Mikhail Tal Memorial 2012: Round 1 Preview

Round 1 of the 2012 Mikhail Tal Memorial Chess Tournament is about to begin. After a hard fought 9 round blitz tournament, we now have a clearer picture of what to expect in the main event. First off, Alexander Morozevich surprised his Russian fans by winning the blitz tournament on his home turf in Moscow. Alexander’s victory should put him in a good mood for tomorrow’s round 1. Hikaru Nakamura’s confidence might be raddled after failing to finish in the top half of the final standings.  However, Nakamura still performed remarkably well especially when compared to Vladimir Kramnik. Kramnik, a former chess world champion, finished second to last with only 2.5 points out of 9 rounds. Either Vladimir really didn’t care or he is a good actor at portraying a lousy blitz player.  All and all, the 2012 Mikhail Tal Memorial Blitz Tournament offered spectacular action and should have wet the appetitites of chess fans for the main event.

Mikhail Tal Memorial Blitz Tournament Final Standings

1) Alexander Morozevich     6.5/9

2) Magnus Carlsen              6.5/9

3) Teimor Radjabov              5.5/9

4) Alexander Grischuk         5.5/9

5) Levon Aronian                  5/9

6) Hikaru Nakamura           5/9

7) Evgeny Tomashevsky     3.5/9

8) Luke McShane                 3/9

9) Vladimir Kramnik           2.5/9

10) Fabiano Caruana           2/9

2012 Mikhail Tal Memorial  Round 1 Pairings

1) Alexander Morozevich

Fabiano Caruana

2) Magnus Carlsen

Vladimir Kramnik

3) Alexander Grischuk

Luke McShane

4) Teimor Radjabov

Evgeny Tomashevsky

5) Levon Aronian

Hikaru Nakamura

2012 Mikhail Tal Memorial Blitz Miniatures

[Event "Tal Memorial (Blitz)"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2012.06.07"]
[Round "9"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "A Morozevich"]
[Black "V Kramnik"]
[ECO "A05"]
[PlyCount "18"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 b6 3. Bg2 Bb7 4. O-O c5 5. d3 g6 6. e4 Bg7 7. Nh4 Qc8 8.
f4 O-O 9. Nc3 Nc6 1-0

[Event "Tal Memorial (Blitz)"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2012.06.07"]
[Round "7"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "F Caruana"]
[Black "L Aronian"]
[ECO "C67"]
[PlyCount "26"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bg5 Be7 7. Bxe7
Qxe7 8. Bxc6 dxc6 9. dxe5 Nf5 10. Nc3 Bd7 11. Qe2 O-O-O 12. Rad1 Kb8 13. b4
1-0

[Event "Tal Memorial (Blitz)"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2012.06.07"]
[Round "5"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "T Radjabov"]
[Black "L Aronian"]
[ECO "D11"]
[PlyCount "34"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 c6 3. c4 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4 5. Nbd2 e6 6. Bd3 Nbd7 7. b3 Bd6 8.
Bb2 Qb8 9. Qc2 a5 10. a3 Bh5 11. h3 Bg6 12. Bxg6 hxg6 13. O-O Rh5 14. e4
dxe4 15. Nxe4 Nxe4 16. Qxe4 Kf8 17. Rfe1 Kg8 1-0

[Event "Tal Memorial (Blitz)"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2012.06.07"]
[Round "2"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "E Tomashevsky"]
[Black "V Kramnik"]
[ECO "A29"]
[PlyCount "10"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 1-0

[Event "Tal Memorial (Blitz)"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2012.06.07"]
[Round "4"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "L Aronian"]
[Black "V Kramnik"]
[ECO "C53"]
[PlyCount "24"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. b4 Bb6 6. d3 d6 7. a4 a5 8. b5
Ne7 9. Nbd2 O-O 10. O-O Ng6 11. Ba2 h6 12. Nc4 Ba7 1-0

FIDE Top 100

Below is the FIDE top 100 list for November(source http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/).  Vugar Gashimov broke into the top 10 for the first time in his career. Born in 1986,  Mr. Gashimov  hails from Azerbaijan and is known for his extreme skill in one minute chess. Below is a recent example of his Brilliant play against American grandmaster Gata Kamsky:

[Event "Baku Grand Prix"]
[Site "Baku AZE"]
[Date "2008.04.28"]
[EventDate "2008.04.21"]
[Round "7"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Vugar Gashimov"]
[Black "Gata Kamsky"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2679"]
[BlackElo "2726"]
[PlyCount "103"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5
7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3 Bb7 9. d3 d6 10. a3 Qd7 11. Nbd2 Rfe8 12. Nf1
Nd8 13. Ng3 Ne6 14. Ba2 c5 15. Bd2 Bf8 16. b4 h6 17. c4 Nf4
18. Re3 bxc4 19. dxc4 Ne6 20. Bb1 g6 21. Re1 Qc7 22. Bd3 Bg7
23. Rb1 Nd7 24. Ne2 Nd4 25. Nc3 Rec8 26. Rc1 Qd8 27. Nd5 Bc6
28. Bf1 Nf8 29. Nxd4 exd4 30. f4 Nd7 31. Qf3 Rcb8 32. Qg3 cxb4
33. axb4 a5 34. b5 Bxd5 35. cxd5 Nc5 36. e5 a4 37. Bb4 a3
38. Bxa3 d3 39. Bxc5 d2 40. Bxd6 Rb7 41. Red1 dxc1=Q 42. Rxc1
Rba7 43. Qb3 Ra1 44. Bc7 Qh4 45. Rxa1 Rxa1 46. Qf3 Qe1 47. b6
Qb4 48. d6 Qd4+ 49. Kh2 Rb1 50. b7 Rxb7 51. Qxb7 Qxf4+ 52. g3
1-0

FIDE Rating List November 2009 Top 100
Rk	Se09	Name	Title	NAT	YroB	ap08	ju08	oc08	ja09	ap09	ju09	se09	Rating	Gms
1	1	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	1975	2767	2777	2791	2796	2812	2813	2813	2810	10
2	4	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	1990	2765	2775	2786	2776	2770	2772	2772	2801	10
3	2	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	1969	2803	2798	2783	2791	2783	2788	2788	2788	0
4	3	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	1982	2763	2737	2757	2750	2754	2768	2773	2786	13
5	5	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	1975	2788	2788	2772	2759	2759	2759	2772	2772	0
6	14	Gashimov, Vugar	g	AZE	1986	2679	2717	2703	2723	2730	2740	2740	2758	11
7	9	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	1968	2723	2720	2719	2733	2733	2755	2756	2758	11
8	12	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	1976	2746	2738	2727	2723	2726	2739	2741	2754	17
9	6	Leko, Peter	g	HUN	1979	2741	2741	2747	2751	2751	2756	2762	2752	10
10	10	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	1977	2774	2788	2787	2771	2751	2751	2750	2750	0
11	7	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	1987	2751	2744	2751	2761	2756	2756	2757	2748	10
12	8	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	1969	2740	2781	2786	2779	2746	2703	2756	2739	13
13	13	Ponomariov, Ruslan	g	UKR	1983	2719	2718	2719	2726	2726	2727	2741	2739	5
14	17	Grischuk, Alexander	g	RUS	1983	2716	2728	2719	2733	2748	2733	2733	2736	13
15	11	Jakovenko, Dmitry	g	RUS	1983	2711	2709	2737	2760	2753	2760	2742	2736	10
16	15	Wang, Yue	g	CHN	1987	2689	2704	2736	2739	2738	2736	2736	2734	27
17	24	Eljanov, Pavel	g	UKR	1983	2687	2716	2720	2693	2693	2716	2717	2729	15
18	20	Karjakin, Sergey	g	UKR	1990	2732	2727	2730	2706	2721	2717	2722	2723	12
19	21	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	g	AZE	1985	2752	2742	2731	2724	2725	2717	2721	2719	25
20	18	Shirov, Alexei	g	ESP	1972	2740	2741	2726	2745	2745	2732	2730	2719	18
21	22	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	g	CUB	1983	2695	2708	2719	2717	2721	2716	2719	2719	0
22	26	Movsesian, Sergei	g	SVK	1978	2695	2723	2732	2751	2747	2716	2711	2718	16
23	23	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	g	FRA	1990	2632	2681	2716	2696	2684	2703	2718	2718	0
24	16	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	1987	2686	2697	2704	2699	2701	2710	2735	2715	17
25	19	Alekseev, Evgeny	g	RUS	1985	2711	2708	2715	2718	2716	2714	2725	2715	7
26	36	Vallejo Pons, Francisco	g	ESP	1982	2684	2650	2664	2702	2688	2693	2696	2711	20
27	44	Tomashevsky, Evgeny	g	RUS	1987	2658	2646	2646	2664	2684	2689	2688	2708	21
28	42	Wang, Hao	g	CHN	1989	2689	2704	2736	2739	2696	2690	2690	2708	13
29	29	Short, Nigel D	g	ENG	1965	2660	2655	2642	2663	2674	2684	2706	2707	16
30	39	Navara, David	g	CZE	1985	2672	2646	2633	2638	2654	2687	2692	2707	9
31	25	Malakhov, Vladimir	g	RUS	1980	2689	2689	2675	2692	2709	2707	2715	2706	26
32	31	Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	g	UZB	1979	2681	2679	2672	2687	2695	2672	2702	2705	5
33	48	Almasi, Zoltan	g	HUN	1976	2674	2668	2663	2680	2685	2684	2685	2704	15
34	28	Bacrot, Etienne	g	FRA	1983	2705	2691	2705	2722	2728	2721	2709	2700	27
35	34	Akopian, Vladimir	g	ARM	1971	2673	2673	2679	2700	2696	2712	2698	2700	7
36	50	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	1971	2729	2735	2734	2712	2703	2699	2682	2698	12
37	30	Rublevsky, Sergei	g	RUS	1974	2695	2699	2702	2702	2702	2703	2703	2697	17
38	45	Nielsen, Peter Heine	g	DEN	1973	2629	2652	2662	2660	2668	2680	2687	2697	10
39	35	Jobava, Baadur	g	GEO	1983	2658	2665	2664	2669	2687	2684	2696	2696	0
40	27	Motylev, Alexander	g	RUS	1979	2666	2674	2672	2676	2677	2710	2710	2695	23
41	38	Kamsky, Gata	g	USA	1974	2726	2723	2729	2725	2720	2717	2692	2695	16
42	53	Vitiugov, Nikita	g	RUS	1987	2617	2616	2638	2687	2688	2681	2681	2694	24
43	43	Bologan, Viktor	g	MDA	1971	2665	2686	2682	2687	2690	2689	2688	2692	24
44	52	Volokitin, Andrei	g	UKR	1986	2684	2672	2659	2671	2671	2678	2681	2691	16
45	47	Naiditsch, Arkadij	g	GER	1985	2623	2665	2678	2693	2700	2697	2685	2689	26
46	41	Miroshnichenko, Evgenij	g	UKR	1978	2642	2593	2632	2667	2680	2696	2690	2686	26
47	32	Bu, Xiangzhi	g	CHN	1985	2708	2710	2714	2702	2704	2702	2702	2682	22
48	46	Polgar, Judit	g	HUN	1976	2709	2711	2711	2693	2693	2687	2687	2680	6
49	37	Moiseenko, Alexander	g	UKR	1980	2650	2632	2678	2676	2690	2682	2694	2677	17
50	67	Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter	g	ROU	1976	2684	2692	2684	2675	2675	2675	2664	2677	14
51	54	Sargissian, Gabriel	g	ARM	1983	2643	2660	2642	2678	2660	2667	2678	2676	16
52	33	Onischuk, Alexander	g	USA	1975	2664	2670	2644	2659	2684	2699	2699	2672	18
53	56	Harikrishna, P.	g	IND	1986	2679	2668	2659	2673	2686	2679	2673	2672	16
54	68	Georgiev, Kiril	g	BUL	1965	2665	2671	2645	2634	2637	2645	2663	2672	13
55	62	Cheparinov, Ivan	g	BUL	1986	2695	2687	2696	2679	2678	2678	2667	2671	5
56	83	Efimenko, Zahar	g	UKR	1985	2660	2670	2680	2688	2682	2654	2654	2668	24
57	55	Sutovsky, Emil	g	ISR	1977	2630	2654	2651	2660	2660	2675	2676	2666	26
58	59	Kurnosov, Igor	g	RUS	1985	2593	2617	2606	2602	2658	2669	2669	2666	20
59	51	Najer, Evgeniy	g	RUS	1977	2627	2670	2682	2669	2669	2663	2681	2666	17
60	40	Ni, Hua	g	CHN	1983	2703	2705	2710	2709	2724	2701	2692	2665	35
61	57	Tiviakov, Sergei	g	NED	1973	2634	2645	2686	2684	2697	2674	2670	2664	34
62	63	Areshchenko, Alexander	g	UKR	1986	2650	2664	2664	2673	2657	2651	2667	2664	16
63	81	Landa, Konstantin	g	RUS	1972	2633	2615	2613	2626	2627	2655	2655	2664	16
64	74	Sasikiran, Krishnan	g	IND	1981	2679	2684	2694	2711	2682	2669	2661	2664	9
65	88	Smirin, Ilia	g	ISR	1968	2630	2637	2649	2647	2641	2650	2648	2662	16
66	69	Berkes, Ferenc	g	HUN	1985	2618	2645	2645	2651	2638	2647	2663	2661	21
67	93	Riazantsev, Alexander	g	RUS	1985	2638	2617	2656	2634	2635	2647	2646	2661	16
68	78	Roiz, Michael	g	ISR	1983	2659	2680	2677	2647	2635	2658	2658	2659	3
69	85	Krasenkow, Michal	g	POL	1963	2624	2639	2624	2620	2622	2631	2651	2656	19
70	90	Lastin, Alexander	g	RUS	1976	2622	2639	2651	2643	2650	2648	2648	2656	11
71	70	Pashikian, Arman	g	ARM	1987	2537	2564	2611	2621	2655	2650	2663	2656	11
72	71	Dreev, Alexey	g	RUS	1969	2657	2657	2670	2688	2668	2660	2662	2655	44
73	92	Baklan, Vladimir	g	UKR	1978	2647	2631	2625	2627	2618	2639	2646	2655	32
74	60	Avrukh, Boris	g	ISR	1978	2632	2656	2657	2645	2647	2641	2668	2655	7
75	—	Ganguly, Surya Shekhar	g	IND	1983	2614	2631	2603	2614	2625	2637	2634	2654	25
76	95	Fier, Alexandr	g	BRA	1988	2527	2558	2581	2590	2595	2604	2644	2653	28
77	100	Kazhgaleyev, Murtas	g	KAZ	1973	2617	2641	2640	2630	2626	2639	2643	2653	15
78	77	Fressinet, Laurent	g	FRA	1981	2656	2673	2676	2666	2664	2667	2658	2653	14
79	65	Meier, Georg	g	GER	1987	2560	2556	2558	2608	2641	2658	2664	2653	10
80	49	Grachev, Boris	g	RUS	1986	2610	2640	2653	2655	2652	2669	2684	2652	23
81	72	Caruana, Fabiano	g	ITA	1992	2620	2630	2640	2646	2649	2670	2662	2652	21
82	82	Predojevic, Borki	g	BIH	1987	2651	2634	2615	2650	2652	2644	2654	2652	17
83	86	Van Wely, Loek	g	NED	1972	2676	2644	2618	2625	2622	2655	2650	2652	15
84	79	Sokolov, Ivan	g	BIH	1968	2690	2658	2650	2657	2669	2655	2657	2652	11
85	76	Milov, Vadim	g	SUI	1972	2690	2705	2681	2669	2659	2659	2659	2652	5
86	61	Timofeev, Artyom	g	RUS	1985	2664	2650	2670	2671	2677	2681	2668	2651	22
87	84	Postny, Evgeny	g	ISR	1981	2649	2661	2674	2652	2648	2647	2651	2650	26
88	—	Smeets, Jan	g	NED	1985	2578	2593	2604	2601	2626	2632	2642	2650	17
89	73	Fridman, Daniel	g	GER	1976	2640	2637	2630	2650	2646	2665	2661	2649	15
90	94	Seirawan, Yasser	g	USA	1960	2630	2634	2634	2634	2634	2646	2646	2649	1
91	—	Vescovi, Giovanni	g	BRA	1978	2617	2631	2635	2635	2631	2631	2636	2648	19
92	80	Beliavsky, Alexander G	g	SLO	1953	2641	2606	2619	2646	2640	2662	2656	2648	17
93	91	Zhigalko, Sergei	g	BLR	1989	2568	2583	2592	2587	2622	2621	2646	2646	0
94	66	Inarkiev, Ernesto	g	RUS	1985	2684	2675	2669	2656	2676	2675	2664	2645	21
95	—	Savchenko, Boris	g	RUS	1986	2569	2578	2648	2654	2655	2650	2638	2644	29
96	—	Khismatullin, Denis	g	RUS	1984	2584	2613	2606	2601	2601	2604	2614	2643	16
97	—	Socko, Bartosz	g	POL	1978	2644	2627	2631	2631	2637	2656	2637	2643	15
98	89	Kobalia, Mikhail	g	RUS	1978	2627	2618	2630	2634	2645	2645	2648	2643	9
99	—	Korobov, Anton	g	UKR	1985	2590	2590	2605	2613	2616	2623	2633	2642	14
100	58	Tkachiev, Vladislav	g	FRA	1973	2657	2664	2664	2657	2657	2650	2669	2642	14

The 2700 Club Is Becoming Crowded!

The October 2008 FIDE Rating List now has 32 players with ratings above 2700. Here they are in order of ranking:

Topalov wins 2005 World Chess Championships. source: 2005 WCC Press

Rank Name Country Rating

1Topalov, VeselinBUL 2791
2Morozevich, AlexanderRUS 2787
3Ivanchuk, VassilyUKR 2786
4Carlsen, Magnus NOR 2786
5Anand, Viswanathan IND 2783
6Kramnik, VladimirRUS 2772
7Aronian, Levon ARM 2757
8Radjabov, TeimourAZE 2751
9Leko, Peter HUN 2747
10Jakovenko, DmitryRUS 2737
11Wang, YueCHN 2736
12 Adams, Michael ENG 2734
13Movsesian, SergeiSVK 2732
14Mamedyarov, ShakhriyarAZE 2731
15Karjakin, SergeyUKR 2730
16Kamsky, Gata USA 2729
17Svidler, PeterRUS 2727
18Shirov, Alexei ESP 2726
19Eljanov, PavelUKR 2720
20Gelfand, BorisISR 2719
21Dominguez Perez, Leinier CUB 2719
22Ponomariov, RuslanUKR 2719
23Grischuk, AlexanderRUS 2719
24Vachier-Lagrave, MaximeFRA 2716
25Alekseev, EvgenyRUS 2715
26Bu, XiangzhiCHN 2714
27Polgar, Judit HUN 2711
28Ni, HuaCHN 2710
29Bacrot, EtienneFRA 2705
30Nakamura, Hikaru USA 2704
31Gashimov, VugarAZE 2703
32Rublevsky, SergeiRUS 2702