The 7th Mikhail Tal Memorial will take place from 7th to 19th June, 2012, in Moscow, Russia.
The opening ceremony will be held on 7th June at 18:00. Instead of the usual drawing of lots there will be a blitz tournament to determine the starting numbers in the main event. The numbers will be assigned according to the places taken in the blitz standings.
The blitz tournament offers a separate prize fund of 15,000 euros.
The prizes are distributed as follows:
1st place 5 000 EUR
2nd place 3 000 EUR
3rd place 2 000 EUR
4th place 1 500 EUR
5th place 1 000 EUR
6th place 700 EUR
7th place 600 EUR
8th place 500 EUR
9th place 400 EUR
10th place 300 EUR
The time control is 3′+2”. The starting numbers in the blitz event will be given according to the Elo rating on May 1, 2012:
1. Magnus Carlsen 2835
2. Levon Aronian 2825
3. Vladimir Kramnik 2801
4. Teimour Radjabov 2784
5. Hikaru Nakamura 2775
6. Fabiano Caruana 2770
7. Alexander Morozevich 2769
8. Alexander Grischuk 2761
9. Evgeny Tomashevsky 2738
10. Luke McShane 2706
In case of equal points for two or more participants, the tie will be broken according to the additional criteria, in order of importance: the greater number of games with black, the greater number of wins, the personal result etc.
Main Tournament – Mikhail Tal Memorial 2012
The playing days for the main tournament are 8-10th, 12-14th and 16-18th June. Rest days are on 11th and 15th June. The rounds start at 15:00 Moscow time, except for the last round which starts at 13.00.
The Tournament Director is Ilya Levitov. The Chief Arbiter is IA Andrzej Filipowicz from Poland.
The Tournament will be played according to the FIDE Laws of Chess as a round-robin event in 9 rounds. The rate of play is 1 hour 40 minutes for 40 moves plus 50 minutes for 20 moves plus 15 minutes for the rest of the game with a 30 second increment per move, starting from the first.
The participants are not allowed to offer a draw until after 40 moves have been made. All participants are obliged to comment on their games at the press room upon completion of each round.
The prize fund 100 000 euros. The prizes are distributed as follows:
1st – 30.000
2nd – 20.000
3rd – 15.000
4th – 10.000
5th – 8.000
6th – 6.000
7th – 4.000
8th – 3.000
9th – 2.500
10th – 1.500
Nakamura will win.