Levon Aronian Wins Alekhine Memorial

There was a final twist in the tale as the destiny of the Alekhine Memorial tournament was decided on the final day.

Lev Aronian defeated former leader Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to catch Boris Gelfand in the standings on 5½/9 points.

The tie-break fell in favour of the Armenian grandmaster thanks to his three wins compared to Gelfand's two.

The only other decisive result of the final round was a fine win for Vladimir Kramnik against Michael Adams. The game was notable for a curious incident when Adams wrongly claimed a draw by 3-fold repetition.

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The final standings of the 2013 Alekhine Memorial

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The tournament winner, Levon Aronian

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Lev Aronian's tournament victory consolidates his status as the #2 ranked player in the world behind Magnus Carlsen. World #3 Vladimir Kramnik had a strange tournament, winning in the first and last round, but losing twice in-between - including a loss to Aronian in round two.

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Vishy Anand had an unremarkable tournament, but still managed to finish in third place.

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The tournament was a 10-player single round robin competition, with the first half held in the Louvre in Paris and the second half in the Russian State Museum in St. Petersburg.

The time control was 100 minutes for 40 moves, then 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, then 15 minutes to a finish with a 30 second increment from the start.  The prize fund was €100,000 with €30,000 for first place.

The official site is here, with game analysis here, and archived video commentary here.

Games via TWIC. Screenshot from the official website coverage.