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).
Tournament winners
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 was 2761 (Category 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 edition was held from November 16 to November 25. 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 (Category 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.
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