2012 Mikhail Tal Memorial
The 2012 Tal Memorial super-tournament takes place in Moscow, Russia from 7-19 June.
The format is a 10-player single round robin, with rounds starting at 15:00 local time (11:00 UTC), except for the last round which starts two hours earlier.
The total prize fund is €100,000 with €30,000 going to the winner. The time control in operation is 100 minutes for 40 moves, then 50 minutes for 20 moves, and finally 15 minutes to a finish with an increment of 30 seconds from the start. No draw offers will be allowed before move 40.
The full line-up:
| Name | Nat | Rank | Elo |
| Magnus Carlsen | NOR | 1 | 2835 |
| Levon Aronian | ARM | 2 | 2825 |
| Vladimir Kramnik | RUS | 3 | 2801 |
| Teimour Radjabov | AZE | 5 | 2784 |
| Hikaru Nakamura | USA | 7 | 2775 |
| Fabiano Caruana | ITA | 8 | 2770 |
| Alexander Morozevich | RUS | 9 | 2769 |
| Alexander Grischuk | RUS | 11 | 2761 |
| Evgeny Tomashevsky | RUS | 15 | 2738 |
| Luke McShane | ENG | 39 | 2706 |
Luke McShane's participation was secured by a fan vote arranged by the organisers.
Another innovation for the competition has been decided: instead of the traditional drawing of lots at the opening ceremony, there will be a blitz tournament which will determine the order of players in the pairings for the main event!
The round-robin blitz tournament isn't just for fun - there is a separate prize fund of €15,000 with €5,000 for the winner. The action starts on 7 June at 18:30 local time (14:30 UTC), using the time control of 3 minutes and 2 seconds increment.
The tournament schedule:
| Date | Time | Event |
| 7 June | 18:30 | Blitz Tournament |
| 8 June | 15:00 | Round 1 |
| 9 June | 15:00 | Round 2 |
| 10 June | 15:00 | Round 3 |
| 11 June | Rest Day | |
| 12 June | 15:00 | Round 4 |
| 13 June | 15:00 | Round 5 |
| 14 June | 15:00 | Round 6 |
| 15 June | Rest Day | |
| 16 June | 15:00 | Round 7 |
| 17 June | 15:00 | Round 8 |
| 18 June | 13:00 | Round 9 |
| 19 June | Departure |
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There will be live video coverage on chess.com/tv (scroll down for the schedule) as well as at the official website, in both Russian and English.
Last year Magnus Carlsen won the tournament, narrowly beating Lev Aronian on superior tie-breaks after both finished with a score of 5½/9.
In case of a tie in this year's event, the tie-breaks are:
- Number of games played with black
- Number of wins
- Result of direct encounter
- Koya system
- Sonneborn-Berger
A happy Carlsen after winning in 2011
Who is your favourite to win the 2012 tournament in honour of the great Mikhail Tal?
