Bilbao Final: Anand first, Aronian second

by Alejandro Ramirez
9/20/2014 – The last round of the tournament in the Grand Slam Final in Bilbao finished with two pretty positional wins by the White pieces. Aronian took out Anand after a couple of inaccuracies by the Indian left his king too weak in a major piece endgame. Vallejo's intrepid c-pawn lunged all the way to c6 where it squashed Ponomariov's position. Last round report.

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2014 Bilbao Masters Final

This super-GM double round robin tournament is being played September 14th until September 20th, 2014.

The players – Levon Aronian (Armenia), Viswanathan Anand (India), Rulsan Ponomariov (Ukraine) and Francisco "Paco" Vallejo Pons (Spain).

The tournament is being held alongisde the European Club Cup, which we will have reports for separately. The average rating of this event is 2754, making it a category 21.

The event is being scored in the "soccer" format: three points for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss.

Round Six

Round 06 –September 20, 2014
Aronian, Levon 2804
1-0
Anand, Vishy 2785
Vallejo Pons, Francisco 2712
1-0
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2717

Spectators gather to watch the final game

The last round of the tournament saw two games in which White was able to exploit their positional advantage. In Aronian-Anand a tiny slip by the Indian player caused him to be slightly worse, and although he was close to equality he started slipping near time pressure until eventually his position could not be held any more.

Vallejo Pons (above) won his first game of the event by squashing Ponomariov's position. The Ukrainian had trouble deciding what to do with a sacrificial pawn on c5, and leaving it alone was not the correct solution. That pawn when all the way to c6, clamping down Black's position and the Spaniard cleaned up without difficulties.

Anand still had a strong showing and he won the tournament, but because of this loss he falls to number six in the live rating list. Currently Places 3-6 are only 8 points away:

Last update: 20 September 2014, 17:38 GMT

Name Rating 
+/-
Age  
1  
2862.8
-7.2
23
2 1
2843.5
+42.5
22
3 3
2799.5
+15.5
39
4 2
2797.6
-6.4
31
5 1
2796.6
+7.6
30
6 1
2791.8
+6.8
44
7 4
2768.1
+10.1
20
8  
2767.3
-9.7
24
9 2
2764.3
-17.7
26
10 2
2763.7
+7.7
29

Information taken from www.2700chess.com and updated just after the ECC and Bilbao rounds finished today

Aronian goes back to fourth, trying to get back to 2800.
He had a much needed good performance in Bilbao.

The players trying to remember the Ramirez-Cornette game

Photos by Manu de Alba from Bilbao's Facebook site

Round Six Games

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 Anand keeps going back to his Ragozin in this tournament. With such good results, it's not a mystery that he does. 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 0-0 8.Rc1 dxc4 9.Bxc4 c5 10.0-0 cxd4 11.Ne4 Qe7 12.Nxd4 Bd7 13.Qh5 Nc6 14.Nb3 f5 15.a3 fxe4?! The first novelty of the game, and probably not a good one. Anand must not have been familiar with my own game! 15...Ne5! 16.Be2 16.axb4 Nxc4 17.Rxc4 Bb5 18.Ned2 Bxc4 19.Nxc4 Qxb4 20.Ncd2 a5 is somewhat awkward for White as his knights don't coordinate well. 16...Be8 17.Qh3 Bc6= was close to equal in Ramirez Alvarez-Cornette, Capelle la Grande 2012 16.axb4 Nxb4 17.Nc5 Nd3 18.Nxd3 exd3 19.Bxd3 Black is still close to equal, but White's pressure is annoying. Black's king will always have to be careful of a queen transfer to e4 and h7 while the e6 pawn can be attacked. Bc6 20.Rc4 Rf6 21.Be4?! 21.Qe5! I don't like the idea of trading bishops when Black's king is somewhat exposed. 21...Bxe4= 22.Rxe4 Rd8 23.Qe2 Rf5 24.h3 Rfd5 25.Qg4 R8d6 26.Rc1 Kh7?! a little careless. 26...Qd7! Trying to trade rooks as soon as possible is safer. 27.Ra4! a6 28.Qe4+ Kg8 29.Rc8+! Rd8 30.Rac4 White's maneuver gets him a good amount of pressure as Black cannot immediately simplify his problems. R5d7 30...Rd1+! In some lines having the Qd6+ resource will be useful. 31.g3 Kf7 32.Qf3+ Kg8 33.Qe4 Kf7 34.Qg4 Rxc8 35.Rxc8 Qg5 36.Qb4 Kg6 37.h4 37.Rf8! 37...Qf5? 37...Rd1+! 38.Kh2 Qd5 39.Qg4+ Kh7 40.e4 Qd4 is enough to hold the balance. 38.Rf8 Qd5 39.Qg4+ Kh7 40.Kh2! A nice move that reinforces Black's bad position. White simply avoids the trade of queens on d1 and now threatens h5. h5 41.Qf4 Qc6 42.Qb8 In major piece endgames a useful rule of thumb is that king safety is the most important feature of the position, many times above material. In this case, material is still equal but Black's king is going for a deadly walk. Rd1 43.e4 Rc1 43...Qxe4 44.Rh8+ Kg6 45.Qe8+ Kf6 46.Rf8+ Ke5 47.Qxh5+ Kd4 48.Qxd1+ 44.Rh8+ Kg6 45.Qf4 Rc5 46.e5 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Aronian,L2804Anand,V27851–02014D387th Grand Slam Masters6
Vallejo Pons,F2712Ponomariov,R27171–02014E347th Grand Slam Masters6

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Standings

Schedule

Round 01 – September 14, 2014
Vallejo Pons, Francisco 2712
½-½
Aronian, Levon 2804
Anand, Vishy 2785
1-0
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2717
Round 02 –September 15, 2014
Aronian, Levon 2804
1-0
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2717
Vallejo Pons, Francisco 2712
0-1
Anand, Vishy 2785
Round 03 –September 16, 2014
Anand, Vishy 2785
½-½
Aronian, Levon 2804
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2717
1-0
Vallejo Pons, Francisco 2712
Round 04 –September 18, 2014
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2717
½-½
Aronian, Levon 2804
Anand, Vishy 2785
1-0
Vallejo Pons, Francisco 2712
Round 05 –September 19, 2014
Aronian, Levon 2804
½-½
Vallejo Pons, Francisco 2712
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2717
½-½
Anand, Vishy 2785
Round 06 –September 20, 2014
Aronian, Levon 2804
1-0
Anand, Vishy 2785
Vallejo Pons, Francisco 2712
1-0
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2717

Links

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Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

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