Alexander Grischuk became the winner of the International Tashir Chess Tournament

On November 11, the final 7th round of the International TASHIR Chess Tournament in Memory of Tigran Petrosian was played.The game between leaders of the race Alexander Grischuk and Vladimir Kramnik was drawn rather quickly – the opponents had repeated their moves as early as in the opening.

Thus, Alexander Grischuk became the winner of the International Tashir Chess Tournament in Memory of Tigran Petrosian scoring 5.5 points out of 7. This victory is one of the most significant in the Russian grandmaster’s chess career. The “+4” score permitted Alexander to join the “2800+ elite club” in the FIDE ratings.  

Vladimir Kramnik finished second with 4.5 points to his credit.

The third place went to Boris Gelfand, who defeated Peter Leko with White in the final round and scored 4 points. Players had exchanged most of their pieces early in the game, and the main struggle took place in the pawn endgame, in which White gradually outplayed his opponent.

Levon Aronian, who scored the same number of points as Boris Gelfand, took the fourth place as his tiebreak indicators were worse. Black developed an attack en masse against the enemy king and, after the attack itself had ended, obtained a better endgame. In the bishop endgame the Armenian grandmaster outplayed his Russian vis-à-vis.

Alexander Morozevich obtained a promising position as White against Ding Liren but committed an inaccuracy after which all his advantage gradually vanished. The Russian player had sacrificed a pawn, but that was enough only for forcing a draw by perpetual check.

Results of round 7:

A. Grischuk – V. Kramnik 1/2, E. Inarkiev – L. Aronian 0-1, B. Gelfand – P. Leko 1-0, A. Morozevich – Ding Liren 1/2

Final standings:

1. A. Grischuk – 5.5, 2. V. Kramnik (both from Russia) – 4.5, 3. B. Gelfand (Israel), 4. L. Aronian (Armenia) – 4. 5. Ding Liren (People’s Republic of China) – 3.5, 6. P. Leko (Hungary) – 2.5, 7-8. A. Morozevich, E. Inarkiev (both from Russia) – 2.

On the same night the closing ceremony of the International TASHIR Chess Tournament in Memory of Tigran Petrosian took place. The attendees were: the President of the ROC Alexander Zhukov, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Igor Levitin, the President of the TASHIR group of companies Samvel Carapetian, the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the President of the RCF Andrey Filatov, 12th chess world champion Anatoly Karpov, the President of CCIFR Emmanuel Quidet, Director General of CCIFR, Vice-President of the RCF Pavel Shinsky and many others.

Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Igor Levitin shared his impressions of the competition: "The tournaments dedicated to legends of Soviet chess, such as the International Tashir Chess Tournament in Memory of Tigran Petrosian, are very important. I think that if such tournaments were held more often, we would remember our champions not only by their books.Chess was extremely popular in the USSR; practically the whole country had been following matches for the world champion title. The whole country was aching for its representative to become the champion of the world.I believe that the President of Russia’s visit to the “White Castle” tournament in Dagomys this summer is an impulse to development of chess. It is very important as chess develops logic, makes people solve very complex combinations. It is very good for kids who take up chess from their very childhood, because this kind of sport develops intellect.I also think that Russia deserves the right to stage the match for the world champion title between Magnus Carlsen and Visvanathan Anand in our country, in the Olympic city of Sochi that possesses an excellent sportive infrastructure. The whole world follows the match, so people can see the city and the Olympic complex and feel the Russian hospitality."

During the closing ceremony all the prizewinners thanked the organizers – the Tashir group of companies and the Russian Chess Federation – for a wonderful tournament. The 14th champion of the world Vladimir Kramnik said that he “had played in lots of tournaments already, but would call the International Tashir Chess Tournament in Memory of Tigran Petrosian one of the best in terms of organization.”

After the official part was over, a memorial Tigran Petrosian evening was held where a film about the 9th champion of the world was demonstrated. After that the 12th world champion Anatoly Karpov, a well-known chessplayer and the Armenian National Coach Arshak B. Petrosian, one of the participants of  the International Tashir Chess Tournament in Memory of Tigran Petrosian Levon Aronian and a well-known chess journalist Stanislav Zhelezny shared their memories of Tigran Vartanovich.