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), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine) and Francisco "Paco" Vallejo Pons (Spain).
The tournament is being held alongside 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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Rest Day
by Gerardo Fernandez Llana
The players had the opportunity to try their hand at an interesting trio of games, all of them very traditional to the Basque region.
In the first round of lokotxak and txingas, Ruslan Ponomariov won against Anand. The five time World Champion in chess needed 1 minute and 05 seconds to solve all tasks, but the youngest World Champion in history, Ruslan Ponomariov, needed only 58 seconds!

In Lokotxak blitzea (cob gathering) cobs are placed in a line, with a distance of 1.25m between them, 25 in a line at the most. The competitors have to collect these in order (the nearest first) and put them in a basket standing at one end of the row of cobs.
It seemed as if the thin, but athletic, Ponomariov would make it to the final, but in the second duel, in which Spanish Champion Paco Vallejo and Levon Aronian, defending Champion of the Grand Slam Masters, competed against each other, a surprise was waiting. Paco Vallejo needed on 52 seconds to gather all the cobs but was only one second faster than Aronian who needed 53 seconds for that task. So both qualified for the final.

Vallejo displaying skill, but Aronian is not far behind

Txinga eramatea, or weight carrying
In the final the two had to battle it out in soka-tira (tug-of war) and here Paco Vallejo quickly won. Though Aronian is in enviable physical shape, the size and power of the Baelaric gave him the title in a matter of seconds.

Harri jasotzea, stone lifting!
The winner of this first rural Basque triathlon, Paco Vallejo, received a trophy that accredited him as such, (a sculpture representing an aizkolari), while his three rivals received honorable mentions (a harrijazotzaile).

Vallejo with his well-earned trophy

All the participants
Round Four
Round 04 –September 18, 2014 |
Ponomariov, Ruslan |
2717 |
½-½
|
Aronian, Levon |
2804 |
Anand, Vishy |
2785 |
1-0
|
Vallejo Pons, Francisco |
2712 |
Ponomariov came ill prepared to the game... he wasn't expecting to play Aronian! The Ukrainian player thought that it would be a repeat of round one (where he faced Vallejo) with colors reversed, as are most double-round robins, but the pairings were slightly altered to avoid giving a player the same color three times in a row...
The game was interesting but nothing too exciting. Aronian decided to take a pawn and then turtle in, and although Ponomariov had pressure there was simply no breaking point. The game ended in a draw as neither side could improve their position.
Anand dismantled Vallejo very easily. As the World Championship challenger said, the Spaniard simply made some strange and bad practical decisions near the beginning of the game and it ended up costing him the game.
(interview with Anand and Ponomariov in Spanish)
Photos by Manu de Alba from Bilbao's Facebook site
Round Four Games

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 Nc6 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.d5 Ne5 6.Bf4 Ng6 7.Be3 e5 8.Bxc4 Nf6 9.Nc3 a6 10.Be2 Bd6 11.Nd2 Bxe2 12.Qxe2 0-0 13.0-0 Qe7 14.Rfd1 Rac8 15.g3 h6 16.Rac1 c6 17.Nc4 cxd5 18.Nxd5 Nxd5 19.Rxd5± Bc5 20.Rcd1 Bxe3 21.Nxe3 Qb4 22.Nf5 Rc4 23.Nd6 Rc6 24.a3 Qb3 25.R5d3 Qb6 26.Nf5 Re8 27.Rd7+- Rf6 28.Qg4 Qc6 29.h4 h5 30.Qxh5 Qxe4 31.Rd8 Qc6 32.Qg5 Qe6 33.R1d6 1–0
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Anand,V | 2785 | Vallejo Pons,F | 2712 | 1–0 | 2014 | D20 | 7th Grand Slam Masters | 4 |
Ponomariov,R | 2717 | Aronian,L | 2804 | ½–½ | 2014 | E04 | 7th Grand Slam Masters | 4 |
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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 |
|
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 |