10/12/2012 – It was long in the coming, and one knew that it was a matter of time before the new guard started scoring against the old. Today was the day as Magnus Carlsen finally broke the tie-streak and beat Vishy Anand after a hard tense battle. Caruana stays in the running as he beat Aronian after the Armenian made a speculative sacrifice that failed. Full report with analysis.
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São Paulo / Bilbao Grand Slam Final
Round nine report
Round 9: Friday, October 12, 17h
Sergey Karjakin
1-0
Francisco Vallejo
Magnus Carlsen
1-0
Viswanathan Anand
Fabiano Caruana
1-0
Levon Aronian
The ninth round reserved a huge surprise for the experts, not only for the number of decisive games (three White wins), but also who beat who. The foremost names were Magnus Carlsen against Vishy Anand, in which the young number one played creatively and aggressively against his famous predecessor (as list leader) and came up with his first win over the world champion in classical time-controls.
A top view of Carlsen-Anand
[Event "5th Final Masters"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao BRA/ESP"]
[Date "2012.10.12"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2780"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2012.09.24"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 g6 7. d4 cxd4 8.
Nxd4 Bg7 9. f3 {0.42/0} Qc7 {0.31/0 The novelty. Black chooses to delay the
natural ...Nc6 or 0-0 to reposition the queen where it can find a more active
role.} 10. b3 {0.34/0} Qa5 {0.28/0} 11. Bb2 {0.24/0} Nc6 {0.21/0} 12. O-O {0.
28/0} O-O {0.22/0} 13. Nce2 {0.12/0} Rfd8 {0.07/0} 14. Bc3 {0.00/0} Qb6 {0.00/0
} 15. Kh1 {0.00/0} d5 {-0.08/0 The rule of thumb is that if Black can play ...
d5, then he should and will be fine.} 16. Nxc6 {0.00/0} ({The point is that
taking directly with} 16. cxd5 {is worse after} Nxd5 $1 17. exd5 Rxd5 {and
Black wins back the piece with interest.}) 16... bxc6 {-0.01/0} 17. Qe1 {-0.10/
0} Rdc8 {-0.15/0} 18. e5 {0.16/0} Ne8 {0.15/0} 19. e6 $5 {-0.24/0 an
enterprising continuation, which not only hurts the communication between
Black's queenside and kingside, but also gives White a very clear plan.} fxe6 {
0.00/0} 20. Nf4 {0.00/0} Bxc3 {0.19/0} 21. Qxc3 {0.00/0} d4 {0.28/0} 22. Qd2 {
-0.37/0} c5 {-0.31/0} 23. Rae1 {0.00/0} Ng7 {0.00/0} 24. g4 {0.00/0 Strong and
positional. It cuts off even more squares from Black's knight, the only piece
on his kingside.} Rc6 $6 {1.39/0 A mistake that now gives White a strong
initiative (read: attack).} (24... Qd6 {was stronger, followed by} 25. Re4 a5
26. Rfe1 Rf8 {with a balanced position.}) 25. Nh3 $16 {1.26/0 Black is in
serious trouble now. Qh6 and Ng5 are threatened, and the pieces have trouble
coming to the rescue of their monarch.} Ne8 {1.71/0} 26. Qh6 {1.70/0} Nf6 {1.
57/0} 27. Ng5 {1.53/0} d3 $6 {3.45/0 When it rains it poors, and the world
champion misses} 28. Re5 $18 {3.56/0} Kh8 {3.35/0} 29. Rd1 Qa6 30. a4 1-0
If this placed him in the lead for the tournament, it also brought about a remote possibility: cracking Garry Kasparov’s near mythical 2851 record set in 2000. It is true that he needs to beat Levon Aronian with Black, not exactly a high probability scenario, but the chance is there.
Fabiano Caruana chose his moment to react, and did not let
Carlsen snatch his title away.
As to the tournament, Fabiano Caruana beat Levon Aronian in a complex game where the Armenian found himself with a difficult cramped position which realistically he could only hope to draw at best. This was not to his taste and he preferred to sacrifice a piece for some speculative attacking chances against his opponent’s king. Unfortunately a key zwischenzug broke the coordination of his pieces and precise calculation by the Italian secured the point and continued share of the lead.
[Event "5th Final Masters"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao BRA/ESP"]
[Date "2012.10.12"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2816"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2012.09.24"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. d3
d6 9. a4 Bd7 10. c3 Na5 11. Bc2 c5 12. Nbd2 Re8 {0.01/0} 13. d4 {0.00/0} exd4 {
0.00/0} 14. cxd4 {0.05/0} Bg4 {0.04/0} 15. h3 {0.62/0} Bh5 {0.00/0} 16. d5 {-0.
12/0} Qc8 {0.32/0} 17. Nf1 {0.33/0} Bd8 {0.42/0} 18. g4 {0.10/0} Bg6 {0.24/0}
19. Ng3 {0.32/0} b4 {0.36/0} 20. Nh4 {0.00/0} b3 {0.26/0} 21. Bb1 {0.36/0 Was
this a case of seriously overestimating his chances, or did he feel this was
his best chance at counterplay? It is hard to judge.} Nxg4 {0.85/0} 22. Nxg6 {
0.95/0} Nxf2 {0.84/0 [%tqu "","","", Ne7+,"",10]} 23. Ne7+ $1 {0.90/0 This
very strong zwischenzug was probably overlooked by Levon, and is what secures
White a significant advantage. It breaks Black's harmony as he is now forced
to either cut off his rook with Bxe7 or cut off his bishop with} Rxe7 $6 {2.06/
0} 24. Kxf2 $18 {1.87/0 White is winning now and just needs to hold his nerve.
Caruana has never shown any problem doing just that.} Re5 {2.24/0} 25. Kg2 {1.
89/0} c4 {2.51/0} 26. Nf5 {1.98/0} Bf6 {2.00/0} 27. Qf3 {1.45/0} c3 {1.44/0}
28. Nh6+ $1 {2.03/0} Kh8 {2.68/0} 29. Bd3 {3.29/0} Re7 {5.11/0} 30. e5 $1 {5.
31/0} Bxe5 {7.86/0} 31. Qe4 {4.04/0} g6 {3.22/0} 32. Qh4 {2.83/0} f6 {4.88/0}
33. Rxe5 $1 {6.80/0} dxe5 {5.89/0} 34. Qxf6+ {4.73/0} Rg7 {4.56/0} 35. Qxe5 {
3.56/0} Qe8 $6 {8.27/0} 36. Qxc3 $18 {8.19/0} Rc8 {9.05/0} 37. Qxa5 {9.96/0}
Re7 {12.88/0} 38. Bg5 Re2+ 39. Kg1 1-0
A view from inside the glass box in Bilbao
For Spanish fans, it was a day of mourning however, when their friendly number one player, Francisco Vallejo-Pons, built up a winning advantage against the young Russian Sergey Karjakin, only to completely miss the boat in time trouble and see victory turned to defeat. Heartwrenching.
[Event "5th Final Masters"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao BRA/ESP"]
[Date "2012.10.12"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Vallejo Pons, Francisco"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C19"]
[WhiteElo "2778"]
[BlackElo "2697"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2012.09.24"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 O-O 8. Bd3
Nbc6 9. Qh5 Ng6 10. Nf3 Qc7 11. Be3 c4 12. Bxg6 fxg6 13. Qg4 Qf7 14. Ng5 Qe8
15. h4 Ne7 {0.22/0} 16. a4 {0.12/0} a5 {0.21/0} 17. Qe2 {-0.27/0} Bd7 {-0.54/0}
18. g4 {-0.37/0} Ra6 {-0.38/0} 19. Bc1 {-0.78/0} Bxa4 {-0.79/0} 20. Ba3 {-0.74/
0} h6 {-0.74/0} 21. Nh3 {-0.74/0} b5 {-0.74/0} 22. Bc5 {-0.75/0} Rc6 {-0.73/0}
23. Bd6 {-0.76/0} Rf7 {-0.76/0} 24. h5 {-0.63/0} gxh5 {-0.67/0} 25. g5 {-0.63/0
} Nf5 {0.11/0} 26. gxh6 {-0.56/0} Nxh6 {-0.06/0} 27. Kd2 $6 {-1.46/0} Rf5 {-1.
21/0} 28. Rhg1 {-1.26/0} Rb6 {-1.23/0} 29. f3 {-1.47/0} b4 {-1.27/0} 30. Qe3 {
-1.46/0} Nf7 {-1.34/0} 31. Bc5 {-1.61/0} Rb7 {-1.64/0} 32. Rg2 {-1.64/0 The
Spaniard has been doing great, and was no doubt looking forward to his first
win of the tournament. Unfortunately this all came at a great cost on his
clock.} Qb5 {-0.61/0} (32... b3 {was the correct way to proceed.}) 33. Rag1 $6
{-1.92/0} bxc3+ $2 {0.00/0 A blunder and now the evaluation changes.} 34. Ke2
$11 {0.32/0} Nxe5 {0.42/0} 35. Qh6 {0.31/0} Rff7 {0.98/0 From winning to lost.
One feels for the friendly Paco.} 36. Qxe6 {2.37/0} Ng4 $1 {1.37/0} 37. Ng5 Qb2
38. Qc8+ 1-0
Traditional crosstable after nine rounds
Bilbao crosstable after nine rounds
Daniel King's Play of the Day: Magnus Carlsen - Vishy Anand
The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the
chess server Playchess.com.
If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there
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London System Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains in all 11 285 games from Mega 2026 and the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 282 are annotated.
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