Tal Memorial

 ( Chess In Russia ) 

The Tal Memorial was an annual chess tournament played in Moscow from 2006 to 2018 with the exception of 2015, to honour the memory of the former World Champion Mikhail Tal (1936–1992).

Many of the world's strongest players compete. In 2014 it was held only as a Fast chess tournament and the classical event was replaced by the TASHIR Tigran Petrosian Memorial. It returned in October 2016.

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Format The inaugural Tal Memorial was held as a ten-player single round robin event with a classical time control of two hours for the first 40 moves, one hour for the next 20 moves, then 15 minutes for the rest of the game and 30 seconds added per move from move 60. The time control changed for subsequent editions to 100 minutes for 40 moves, then 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, then 15 minutes with 30 seconds added per move from move one. Draws could not be agreed before move 40.

For 2012 and 2013, a round-robin blitz tournament was held in order to decide the pairings for the main event with time control of 3 minutes plus two seconds per move. In 2014, the classical part did not take place and the Tal Memorial became solely a blitz tournament with the time control of 4 minutes plus 2 seconds per move in a double round robin of twelve players.

In case of a tie the placings were decided by: number of games played with Black, number of wins, direct encounter, Koja co-efficient and Sonneborn-Berger score. In 2010 Levon Aronian and Sergey Karjakin shared the title as their tiebreaks were all equal.

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Tournament winners

+ Tal Memorial ! width="5%"	Score
2727		9|5½
2	6½
3	6
4	6
2757		9|5½
2776		9|5½
5½
6
16
6
2757.1 2781.5		9 13|6 10

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Results

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2006

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+ 1st Tal Memorial, 6–16 November 2006, Moscow, Russia, Category XX (2727) ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points !! SB !! TPR
2806
2810
2806
2769
2727
2729
2725
2648
2650
2600

[[Jobava|Baadur Jobava]],  [[Karjakin|Sergey Karjakin]] (both — 12 points out of 18),  [[Radjabov|Teimour Radjabov]],  [[Jakovenko|Dmitry Jakovenko]],  [[Bologan|Victor Bologan]] and  Timofeev (all — 11½ out of 18) qualified as the winners of 40-players 9-round (two games per round) qualification tournament taken place 16–17 November 2006.
     

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+ 1st Tal Memorial Blitz Cup, 18–19 November 2006, Moscow, Russia ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! 11 !! 12 !! 13 !! 14 !! 15 !! 16 !! 17 !! 18 !! Points !! SB
324.75
321.50
305.25
289.75
277.00
283.25
278.00
290.75
282.75
271.50

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2007

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+ 2nd Tal Memorial, 10–19 November 2007, Moscow, Russia, Category XX (2742) ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points !! TPR
2902
2784
2741
2744
2744
2739
2693
2701
2697
2664

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2008

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+ 3rd Tal Memorial, 19–28 August 2008, Moscow, Russia, Category XX (2745) ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points !! TPR
2866
2783
2791
2783
2791
2745
2704
2706
2665
2620

Grischuk,  [[Movsesian|Sergei Movsesian]] (both — 12½ points out of 18),  [[Grachev|Boris Grachev]],  [[Karjakin|Sergey Karjakin]] and  [[Eljanov|Pavel Eljanov]] (all — 12 out of 18) qualified as the winners of 60-players qualification blitz tournament taken place 27–28 August 2008.  [[Carlsen|Magnus Carlsen]] and  [[Karpov|Anatoly Karpov]] were invited by the organizers.
     

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+ 3rd Tal Memorial Blitz, 29–30 August 2008, Moscow, Cat. XX (2726) ! !! Player !! Rating !! Points !! TPR
2863
2839
2810
2790
2790
2746
2747
2747
2733
2733
2726
2681
2662
2665
2657
2631
2631
2612

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2009

The 2009 competition was held from 5 to 14 November, with 10 of the 13 highest rated players participating: Viswanathan Anand, then the World Champion, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik, former world champion, Magnus Carlsen, the world champion of 2013, Peter Leko, Vasyl Ivanchuk, Boris Gelfand, Alexander Morozevich, Ruslan Ponomariov and Peter Svidler. The Elo average was 2761 (Category XXI), which was the highest ever reached by the tournament, trailing only the 2011, 2012, and 2013 tournaments. 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.

+ 4th Tal Memorial, 4–14 November 2009, Moscow, Russia, Category XXI (2764) ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points !! TPR
	2888
	2847
	2840
	2804
	2804
	2765
	2724
	2685
	2640
	2640

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2010

The 2010 competition was held from 4 to 18 November, at the GUM Exhibition Hall in Red Square, Moscow. Many of the world's top players participated: in order of Elo rating, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Grischuk, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Sergey Karjakin, Pavel Eljanov, Boris Gelfand, Hikaru Nakamura, Alexei Shirov, and Wang Hao. Aronian and Karjakin shared first place with 5½/9. Mamedyarov scored the same number of points, but due to his loss to Gelfand was awarded third place on tie-break. The average Elo was 2757 (Category XXI).

+ 5th Tal Memorial, 5–14 November 2010, Moscow, Russia, Category XXI (2757) ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points !! TPR
	2832
	2837
	2837
	2799
	2802
	2804
	2753
	2679
	2635
	2593

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2011

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. Seven out of the world's top ten players participated in the tournament, and its average Elo of 2776 (Category 22) was at the time the highest in history. 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.

+ 6th Tal Memorial, 16–25 November 2011, Moscow, Russia, Category XXII (2776) ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points !! !! TPR
	2851
	2854
	2821
	2825
	2820
	2779
	2773
	2694
	2700
	2653

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2012

The Tal Memorial 2012 took place from 7 to 18 June 2012, with participants Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik, Teimour Radjabov, Alexander Grischuk, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, Alexander Morozevich, Evgeny Tomashevsky and Luke McShane. This tournament was a Category 22 event (average Elo rating of 2776.4). A blitz chess tournament on June 7 preceded the main with a separate prize fund to determine the numbering of the players in the main tournament.

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+ 7th Tal Memorial Blitz, 7 June 2012, Moscow, Russia ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points !! !! Wins !! !! Koya
	18.25
	9.00

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+ 7th Tal Memorial, 8–19 June 2012, Moscow, Russia, Category XXII (2777) ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points !! !! Wins !! !! Koya !! TPR
	2850
	2820
	2819
	2774
	2777
	2771
	2778
	2741
	2734
	2701

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2013

The Tal Memorial 2013 took place from 13 to 24 June 2013, with participants Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik, Viswanathan Anand, Hikaru Nakamura, Sergey Karjakin, Fabiano Caruana, Alexander Morozevich, Boris Gelfand, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, and Dmitry Andreikin. As in 2011, seven of the world's top ten players participated. The Elo average for the tournament is 2777, making it a Category 22 event and one of the highest rated tournaments of all time. A blitz chess tournament on June 12 preceded the main event with a separate prize fund to determine the numbering of the players in the main tournament.

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+ 8th Tal Memorial Blitz, 12 June 2013, Moscow, Russia ! !! Player !! Blitz rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points !! !! Wins !!
2844
2786
2752
2694
2856
2824	1
2777	0
2873
2756
2718

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+ 8th Tal Memorial, 13–23 June 2013, Moscow, Russia, Category XXII (2777) ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points !! !! Wins !! TPR
2755	2905
2864	2848
2774	2821
2753	2823
2713	2828
2784	2777
2782	2734
2760	2699
2786	2696
2803	2650

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2014

In 2014 the classical event was replaced by the TASHIR Petrosian Memorial, sponsored by Tashir Group, which took place from 3 to 11 November. This tournament was a category 20 event (average Elo rating of 2748) and it was won by Alexander Grischuk.

On 13 and 14 November the Tal Memorial Blitz tournament took place in Sochi, during the World Chess Championship 2014. It was a 12-player double round-robin event and it was won by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.

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+ 9th Tal Memorial, Blitz chess, 13–14 November 2014, Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia ! !! Player !! Blitz rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! 11 !! 12 !! Points !!
2824
2724
2719	2½
2701	2
2811	1½
2756
2880
2757
2682
2648
2725
2548

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2016

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+10th Tal Memorial Blitz, 25 September 2016, Moscow, Russia ! !! Player !! Blitz rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points !!
2748
2826
2840	1½
2795	1
2766	½
2713
2765
2793	1½
2624	1
2790	½

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+10th Tal Memorial, 26 September – 6 October 2016, Moscow, Russia, Category XXI (2760) ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points !! !! SB !! TPR
2740	2887
2755	2840
2795	2799
2776	2801
2745	2761
2746	2761
2808	2754
2761	2759
2731	2683
2743	2541

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2018

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+ 11th Tal Memorial, Rapid chess, 2–4 March 2018, Moscow, Russia ! !! Player !! Rapid rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points !! !! SB
22.75
22.00
21.00
19.75
19.25
16.25
15.25

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+ 11th Tal Memorial, Blitz chess, 5 March 2018, Moscow, Russia ! !! Player !! Blitz rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! 11 !! 12 !! 13 !! 14 !! Points !! !! SB
41.25
38.75
38.00
34.50

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External links

• Presentation of the 2009 competition by Chessdom
• Final report of the 2010 competition by ChessBase
• Official page of the 2011 Tal Memorial (in Russian)

Categories: Chess In Russia, Sports Competitions In Moscow, Chess Memorial Tournaments, International Sports Competitions Hosted By Russia, Recurring Sporting Events Established In 2006, 2006 Establishments In Russia

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