Red Wedding in Moscow

So why is GM Nakamura re-enacting the Red Wedding in the Tal Memorial?  His victims include four fellow top-ten players: Caruana, Kramnik, Karjakin, and Anand.

Lots of coverage on the web: Chess Life Online is a good place to begin.

Tal Memorial Round 7

This is one of the greatest events of recent years, with wonderful fighting chess.

Alexander Morozevich has lost two games in a row, but seems likely to remain in a massive tie for first place (assuming McShane converts against Kramnik: follow the live action here).  Nakamura is only half a point off the pace, with two winnable games to play!

It's hard to believe that Luke McShane (who just won) does something else for a living....

Ivanchuk at the Tal Memorial

Hilarious, and you don't need to speak a word of Russian.  The players as they appear on stage: Levon Aronian of Armenia, Peter Leko of Hungary, Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine, Magnus Carlsen of Norway (the laughing person seated in the preview above), Peter Svidler of Russia (joined by Aronian), Vishy Anand of India (seated), and our hero, Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine.

H/T to mishanp in the comments at the Daily Dirt.  OK, no more Carlsen photos for awhile.

Tal Memorial

The Tal Memorial is the strongest chess tournament of 2009: World Champion Vishy Anand of India just took the lead in Round 3.  You can watch the games free of charge at the official site.  ChessBase and The Week in Chess are among the many sites offering free daily commentary.

Update: Levon Aronian of Armenia and former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia just won their games: they are tied Anand for the lead with two points in three games.