Bilbao 05: Anand clinches with one round to go

by Alejandro Ramirez
9/19/2014 – The games were relatively dry to what we have seen in the rest of the tournament, but that was perfectly ok for Vishy Anand who clinches the Bilbao Grand Slam Masters final with one round to spare. The 3-1-0 scoring system means that he is four points ahead of Aronian, who can at most reach ten points tomorrow. That's some definite pressure on Carlsen and the upcoming WCC!

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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 Five

Round 05 –September 19, 2014
Aronian, Levon 2804
½-½
 Vallejo Pons, Francisco 2712
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2717
½-½
 Anand, Vishy 2785

Today's games were certainly not the most exciting of the event. Vallejo chose an interesting line that has taken up a little win recently that leaves Black in a worse position, but simplified and holdable. The Spaniard had to hold on to his weak pawns for many, many moves, but Aronian never found a break-through and eventually the game was drawn.

Anand's last hold before becoming the tournament winner

Ponomariov found no advantage against Anand's steady Ragozin. With a solid position and no real problems the Indian was the only one that had chances for an advantage, but he settled with a draw and that was sufficient to clinch the tournament. He has one more game to play, but he has already shown a very solid performance that certainly adds pressure to Magnus Carlsen's team as they both enter the final stages of preparation before their World Championship re-match in Sochi.

Winner of the Bilbao Grand Slam masters, with one round to go: Vishy Anand!

Round Five Games

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games

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   Anand, Vishy 2785
Vallejo Pons, Francisco 2712   Ponomariov, Ruslan 2717

Links

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 and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

 

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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