Mamedyarov Clinches $20,000 First Prize At Tal Memorial Blitz

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov clinched the first prize at the Tal Memorial blitz tournament in Sochi, Russia. The Azerbaijani GM took home U.S. $20,000 for two fine days at the office.

Alexander Grischuk almost caught Mamedyarov in the last few rounds, but had to be satisfied with second place (worth $15,000). Boris Gelfand, Alexander Morozevich and Sergey Karjakin tied for third (all got $9,000).

The Tal Memorial Blitz, held in memory of the eighth world champion, was held on Thursday and Friday in the same building as where Anand and Carlsen are playing their match.

The participants were Alexander Grischuk, Vladimir Kramnik, Boris Gelfand, Peter Leko, Alexander Morozevich, Ernesto Inarkiev, Sergey Karjakin, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Peter Svidler, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Evgeny Tomashevsky.

The format was a double round robin, with 11 rounds on day one and also 11 rounds on day two. The time control was four minutes plus two seconds increment.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov had an amazing first day as he crushed the field with a devastating 10/11 score. As always, there was a bit of luck involved sometimes, but a winner can't do without luck. A crucial game on that first day was the following.

The next day, in the 14th round, Mamedyarov lost for the first time. It was Ian Nepomniachtchi who played a nice exchange sacrifice, making sure that the tournament wasn't going to be decided too early:

In round 18 the Azerbaijani lost to Svidler, and he would go down one more time. Grischuk, who was the only real rival in the tournament, took revenge for his unfortunate loss the other day:

Grischuk defeated Mamedyarov to close in the standings at #TalMemorial in Sochi pic.twitter.com/UEh3SsMMH9

— Carlsen - Anand 2014 (@anandcarlsen14) November 14, 2014

In the penultimate round, Grischuk managed to get to only half a point behind Mamedyarov, and so after 21 rounds the tournament was still not decided! However, Mamedyarov kept fate in his own hands: he beat Karjakin as Black (from a Petroff!) to secure clear first.

Grischuk beat Kramnik, but that didn't matter anymore. In the final standings he was still half a point behind, and so he might be haunted by that 34...f6?? for a while...

These two players really stood out; with three points less Boris Gelfand, Alexander Morozevich and Sergey Karjakin followed. The tiebreak rules were 1) mutual encounter, 2) number of wins, 3) Koya and 4) Sonneborn-Berger, and as a result, it was 46-year-old Gelfand who got the trophy for third place.

You can find all games in this PGN file from TWIC. Mind that several games will have errors, because the electronic boards couldn't always keep track of the moves in cases of irregularities.

2014 Tal Memorial Blitz | Final Standings

#	Name	Rtg	Perf	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	Pts	SB
1	Mamedyarov,S	2757	2892		10	½0	1½	11	½0	10	11	11	1½	11	11	16.0/22
2	Grischuk,A	2795	2869	01		11	1½	11	1½	1½	01	½0	½½	1½	11	15.5/22
3	Gelfand,B	2724	2772	0½	0½		01	½1	00	½½	11	½½	11	10	11	12.5/22	120.00
4	Morozevich,A	2759	2769	½1	00	10		0½	½1	1½	10	0½	1½	1½	11	12.5/22	123.00
5	Karjakin,S	2770	2769	00	00	1½	½0		½1	01	01	½1	11	½1	11	12.5/22	114.50
6	Svidler,P	2743	2754	½1	0½	½0	11	½0		10	00	11	00	11	11	12.0/22
7	Nepomniachtchi,I	2714	2725	01	0½	0½	½½	10	01		01	1½	01	0½	11	11.0/22
8	Kramnik,V	2760	2706	00	10	01	00	10	11	10		½½	½1	01	01	10.5/22
9	Leko,P	2731	2693	00	½1	1½	½½	½0	00	0½	½½		½½	½½	11	10.0/22
10	Inarkiev,E	2688	2681	0½	½½	0½	00	00	11	10	½0	½½		01	11	9.5/22
11	Tomashevsky,E	2714	2629	00	0½	0½	01	½0	00	1½	10	½½	10		10	8.0/22
12	Kosteniuk,A	2541	2342	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	10	00	00	01		2.0/22

Шахрияр Мамедьяров выиграл блицтурнир "Мемориал Таля" в Сочи #TalMemorial by @ruchess_ru http://t.co/WOqu9hEGJE pic.twitter.com/jqIkq4g1pO

— Carlsen - Anand 2014 (@anandcarlsen14) November 14, 2014