The VIII Grand Slam Masters Final in Bilbao is played from 25. October to 1. November. Viswanathan Anand, Anish Giri, Ding Liren and Wesley So play a double round-robin event, in which the 3-points rule applies. A player receives 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss.
Four of the world's best players took part in the Chess Masters Final in Bilbao. They played twelve games but only two of them had a winner. The Sofia-Rules (no draws before move 30) and the three-point-for-a-win rule did not reduce this high ratio of draws. But that is a risk you have to run when inviting four almost equally strong top players. However, the organiser was happy to show interesting fighting games and there was no shortage of those.
In the first half of the tournament Wesley So was the only player who could win a game. He brilliantly defeated Ding Liren in the King's Indian. In the second half of the tournament Anish Giri was the only player to win a game. In the fourth round Vishy Anand played with Black against the young Dutchman, and suffered from a blackout. In a well-known line of the English opening Giri tried a rare move and Anand failed to see the venom of this approach. Thus, after eleven moves Giri had a won position and the game was practically over.
Anish Giri
"Probably the worst game I have ever played in my life," Anand said after his defeat. Giri was euphoric after the game and remarked that "only very few players, World Champion Carlsen included, had a won position against Anand after eleven moves."
Anand began the game confidently.
A short chat...
... after the game.
In the end the two players who had won one of their games shared first place and a tie-break had to decide who would win the tournament. It turned out to be Wesley So who defeated Anish Giri 1.5-0.5 and thus won the Grand Slam Masters Final.
Ruslan Ponomariov watches the game between Ding Liren and
Wesley So. The former FIDE World Champion lives in Bilbao.
Round 5
Open
After seven rounds the Cuban grandmaster Lazaro Batista Bruzon leads the Ibero-American Championship with an impressive score of 6.5/7. One point behind follow four players with 5.5/7 each.
Board one
Lazaro Batista Bruzon (left) and Francisco Vallejo Pons
View from above
| 1 | m | Bruzon Batista, Lazaro | CUB | 6,5 | 28.5 | 32.0 | 23.0 | 2659 |
| 2 | m | Granda Zuniga, Julio E | PER | 5,5 | 31.5 | 34.5 | 25.0 | 2667 |
| 3 | m | Fier, Alexandr | BRA | 5,5 | 28.5 | 32.0 | 23.0 | 2624 |
| 4 | m | Pichot, Alan | ARG | 5,5 | 28.5 | 31.5 | 23.0 | 2523 |
| 5 | m | Bachmann, Axel | PAR | 5,5 | 27.5 | 31.0 | 22.0 | 2593 |
| 6 | m | De La Riva Aguado, Oscar | AND | 5,5 | 27.5 | 30.5 | 22.0 | 2497 |
| 7 | m | Del Rio De Angelis, Salvador G. | ESP | 5,5 | 27.5 | 30.0 | 22.0 | 2512 |
| 8 | m | Martinez Romero, Martin | COL | 5,0 | 29.0 | 30.5 | 22.5 | 2402 |
| 9 | m | Peralta, Fernando | ARG | 5,0 | 28.5 | 32.5 | 22.0 | 2563 |
| 10 | m | Martinez Duany, Lelys Stanley | CUB | 5,0 | 26.0 | 29.0 | 20.5 | 2470 |
| 11 | m | Roselli Mailhe, Bernardo | URU | 5,0 | 26.0 | 28.5 | 20.5 | 2411 |
| 12 | f | Vega Gutierrez, Sabrina | ESP | 5,0 | 22.5 | 24.5 | 18.5 | 2391 |
| 13 | m | Blanco Acevedo, Cristobal Jose | VEN | 5,0 | 22.0 | 23.5 | 16.5 | 2306 |
| 14 | m | Vallejo Pons, Francisco | ESP | 4,5 | 29.0 | 33.0 | 23.5 | 2684 |
| 15 | m | Santos Latasa, Jaime | ESP | 4,5 | 29.0 | 32.0 | 22.5 | 2518 |
| 16 | m | Barria Zuniga, Daniel | CHI | 4,5 | 27.0 | 30.5 | 21.5 | 2413 |
| 17 | f | Matnadze, Ana | ESP | 4,5 | 26.5 | 29.5 | 20.0 | 2353 |
| 18 | m | Fernandez Borrego, Pablo | ESP | 4,5 | 26.5 | 29.0 | 21.0 | 2410 |
| 19 | m | Gonzalez Trigal, Jose Luis | ESP | 4,5 | 26.5 | 28.5 | 21.0 | 2268 |
| 20 | m | Perez Mitjans, Orelvis | ESP | 4,5 | 25.5 | 29.0 | 20.0 | 2457 |
| 21 | m | Gonzalez Acosta, Bernal | CRC | 4,5 | 25.0 | 28.5 | 20.0 | 2497 |
| 22 | m | Arias Garcia, Luis Javier | ESP | 4,5 | 24.5 | 24.5 | 19.0 | 2147 |
| 23 | m | Larrea, Manuel | URU | 4,5 | 23.0 | 25.5 | 18.0 | 2311 |
| 24 | m | Murillo Tsijli, Alexis | CRC | 4,5 | 21.0 | 23.0 | 16.5 | 2291 |
| 25 | m | Gonzalez Pereira, Asier | ESP | 4,5 | 19.5 | 19.5 | 14.5 | 2080 |
... 93 players
Photos: Organiser
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