The 11th edition of traditional tournament Tal Memorial, organised in honour and admiration to former world Chess Champion Mikhail Tal, will take place from 2nd-5th March in Museum of Russian Impressionism, in Moscow, Russia.
The tournament consists of two events: Rapid and Blitz, with the participation of top world chess players. The rapid event will be played in 9 rounds, Robin round system, while the Blitz competition will be played in 13 rounds in the Central Chess Club in Moscow. Names of four players who will join the blitz tournament will be announced before the start of the event.
The participants of the 11th Tal Memorial are: Nakamura Hikaru (USA, 2820), Viswanathan Anand (IND. 2805), Nepomniachtchi Ian (RUS, 2803), Kramnik Vladimir (RUS, 2795), Grischuk Alexander (RUS, 2792), Svidler Peter (RUS, 2770), Mamedyarov Shakhriyar (AZE, 2755), Karjakin Sergey (RUS, 2724), Dubov Daniil (RUS, 2663) and Gelfand Boris (ISR, 2644).
Press conference before the start of the event took place yesterday, while the very first games of the event will start today at 3 pm when players will begin the fight for the total prize fund of 150.000$.
Besides the two main events, the part of the Tal Memorial will also be a traditional match Blondes vs. Brunnetes which will take place in the Central Chess Club in Moscow on 4th March. The teams will be led by Alexandra Kosteniuk and Valentina Gunina.
The event is organized with support of the Avtodor Group of Companies, the Charitable Foundation of Elena and Gennady Timchenko, JSC Russian Railways, PhosAgro, Art Russe, and Building and Construction Group of Companies «Don».