Bilbao Rd9: Carlsen beats Anand and Caruana beats Aronian

by ChessBase
10/12/2012 – It was long in the coming, and one knew that it was a matter of time before the new guard started scoring against the old. Today was the day as Magnus Carlsen finally broke the tie-streak and beat Vishy Anand after a hard tense battle. Caruana stays in the running as he beat Aronian after the Armenian made a speculative sacrifice that failed. Full report with analysis.

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São Paulo / Bilbao Grand Slam Final

Round nine report

Round 9: Friday, October 12, 17h
Sergey Karjakin 
1-0
  Francisco Vallejo
Magnus Carlsen 
1-0
  Viswanathan Anand
Fabiano Caruana 
1-0
  Levon Aronian

The ninth round reserved a huge surprise for the experts, not only for the number of decisive games (three White wins), but also who beat who. The foremost names were Magnus Carlsen against Vishy Anand, in which the young number one played creatively and aggressively against his famous predecessor (as list leader) and came up with his first win over the world champion in classical time-controls.


A top view of Carlsen-Anand

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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,165,57054%2421---
1.d4946,47455%2434---
1.Nf3281,31256%2441---
1.c4181,93756%2442---
1.g319,68856%2427---
1.b314,23654%2427---
1.f45,88648%2377---
1.Nc33,79651%2384---
1.b41,75348%2380---
1.a31,19754%2403---
1.e31,06848%2408---
1.d394850%2378---
1.g466246%2361---
1.h444653%2374---
1.c342651%2425---
1.h327956%2416---
1.a410860%2468---
1.f39147%2431---
1.Nh38966%2508---
1.Na34262%2482---
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 g6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bg7 9.f3 Qc7 The novelty. Black chooses to delay the natural ...Nc6 or 0-0 to reposition the queen where it can find a more active role. 10.b3 Qa5 11.Bb2 Nc6 12.0-0 0-0 13.Nce2 Rfd8 14.Bc3 Qb6 15.Kh1 d5 The rule of thumb is that if Black can play ... d5, then he should and will be fine. 16.Nxc6 The point is that taking directly with 16.cxd5 is worse after Nxd5! 17.exd5 Rxd5 and Black wins back the piece with interest. 16...bxc6 17.Qe1 Rdc8 18.e5 Ne8 19.e6!? an enterprising continuation, which not only hurts the communication between Black's queenside and kingside, but also gives White a very clear plan. fxe6 20.Nf4 Bxc3 21.Qxc3 d4 22.Qd2 c5 23.Rae1 Ng7 24.g4 Strong and positional. It cuts off even more squares from Black's knight, the only piece on his kingside. Rc6?! A mistake that now gives White a strong initiative (read: attack). 24...Qd6 was stronger, followed by 25.Re4 a5 26.Rfe1 Rf8 with a balanced position. 25.Nh3± Black is in serious trouble now. Qh6 and Ng5 are threatened, and the pieces have trouble coming to the rescue of their monarch. Ne8 26.Qh6 Nf6 27.Ng5 d3?! When it rains it poors, and the world champion misses 28.Re5+- Kh8 29.Rd1 Qa6 30.a4 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Carlsen,M2843Anand,V27801–02012B525th Final Masters9

If this placed him in the lead for the tournament, it also brought about a remote possibility: cracking Garry Kasparov’s near mythical 2851 record set in 2000. It is true that he needs to beat Levon Aronian with Black, not exactly a high probability scenario, but the chance is there.


Fabiano Caruana chose his moment to react, and did not let
Carlsen snatch his title away.

As to the tournament, Fabiano Caruana beat Levon Aronian in a complex game where the Armenian found himself with a difficult cramped position which realistically he could only hope to draw at best. This was not to his taste and he preferred to sacrifice a piece for some speculative attacking chances against his opponent’s king. Unfortunately a key zwischenzug broke the coordination of his pieces and precise calculation by the Italian secured the point and continued share of the lead.

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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.d3 d6 9.a4 Bd7 10.c3 Na5 11.Bc2 c5 12.Nbd2 Re8 13.d4 exd4 14.cxd4 Bg4 15.h3 Bh5 16.d5 Qc8 17.Nf1 Bd8 18.g4 Bg6 19.Ng3 b4 20.Nh4 b3 21.Bb1 Was this a case of seriously overestimating his chances, or did he feel this was his best chance at counterplay? It is hard to judge. Nxg4 22.Nxg6 Nxf2
Find the correct move
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Caruana,F2773Aronian,L28161–02012C885th Final Masters9


A view from inside the glass box in Bilbao

For Spanish fans, it was a day of mourning however, when their friendly number one player, Francisco Vallejo-Pons, built up a winning advantage against the young Russian Sergey Karjakin, only to completely miss the boat in time trouble and see victory turned to defeat. Heartwrenching.

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1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4 0-0 8.Bd3 Nbc6 9.Qh5 Ng6 10.Nf3 Qc7 11.Be3 c4 12.Bxg6 fxg6 13.Qg4 Qf7 14.Ng5 Qe8 15.h4 Ne7 16.a4 a5 17.Qe2 Bd7 18.g4 Ra6 19.Bc1 Bxa4 20.Ba3 h6 21.Nh3 b5 22.Bc5 Rc6 23.Bd6 Rf7 24.h5 gxh5 25.g5 Nf5 26.gxh6 Nxh6 27.Kd2?! Rf5 28.Rhg1 Rb6 29.f3 b4 30.Qe3 Nf7 31.Bc5 Rb7 32.Rg2 The Spaniard has been doing great, and was no doubt looking forward to his first win of the tournament. Unfortunately this all came at a great cost on his clock. Qb5 32...b3 was the correct way to proceed. 33.Rag1?! bxc3+? A blunder and now the evaluation changes. 34.Ke2= Nxe5 35.Qh6 Rff7 From winning to lost. One feels for the friendly Paco. 36.Qxe6 Ng4! 37.Ng5 Qb2 38.Qc8+ 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Karjakin,S2778Vallejo Pons,F26971–02012C195th Final Masters9

Traditional crosstable after nine rounds

Bilbao crosstable after nine rounds

Daniel King's Play of the Day: Magnus Carlsen - Vishy Anand

Schedule and results

São Paulo Grand Slam Final
Round 1: Monday, September 24, 15h
Viswanathan Anand 
½-½
  Francisco Vallejo
Levon Aronian 
1-0
  Sergey Karjakin
Fabiano Caruana 
1-0
  Magnus Carlsen
Round 2: Tuesday, September 25, 15h
Francisco Vallejo 
0-1
  Magnus Carlsen
Sergey Karjakin 
0-1
  Fabiano Caruana
Viswanathan Anand 
½-½
  Levon Aronian
Round 3: Wednesday, September 26, 15h
Levon Aronian 
½-½
  Francisco Vallejo
Fabiano Caruana 
½-½
  Viswanathan Anand
Magnus Carlsen 
½-½
  Sergey Karjakin
Round 4: Friday, September 28, 15h
Fabiano Caruana 
1-0
  Francisco Vallejo
Magnus Carlsen 
½-½
  Levon Aronian
Sergey Karjakin 
½-½
  Viswanathan Anand
Round 5: Saturday, September 29, 15h
Francisco Vallejo 
½-½
  Sergey Karjakin
Viswanathan Anand 
½-½
  Magnus Carlsen
Levon Aronian 
½-½
  Fabiano Caruana
Bilbao Grand Slam Final
Round 6: Monday, October 8, 17h
Francisco Vallejo 
½-½
  Viswanathan Anand
Magnus Carlsen 
1-0
  Fabiano Caruana
Sergey Karjakin 
½-½
  Levon Aronian
Round 7: Tuesday, October 9, 17h
Magnus Carlsen 
1-0
  Francisco Vallejo
Fabiano Caruana 
½-½
  Sergey Karjakin
Levon Aronian 
½-½
  Viswanathan Anand
Round 8: Thursday, October 11, 17h
Francisco Vallejo 
½-½
  Levon Aronian
Viswanathan Anand 
½-½
  Fabiano Caruana
Sergey Karjakin 
½-½
  Magnus Carlsen
Round 9: Friday, October 12, 17h
Sergey Karjakin 
1-0
  Francisco Vallejo
Magnus Carlsen 
1-0
  Viswanathan Anand
Fabiano Caruana 
1-0
  Levon Aronian
Round 10: Saturday, October 13, 16:30h
Francisco Vallejo 
    Fabiano Caruana
Levon Aronian 
    Magnus Carlsen
Viswanathan Anand 
    Sergey Karjakin

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