Carlsen Wins The 2012 Tal Memorial
After all the remarkable twists and turns of the 2012 Tal Memorial, it was the world #1 Magnus Carlsen who finished on a high, beating Luke McShane to win the tournament with a score of 5½/9.
In an incredibly close finale, if McShane had beaten Carlsen and the other results had remained the same, then the English amateur would have won the tournament!
The leader before the final round was Fabiano Caruana, but he fell to defeat against an inspired Lev Aronian, slipping down to second place.
The other games ended all-square, but not through lack of effort; especially from Vladimir Kramnik who tortured Alexander Morozevich for a long time before eventually conceding a draw after 72 moves.
The final standings in the 2012 Tal Memorial:
| Name | Elo | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Pts |
| Carlsen, Magnus | 2835 | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 5½ |
| Caruana, Fabiano | 2770 | ½ | * | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Radjabov, Teimour | 2784 | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Morozevich, Alexander | 2769 | ½ | 1 | ½ | * | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4½ |
| Aronian, Levon | 2825 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 4½ |
| Kramnik, Vladimir | 2801 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 4½ |
| Grischuk, Alexander | 2761 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | * | 1 | 1 | ½ | 4½ |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | 2775 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | * | ½ | ½ | 4 |
| McShane, Luke | 2706 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | 4 |
| Tomashevsky, Evgeny | 2738 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | 3½ |
.
Magnus Carlsen was the only undefeated player, and took first place
.
.
Lev Aronian turned Fabiano Caruana's dreams of winning into a nightmare
.
.
Teimour Radjabov claimed third place with a draw against Hikaru Nakamura
.
.
Evgeny Tomashavsky finished last, despite a Tournament Performance Rating of over 2700!
.
.
Vladimir Kramnik finished with an even score...
.
...as did his final round opponent Alexander Morozevich
.
.
Photos by Eteri Kublashvili. Games via TWIC.
The official website has all the round-by-round videos available for replay here (Russian commentary) and also here (English commentary).
The tie-breaks were:
- Number of games played with black
- Number of wins
- Result of direct encounter
- Koya system
- Sonneborn-Berger
