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Vladimir Kramnik won one of the greatest chess tournaments ever - Tal Memorial-09, I category FIDE (with an average rating of 2764 and 10 of the top-12 players in the world involved). The Russian ex-world champion has demonstrated great chess skills, exceptional fighting spirit and excellent opening preparation. Actually, it looks as if he could have even scored more points than he actually did, but +3 out of 10 is still a great result.
The chess genius Vassily Ivanchuk had White against Kramnik in the last round and had excellent winning chances. However, after Kramnik's brilliant defence and some inaccuracies by the Ukrainian GM, he had to succumb to a draw, which secured him the 2nd place with...Magnus Carlsen. All eyes were on the 2800-rated Norwegian chess prodigy, but a flue and solid play by his opponents allowed him to score "only" +2. To be honest, the result could have been much more modest given that Ponomariov blundered against him right in the opening, while Leko managed to lose an unsophisticated endgame with better chances for him!
A ridiculous loss in less than 30 moves (one of the worst in his career) by World Chess Champion Vishy Anand against Grand Prix winner Levon Aronian left them sharing spots 4-5 in the final table.
Boris Gelfand has once again proved that he is a solid player of world class caliber. Thus, his result (4.5 out of 9) is not a susprise for anyone.
By winning a nice endgame in the last round, ex-FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov ended the tournament at -1. Not a great results, but Ruslan has demonstrated nice technique and high fighting spirits.
Five-times Russian champion Peter Svidler is definitely not satisfied with their performance - not a single win, and only 3.5 out of 9. Let's just say that the tournament has been unfortunate for them - Svidler was already tired after the EuroCup.
The amazing Alexander Morozevich is a person who ia admired by fans all over the world (just look at the results of our poll on the left panel of Pogonina.com). At the same time, his imaginative and risky play often doesn't score well against the top world grandmasters. So, with 3/9 Alexander shared the last place - a bad beating, but we're sure he'll be back! The same can be said about Peter Leko - an ex- world championship challenger, he seemed to be out of form and was looking forward to a vacation with his beautiful wife.
Other important things to be noted: excellent coverage of the event, including online video broadcast & audio commentary by editor of 64 Chess review magazine Mark Glukhovsky, GM Gennah Sosonko, and other notable commentators - GM Alexander Grischuk, GM Sergey Shipov. Too bad the commentary was only in Russian. Excellent PR - even special trams with pictures and quotes of the participants. High attention from the chess fans - all the playing hall and press center have constantly been crowded (almost like in the good old days), and thousands of people have been watching the games live at various chess servers.
Final standings:
Table is courtesy of Chessbase
On a personal note: I have visited two Tal Memorials so far, but the 2008 one has become truly special for me, since there I have met Natalia Pogonina for the first time. From then and on, this is one of my most favorite chess events, and I'm very happy and proud that Vladimir Kramnik, a symbol of chess & a Russian great champion, won this tournament! Mine and Natalia's prediction regarding the winner of the memorial has come true!
