The tournament was first established in 2006 and has become one of the most renowned tournaments in the world, attracting some of the most famous Grand Masters, including Alexander Morozevich, Vladimir Kramnik, Vasily Ivanchuk, Peter Leko, Gata Kamsky, Boris Gelfand and Magnus Carlsen. With the tournament participants averaging 2745 points, this is by far the strongest competition in Russia.

"We are extending our service to Russian market later this year and this is the first time we support an event in this country. It is a very consistent decision to sponsor the Mikhail Tal Memorial. The key to success in a chess game is ability to analyze the situation and to foresee several turns ahead. This is exactly what SKM Market Predictor´s service provides to our customers: precise current and predictive data on a vast range of indexes in energy industry", said Konstantin Morozov, SKM Market Predictor Chairman of the Board.

The event includes two sub-tournament stages: the 20th Level Rotational Tournament and Tal´s Blitz Cup, the latter of which was also attended by the Scandinavia´s strongest Grand Master, Magnus Carlsen, the 18-year-old Champion of Norway, who had kindly agreed to have a lunch with SKM Market Predictor representatives a day before the Blitz Cup began.

"Being a Norwegian company dedicated to analysis, we believe the strongest analysts are from Scandinavia. This point is greatly supplemented by Magnus´s performance and his spectacular rise through chess masters ranks over the recent years. Strong analytical skills have for decades formed a basis for SKM Market Predictor´s success, as well as for the success of our clients. We are considering making a good tradition of supporting chess", said Vasiliy Bormatin, SKM Market Predictor PR Director during the lunch with Magnus Carlsen.