Magnus Carlsen Wins 7th Mikhail Tal Chess Memorial 2012

It seems chess goddess Caissa is particularly kind to world chess #1 Norway’s, Magnus Carlsen as not only did the talented genius pull off a crucial last-round victory, but the overnight leader Italy’s Fabiano Caruana lost three games giving Magnus Carlsen the 7th Mikhail Tal Memorial Chess Tournament title late in Moscow on Monday. A fantastic victory for the Mozart of Chess – in all probability the would-be world chess champion one day – Magnus Carlsen!

7th Mikhail Tal Chess Memorial 2012 winners (from left) Teimour Radjabov, third; Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, second.

Fabiano Caruana was taken in by Levon Aronian’s home preparation. Carlsen left nothing to chance by convincingly beating Luke McShane for a clear first. Teimour Radjabov drew against Hikaru Nakamura and had to settle for third behind Fabiano Caruana on tiebreak. Caruana actually needed only a draw to share the title.

A friendly game with Levon Aronian

The Seventh Tal Memorial took place in Moscow with 10 of the world’s best chess players from June 8-18 on a round robin format at the beautiful Pashkov House. 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 were not allowed until after the first time control. The prize fund was 100,000 euros.

Round 9 Results:1. Aronian – Caruana 1-0

2.Nakamura – Radjabov draw

3. Tomashevsky – Grischuk draw

4. McShane – Carlsen 0-1

5. Kramnik – Morozevich draw

Final standings:1. Carlsen – 5,5

2-3. Caruana, Radjabov – 5

4-7. Aronian, Grischuk, Kramnik, Morozevich – 4,5

8-9.McShane, Nakamura – 4

10. Tomashevsky – 3,5

(Far left) Alexander Grischuk and (extreme right) US Chess Champion Hikaru Nakamura. In the middle: Grischuk’s daughter Masha and wife Natalia Zhukova.

The most disappointing result was possibly for Alexander Morozevich of Russia who was leading all the way up to the fifth round and then self-destructed suddenly to lose three games in a row. Vladimir Kramnik had joined Morozevich in the lead by the fifth round, but defying statistics he too has lost two games in a row.

Magnus Carlsen has won the Mikhail Tal Chess Memorial second time in a row. He had also pulled up a crucial victory in the last round against Hikaru Nakamura in 2011 as well. You can take a look at the Carlsen-Nakamura game from 2011 at the Black & White link. Round 9 Carlsen-McShane game, press comments and tweets to follow in our next post on the Mikhail Tal Chess Memorial. (Photos: Eteri Kublashvili/Russian Chess Federation.)