6/19/2012 – It is almost fitting that the final round saw yet another unexpected series of results leading to a surprise winner: Magnus Carlsen. Fabiano Caruana fell into some nasty home preparation by Levon Aronian and lost, while Carlsen beat Luke McShane in a model game to take clear first. With his win a record was possibly set. Final report with video and GM analysis.
Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
Winning starts with what you know The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
World Chess Championship 2024 - all games with analyses by Giri, Shankland, So and others. Kasimdzhanov, King and Ris show new opening ideas in the video. 10 repertoire articles from the English Opening to the King's Indian and much more.
€21.90
Seventh Tal Memorial in Moscow
The event is a ten-player round robin event, is taking place from June
8th to 18th in the Pashkov House (Vozdvizhenka Street 3/5, p.1), Moscow,
Russia. Rest days are June 11 and 15. 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. Games start at 15:00h
local time (last round 13:00h).
Draw offers are not allowed until after the first time control. The participants
are required to comment on their games in the press center after each
round. The prize fund is 100,000 Euros.
Round
9: Monday, June 18, 2012
Levon Aronian
1-0
Fabiano Caruana
Hikaru Nakamura
½-½
Teimour Radjabov
Ev. Tomashevsky
½-½
Alexander Grischuk
Luke McShane
0-1
Magnus Carlsen
Vladimir Kramnik
½-½
Alex. Morozevich
Round nine
Dedicated videographers and photographers capture the opening moments
After so many dramatic twists and turns, the Tal Memorial finally ended, and possibly with a genuine record. No doubt the masters of such lists can confirm or debunk it, but with only nine rounds and ten players, five different sole leaders is quite probably a first, at least in a GM round robin.
Caruana ran head first into Aronian's deadly opening preparation
Three players had clear chances, and though Fabiano Caruana had a half point lead, he also had the toughest opponent: Levon Aronian. It was his poor luck that he fell into some prime home preparation by the world number two, and was unable to salvage a disintegrating position.
Annotated game by GM Gilberto Milos
New ...
New Game
Edit Game
Setup Position
Open...
PGN
FEN
Share...
Share Board (.png)
Share Board (configure)
Share playable board
Share game as GIF
Notation (PGN)
QR Code
Layout...
Use splitters
Swipe notation/lists
Reading mode
Flip Board
Settings
Move
N
Result
Elo
Players
1.e4
1,182,453
54%
2421
---
1.d4
957,826
55%
2434
---
1.Nf3
285,853
56%
2441
---
1.c4
184,465
56%
2443
---
1.g3
19,863
56%
2427
---
1.b3
14,579
54%
2428
---
1.f4
5,949
48%
2377
---
1.Nc3
3,899
50%
2383
---
1.b4
1,790
48%
2378
---
1.a3
1,249
54%
2406
---
1.e3
1,080
49%
2409
---
1.d3
967
50%
2378
---
1.g4
670
46%
2361
---
1.h4
466
54%
2382
---
1.c3
439
51%
2425
---
1.h3
289
56%
2420
---
1.a4
118
60%
2461
---
1.f3
100
47%
2427
---
1.Nh3
92
67%
2511
---
1.Na3
47
62%
2476
---
Please, wait...
1.d4Nf62.c4g63.f3After the Anand-Gelfand match this move is becoming
more popular.d54.cxd5Nxd55.e4Nb66.Nc3Bg77.Be30-08.Qd2Nc69.0-0-0Qd610.Kb1Rd811.Nb5Qd712.d5a613.Nc3Qe8A novelty.13...Na5was the old standard move.14.Bd414.Qe1Ne515.Be2e6An important
option was15...Nec416.Bd4e6or16...e516.Bxb6!16.f4Nec416...cxb617.f4Nd718.dxe6Qxe619.Nf3!This is a critical position
and Black has to take the 'e' pawn otherwise White will have a big advantage.Qe8?19...Bxc320.Qxc3Qxe4+21.Bd3Qxf4 White has
compensation and can continue with Rhf1 followed by Bc4 but the attack is not
so clear and in the appropriate moment Black can give back one or two pawns in
order to defend.20.Qh4Bf621.Ng5Nf822.Bc4!Kg722...Be6is
another defense and perhaps better than the game. White has two pleasant
options;23.Bxe6the best one23.Nd5Bxd524.Bxd5with a clear
advantage.23...fxe624.e5Be7 Here White is
technically a pawn up since the queenside pawns are neutralized while he has a
4 vs. 3 advantage on the kingside. Add to that a strong attack with the
advance of the h-pawn, a weak e6 vulnerable to attacks, and control of the d6
and f6 squares and his advantage is palpable.23.Qg3Bxg523...Be6Now
this move would be worse than in the previous note.24.Nxe6+fxe625.e5Be726.h4or26.Bd3followed by h4.24.fxg5Be625.Nd5Bxd526.Bxd5Rd727.h4White is strategically winning. The bishop is better than the knight,
and he has a strong attack against the black king, while his own king is quite
safe.Rc828.a3Aronian decides to play slow and make some prophylactic
moves before the final attack. When Kasparov played a move like this, with an
attack ready to go, it was always the eye of the hurricane.28.h5Qe729.hxg6fxg630.Rd3 followed by doubling on the f file was
decisive.28...Qd829.Qf2Ne630.Ka2Qe731.Rhf131.Qxb6was possible
but White does not need this pawn to win.31...b532.Rd3the winning plan.
Rcc733.Kb1a534.g4a435.Rf3Qd636.Rf6the pressure in the f file
plus the advance of the h pawn decides the game.Qc536...Qe737.Qh2Nd838.h5is hopeless for Black.37.Qg3!b4Last chance for counterplay.
Levon plays precise and finishes the game.38.axb4Qc2+39.Ka1a340.bxa3Rxd540...Rc341.R6f3Rxf342.Qxf3is also winning for white.41.exd5Nd442.Rxf7+!The final combination transposing to a winning endgame.Rxf743.Qe5+Kf844.Qb8+Kg745.Rxf7+Kxf746.Qxb7+Ke847.Qb8+Kd748.Qa7+Kd649.Qxd4Black has no perpetual here.Qc1+50.Ka2Qc2+51.Qb2Qc4+52.Ka1Qxg453.Qf2Kxd554.Qc5+1–0
While Teimour Radjabov drew with Hikaru Nakamura to draw level with Caruana, Magnus Carlsen took complete advantage of his last and best chance to lay claim to the crown. In a game that was nearly a model of how to exploit Luke McShane’s opening choice, he left the Brit no chance to complicate the game, and outplayed him quite thoroughly to take clear first and thus become the fifth and last sole leader.
It was an unexpected window of opportunity, and Magnus Carlsen
made it count.
Alexander Grischuk looks down, seated next to his daughter and wife, WGM Natalia Zhukova
Alexander Grischuk had a chance of lifting himself past the 50% mark, when he built a very large advantage in his endgame against Evgeny Tomashevsky, but a mistake on the 40th move dashed this hope away and a draw was agreed shortly after.
The longest game was between the two previous leaders: Vladimir Kramnik and Alexander Morozevich, both who were trying to recover from a series of painful losses that had dropped them from hero to the break even point. Kramnik emerged with an extra pawn in the endgame, but Morozevich’s active pieces made the task of converting a tough one, and eventually his resourcefulness saved the game.
Teimour Radjabov (3rd), Magnus Carlsen (1st) and Fabiano Caruana (2nd)
The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the
chess server Playchess.com.
If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there
and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase
11 or any of our Fritz
compatible chess programs.
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
The Trompowsky is especially suited for faster time controls as you don‘t have to memorise endless lines of theory, and you push your opponent out of their comfort zone after your second move.
Trompowsky Powerbook 2025 is based on 53,000 computer games from the engine room of playchess.com as well as 49,000 games from Mega and correspondence chess.
Trompowsky Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 8727 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 316 are annotated.
2025 European Championship with a German double victory and analyses by Bluebaum, Svane, Rodshtein, Yuffa, Navara and many more. Opening videos by Engel, King and Marin. Training sections “The Fortress”, “The Trap” and “Fundamental Endgame Knowledge" etc.
In this dynamic and practical video course, IM Andrew Martin arms you with powerful antidotes to White’s most annoying sidelines.
€34.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.