Bilbao: Wei Yi cracks Berlin Wall

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One big question after the free day was whether Magnus Carlsen, who played with Black against Hikaru Nakamura would go all out to take revenge for his first round loss against the US-American. But he did not. In a Catalan Nakamura left the World Champion not much room to get creative and after a couple of exchanges after 32 moves the players found themselves in a dead-drawn endgame with opposite-colored bishops and split the point. 

The game of the day was Wei Yi vs Anish Giri. Against Wei Yi' 1.e4 Giri defended with the Berlin Defense which eventually ended in an endgame knight against bishop with White having a pawn majority on the kingside. At one point Giri put his bishop to a2 but later he somehow seemed to "forget" it there. Wei Yi used the position of the wayward bishop to win his first game and score a "big point".

In the game between Wesley So and Sergey Karjakin the Russian sacrificed a bishop to annihilate the pawn-shield protecting So's king, giving Karjakin a couple of pawns and attacking chances. But he later missed a promising continuation and allowed So to neutralize all threats by sacrificing an exchange in return. In the end this entertaining game had no winner.

Results of round six

Games - Rounds 1 to 6

Standings after six rounds

On the rest day the participants of the "Masters" played a game "Europe against the World" in the Theatro Campos Eliseos. Carlsen, Karjakin and Giri represented Europe, Nakamura, Wei Yi and So used their chess skills for "the World". The players moved in turn and children incorporated the pieces to stage a game of living chess on a big board.

Endgame

After the game the minister for youth and sport of the city of Bilbao,
Oihane Agirregoitia, presented trophies to the players.

Tournament schedule

Photos: Tournament page...