carlsen, Aronian, Caruana, 2; 7th-9th: McShane, Grischuk, Nakamura, 1½; 10th: Tomashevsky, 1.

  5. Round 5: Wednesday, 13 June 2012

    Alexander Grischuk ½-½ Fabiano Caruana
    Teimour Radjabov 0-1 Magnus Carlsen
    Levon Aronian 0-1 Alexander Morozevich
    Hikaru Nakamura ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik
    Evgeny Tomashevsky ½-½ Luke McShane

    Standings
    (after five rounds)

    1st: Morozevich, 4; 2nd-4th: Carlsen, Kramnik, Radjabov, 3; 5th: Caruana, 2½; 6th-9th: Grischuk, Nakamura, Aronian, McShane, 2; 10th: Tomashevsky, 1½.

  6. Round 6: Thursday, 14 June 2012

    Fabiano Caruana 1-0 Luke McShane
    Vladimir Kramnik 1-0 Evgeny Tomashevsky
    Alexander Morozevich 0-1 Hikaru Nakamura
    Magnus Carlsen ½-½ Levon Aronian
    Alexander Grischuk ½-½ Teimour Radjabov

    Standings
    (after six rounds)

    1st-2nd: Morozevich, Kramnik, 4; 3nd-5th: Carlsen, Radjabov, Caruana, 3½; 6th: Nakamura, 3; 7th-8th: Aronian, Grischuk, 2½; 9th: McShane, 2; 10th: Tomashevsky, 1½.

  7. Round 7: Friday, 15 June 2012

    Teimour Radjabov ½-½ Fabiano Caruana
    Levon Aronian ½-½ Alexander Grischuk
    Hikaru Nakamura ½-½ Magnus Carlsen
    Evgeny Tomashevsky 1-0 Alexander Morozevich
    Luke McShane 1-0 Vladimir Kramnik

    Standings
    (after seven rounds)

    1st-5th: Carlsen, Morozevich, Radjabov, Kramnik, Caruana, 4; 6th: Nakamura, 3½; 7th-9th: Grischuk, Aronian, McShane, 3; 10th: Tomashevsky, 2½.

  8. Round 8: Sunday, 17 June 2012

    Fabiano Caruana 1-0 Vladimir Kramnik
    Alexander Morozevich 0-1 Luke McShane
    Magnus Carlsen ½-½ Evgeny Tomashevsky
    Alexander Grischuk 1-0 Hikaru Nakamura
    Teimour Radjabov ½-½ Levon Aronian

    Standings
    (after eight rounds)

    1st: Caruana, 5; 2nd-3rd: Carlsen, Radjabov, 4½; 4th-7th: Morozevich, Grischuk, Kramnik, McShane, 4; 8th-9th: Nakamura, Aronian, 3½; 10th: Tomashevsky, 3.

  9. Round 9: Monday, 18 June 2012

    Levon Aronian 1-0 Fabiano Caruana
    Hikaru Nakamura ½-½ Teimour Radjabov
    Evgeny Tomashevsky ½-½ Alexander Grischuk
    Luke McShane 0-1 Magnus Carlsen
    Vladimir Kramnik ½-½ Alexander Morozevich

    FINAL STANDINGS

    1st: Carlsen, 5½; 2nd-3rd: Radjabov, Caruana, 5; 4th-7th: Morozevich, Grischuk, Aronian, Kramnik, 4½; 8th-9th: Nakamura, McShane, 4; 10th: Tomashevsky, 3½.

    L-R: GM Teimour Radjabov (2nd), GM Magnus Carlsen (1st), GM Fabiano Caruana (3rd)

    pictured from left-right: GM Teimour Radjabov (3rd),
    GM Magnus Carlsen (1st), GM Fabiano Caruana (2nd)

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