Bilbao Masters 03: Pono shows class
9/16/2014 – Levon Aronian vs. Vishy Anand was set to be the match of the day, the two highest rated players in the tournament duking it out, and also the two players with the most amount of points. But the show was completely stolen by the Ukrainian grandmaster Ruslan Ponomariov who keeps playing aggressive chess. Today it paid off very well as he tore Vallejo Pons' position. A pretty game!
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2014 Bilbao Masters FinalThis 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. |
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Round Three
| Round 03 –September 16, 2014 | ||||
| Anand, Vishy | 2785 |
½-½
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Aronian, Levon | 2804 |
| Ponomariov, Ruslan | 2717 |
1-0
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Vallejo Pons, Francisco | 2712 |
The two highest rated players played in the third round, just before the rest day. The match followed a recent super game between Caruana-Aronian, which many considered to be the best game of the Sinquefield Cup that recently finished. Anand may not have wanted to show his hand with the World Championship so close, and Aronian took full advantage of this and equalized without problems.
Levon always shows his class, both as a player and as a person
Vishy going over the game with Leontxo
The streak was broken, but with 2.5/3 (in traditional scoring)
the Indian's first half is impressive
The Ponomariov-Vallejo Pons game was very one sided, with the Ukrainian pushing forward a very powerful and impressive attack. Very flashy and a definite must-see!
What to do?! They're strong! "Paco" has only achieved one draw out of three games,
though he does come from a series of impressive results in the last two months
"I wanted to show my friends that I can play chess" - Ruslan Ponomariov. And boy did he show them!
Photos by Manu de Alba from Bilbao's Facebook site
Round Three Games
Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games
Standings
Schedule
| Round 01 – September 14, 2014 | ||||
| Vallejo Pons, Francisco | 2712 |
½-½
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Aronian, Levon | 2804 |
| Anand, Vishy | 2785 |
1-0
|
Ponomariov, Ruslan | 2717 |
| Round 02 –September 15, 2014 | ||||
| Aronian, Levon | 2804 |
1-0
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Ponomariov, Ruslan | 2717 |
| Vallejo Pons, Francisco | 2712 |
0-1
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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 | Aronian, Levon | 2804 | |
| Anand, Vishy | 2785 | Vallejo Pons, Francisco | 2712 | |
| Round 05 –September 19, 2014 | ||||
| Aronian, Levon | 2804 | Vallejo Pons, Francisco | 2712 | |
| Ponomariov, Ruslan | 2717 | Anand, Vishy | 2785 | |
| Round 06 –September 20, 2014 | ||||
| Aronian, Levon | 2804 | Anand, Vishy | 2785 | |
| Vallejo Pons, Francisco | 2712 | Ponomariov, Ruslan | 2717 | |
LinksThe 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. |
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