Tal Memorial Blitz won by Mamedyarov

X Jubilee Tal Memorial is taking place from 25 September to 6 October 2016 in the Moscow Museum of Russian Impressionism. The tournament will be a continuation of the program "Chess in Museums", which is being implemented by the Russian Chess Federation together with the Charitable Foundation of Elena and Gennady Timchenko. The General Partner of the Russian Chess Federation for the X Tal Memorial is the state company "Russian Highways" ("Avtodor").

The prize fund for the event is 200 thousand USD.

The tournament is a round-robin over nine rounds played at 100 minutes for 40 moves plus 50 minutes for 20 moves and 15 minutes until the end of the game with 30 seconds for each move starting from the first. The chief arbiter is International Arbiter Anatoly Bykhovsky.

Opening and Blitz

The opening ceremony was a fairly simple affair with the press greeting the organizers together with both Boris Gelfand and Vishy Anand. Not everyone had arrived and Vladimir Kramnik’s flight had run into delays that threw a spanner into the works.

Vishy was asked to say a few words on Tal, who he had known and played. “Even though Mikhail Tal was only world champion for one year, I think he won more fans in that year than many others in their lifetime. He is obviously one of the most popular world champions ever, and I have a personal connection as well, in that I grew up in the Mihkail Tal Chess Club in Chennai.”

After a 30-minute delay to the start, Vladimir Kramnik arrived, apologized, and was the example of smiles and sportsmanship for his colleagues and spectators.

The tournament was held in front of a small audience of press and spectators

Giri - Gelfand

White saw the idea but mistepped in the execution, can you do better? White to play and win.

Each and every table had an arbiter seated to ensure a smooth event

In such a short tournament with blitz games, there is a considerable amount of luck involved as much as chess, and this day was Mamedyarov's as he combined opportunism with skill to take clear first.

Mamedyarov - Nepomniachtchi

A cute little shot that decides the game. White to play and win.

At stake was more than just first prize, but also the number of whites. The players in the top half would enjoy five whites and four blacks, while the rest would have four white and five blacks.

Gelfand - Mamedyarov

The Azeri player missed this spectacular tactic, but quite forgivably considering the subtle point that makes it work. He did wn the game nonetheless. Black to play and win... and be sure you see it to the end!

Peter Svidler won a nice game against Vladimir Kramnik. Check out the tactic he found to put the last nail in the coffin.

Peter Svidler - Vladimir Kramnik

The position above was the final position between Nepomniachtchi (white) and Anand (black). Nepo had understood that capturing the black pawn would mean an instant draw due to the wrong bishop combined with the advancing h-pawn, and had tried to zugzwang Anand into being forced into advancing his g-pawn, allowing hxg4 and winning. Vishy did not look a bit perturbed as this played out, and when Nepo finally got his dream position above, he understood why: After 1. Bf5 Black would indeed have no choice but to play 1...g4, but the problem is that after 2.hxg4 Black is stalemated! And if 2.Bxg4 then the wrong bishop and h-pawn ending are left. Seeing this, he smiled ruefully, and stuck out his hand for the draw.

GM Evgeny Miroschenko is providing the English language commentary, much as he did at the Baku Olympiad, but an interesting surprise co-commentator is 20-year-old GM Daniil Dubov, who will also be present throughout the Tal Memorial

A sample of the English commentary. Be sure to check it out at the official video channel!

Replay all the blitz games

Select games from the list below the board

Final blitz standings

Schedule and pairings

Links Official tournament site All blitz games in PGN All games in PGN 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 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.