Bilbao Chess Masters Final

• The norwegian has defeated the italian in the tiebreaker with a convincing 2-0 after the draw they both signed agains Aronian and Vallejo, respectively.
• Spanish Francisco Valleko has announced his retirement “indefinitely”, claiming fatigue and disappointed by his performance in the tournament.

Bilbao 10.13.2012

The world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen won tonight in Bilbao the Chess Masters Final, which has been held in his second and final round in Bilbao, after the first phase which was played the last week of September in the brazilian city of Sao Paulo. Norwegian´s victory comes after a thrilling tie played against the italian Caruana. The tiebreaker, played as a fast play has ended up with an overwhelming victory by Carlsen.

The direct duel between the top two classified has taken place after the tie they have signed both agains Levon Aronian and Francisco Vallejo, somehow controversial those achieved by the italian against the spanish champion.

The background of the fast games played between them over the past years and since childhood, both in direct games and online, gave Carlsen as a clear favorite. In fact, tonight, in the Alhondiga Bilbao, the world No.1 has confirmed his superiority in this mode against the sub 20 champion.

In the first match of the tie they have played the spanish opening, berlinese variant, in which the italian player, who was playing white, has gained a slight advantage. The norwegian has given the game a fast timing in order to speed up his rival´s time. Caruana, forced to think and use the time, because he had to win since he was playing white, has falled in the trap of the No. 1, who in the troubled time has easily matched him and after it he has won.

In the second one, Caruana, probably psychologically hurt for not materializing his advantage in the first game, has raised the aggresive sicilian defense, varian Paulsen, but he has made a serious mistake in the 10th play, which has condemned him and made him surrender 7 plays later.

If chess is a strategy and mental strength game, the approach of the last day of the Final went far away from the board because of the physicological strategy used by Caruana by signing a tie game against Vallejo at the first chance the game has given him, without risking more and going for the win. This is a legal decision from the point of view of the reglament, but it is questionable from the perspective of the show for the disappointment of the hundreds of fans who have filled the central atrium of the Alhomdiga Bilbao.  With this tie, achieved by black pieces in 50 minutes and without trouble made Carlsen the only one who therefore bear all the pressure: if the norwegian lost against Aronian, this one with whites, the title was to Caruana, if Carlsen ended up tie, he and Caruana will go to the tiebreaker, and if he won the armenian, the champion would be the world No. 1. Caruana made a calculated and possibilistic bet, but disappointing for the specialists, who felt that either he win or loose the title of the Masters Finals in the end, the italian has been discredited with this decision.

With all the pressure on him , and with the disadvantage of playing with black pieces against the plympic champion, Aronian, Magnus Carlsen has mantained the temper and he has hold the attack from the armenian in order to force a tiebreaker against Caruana.

The game between Caruana and Vallejo has also left another impacting new: it has been the last one the spanish player will be playing for some indefinite time, because he announced his retirement on Friday night in Facebook, and yesteday he confirmed the new after this draw against Caruana. However, before leaving chess, the player from Mallorca will fullfil the professional liabilities to which he has already committed. “In order to play chess you must have hope, and I have lost it.” stated the player from Menorca. “I have been 20 years out of my hometown, since I was 10, and it is time to go back and rest. I don´t want to say that I will not play more, because other champions have retired and then they have come back some years after with excellent results. However, I need a break from chess and to start over some other vital projects. After that, we will see.” In addition to the fatigue the spanish champion carries within, currently in the world ranking in the number 50th, in his decision aparently they have acted as triggers the last games played in the Masters Final, in which after achieving clearly favorable positions, he lost both agains Carlsen and Karjakin.

The duel between italian and the spanish demoralized player, which has last 26 minutes, in which there have only been 18 plays, has started with the spanish opening by Vallejo. Caruana has raised the Zaitsev defense, characterized by a serie of plays in which the player with white (in this case Vallejo) could easily get a draw. Although in the first moment the spanish player has rejected this possibility in order to get the victory, however after an evaluation of the situation and the possibility the italian has given him of a tie, he has raised the triple repetition and so, the draw has made.

Even if the Masters Final 2012 outcoming has been exciting, it could hardly reach the levels of drama lived last edition in which the last round was reached with a reasonable prospect of a quadruple tie between Carlsen, Ivanchuk, Aronian and Nakamura, tied the first two with 14 points and the armenian and american tied also with 11 points. Finally, the development of the games of the final round ended up in a tiebreaker in the top of the standing between the norwegian and the ukrainian, which was finished with victory of Carlsen, after the dramatic fast played he played and won against Ivanchuk, due to the advantage the youth gave him against the veteranity and physical exhaystion of the ukrainian.

The first round of this 2012 edition of the Masters Final, which took place between September 24th and 29th, was held in the brazilian city of Sao Paulo. After this first round Fabiano Caruana got to Bilbao as the leader with 11 points, 4 more points than Aronian –second of the world- and 5 more than Carlsen, No. 1 of the world classification.

Despite the differences accumulated in the first phase of the Final, the young norwegian has risen the 5 points advantage he had regarding the italian revelation of the tournament. This equality in the final has been due to the strenght in Carlsen´s game during this week and to the particular score sstem applied in the Chess Masters Final, the so-called Bilbao rule –which gives 3 points for a win, one for a tie and zero for a losing game- which makes it posible to increase the competitiveness and excitement and gives chance for spectacular rollovers.

The development of each day could have been followed from the Agora, a room for the analysis, comments and interviews, directed by Leontxo García, with the collaboration of experts and knowing people from basque society. The huge screen of the Alhondiga, located in the Agora, has given the chance to follow the games in live. The direct develpment of the plays could have been followed through the tournament official website: www.bilbaomastersfinals.com

In its last edition, this Masters Finals of the Grand Slan has continued with his global expansión which began two years ago with the joint dispute of the tournament in  Shanghai and Bilbao. After the success of last year, the tournament has repeated the brazilian city of Sao Paulo, the main financial center of Brazil and the tenth most populous metrolpois in the world.

Among the sponsorships of this sport event, which has made Bilbao, once more, one of the world´s chess capitals, we can find Bilbao´s city hall, the Diputación Foral de Bizkaia, and the companies BBK and Euskaltel. As collaborators we can find the basque government, CAF, CIE Automotive, GESCRAO, GMSM, IDOM, INBISA, OLABARRI, SACYR, TECUNO,VICONSA and VISCOFAN. At last, as friends of this initiative we can find Bilbao´s commerce association, CARWAGEN, Ribera Market, Hotel Melia and Yandiola Restaurant.

The organization of the tournament wants to thank the collaboration of the communication media, specially the COPE, Onda Cero, Onda Vasca, Radio Nervión, Radio Popular, Radio 7, Tele 7, Tele Bilbao, Deia and El Correo.

CONTACT:

Press Office:

Group Projection: 944790880 proyeccion@proyeccion.tv

• They both are tied for the first place in the standings with 16 points, completely unattainable for the contenders.
• The norwegian and italian, with black pieces, will fight for the title tomorrow on the final day of the tournament, against Aronian and Vallejo respectively.

Bilbao 10.12.2012

The Chess Masters Final which is held in Bilbao will end as last year: two players will vie for the title in the final day of the tournament. In this ocasión the protagonists will be Fabiano Caruana, the revelation of the tournament, and Magnus Carlsen, the No. 1 of the world ranking, after their triumphs this afternoon, in the ninth round, against Anand and Aronian, world champion the first and olympic champion the latter, who after their looses are completely out of the race for the victory. In the third play of the day, in which the fight in order not to be the last one in the standings was held, Karjakin has defeated the spanish Valleko, both without any chance to win the tournament for some rounds.

With these results, the classification before the last and final round is led, tied with 16 points, by Cariana and Carlsen, followed by Aronian with 10 points, Karjakin with 9 points and Anand with 8. Vallejo closes the standings with 5 points.

In the decisive day of tomorrow, which will be held in the Alhondiga Bilbao starting at 16.30, the norwegian and the italian will play to get the triumph –with black pieces and therefore some disadvantage against their opponents-  against Aronian and Vallejo respectively. In case they both reach the same result, tie between them will be kept and it will be solved in a direct confrontation, a tiebreaker in a quick game.

In one of the two main games of this afternoon, the world No. 1, Magnus Carlsen, has defeated the current world champion, Wisvanathan Anand. The norwegian has raised the sicilian defense, “Rossolimo variant”, and after it, in concordance with this strategy of the last time regarding the use of rare opening among the elite players. Carlsen has tried to find calm and viable positions which could appear unknown to his opponent. This strategy has given him an excellent result againsth the world champion, as far as Anand has not found the correct defense plan and his position has been collapsed in just 30 moves.

Meanwhile, Caruana has defeated the olympic champion Aronian. The game has been run by the spanish opening in which the white has tried to raise the “Marshall gambit” but the armenian, who precisely is some of the world specialists in this opening, knowing the risks assumed by the black in this variant, has tried to avoid it completely. In the resulting position after the opening, Aronian, bound to win in order to have options for the triumph in the tournament, has tried to carry the game to complex positions in which both players have been on edge. However, the olympic champion has taken excessive risks in this approach and has ended up losing the game against the revelation of the tournament.

In the third match of the day, facing the russian Karjakin and the spanish champion Vallejo, we have seen what it is actually considered the favorite opening of the tournament, the “Winawere variant” of the french opening. The player from Menorca, showing an excellent preparation in this position, has raised a world novelty in the 14th play, and in exchange of risking his king to the white´s attack, he has gained material advantage as far as enough defense options. Nevertheless, despite his decisive advantage, according to the omputer analysis modules, Vallejo has been in a terrible timing trouble and has been bound to make 9 plays in less than 3 minutes. In this situation, a fatal mistake in the 33rd play has finished his advantage and after it, with less than 30 seconds of time, he has missed the possibility of bringing up the game in the 38th play, and thus, Karjakin´s victory has been an inevitable result.

The games can be followed in live via the official website of the tournament www.bilbaomastersfinal.com . The broadcasts will resume tomorrow, the last day of the tournament.

For more information:

Press Office: Group Projection: 944790880

• World No. 1 and the italian head the standings with 13 points, three more than the armenian.
• World champion Anand already has very little chance after his eighth draw.

Bilbao 10.11.2012

The development of the eighth round of the V Chess Masters Final which is taking place in its second and final round in Bilbao, seems to confirm the predictions that the winner of the tournament, one of the most prestigious in the world, will not be known until the last day of the tournament, which will be held this Saturday at Alhondiga Bilbao.

The current lead and world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and the italian and revelation of the tournament, Fabiano Caruana, and with less options but still with some possibilities, the olympic champion Levon Aronian will fight for the title. The three players have ended up their games tie in today´s matches against Karjakin, Anand and Vallejo. Completely discarded at this point we can find Vallejo and Karjakin, while the world champion Anand has currently remote options as he will nee to win  the two matches left while the first three players of the classification would have to loose in one of the two of the remaning matches.

After the eighth round the classification is headed ex aequo with 13 points by Carlsen and Caruana, three points ahead of Aronian who is in the third position with 10 points. After the armenian we can find Anand with 8 points and closing the standing Karjakin with 6 and Vallejo with 9.

With this classification, two of the clashes of tomorrow will be critical. On the one hand the one between Carlsen and Anand and on the other hand the one betwen Caruana and Aronian. From their outcome will depend if the classification is further tighten regarding the Final on Saturday or if some players are permanently discarded.

In the game  between Carlsen and Karjakin, the shortest of the day, and in which the russian was playing white, it has raised the french defense “Winawere variant”. In this opnening the russian has staked his superior initiative on the queen side and his bishop pair against a best struture of pawn and space advantage on the king side that Carlsen has initially provided.

In the middle of the game Karjain has decideds not to risk and he has carried out some shunts in order to block completely the position. As a consequence and after the change of minor pieces the game has resulted in a towers ending with no possibility of progress for any of the players. In this situation they both have decided to finish the game tie through the triple repetition, avoiding then Sophia rule.

This particular rule which applies in Bilbao forces players to ask the referee for permission in order to arrange a tie game, unless a circumstance as the one referred above takes place.

In the other match which could have determined the future of the tournament in which they have played the world champion, Anand, and the revelation of the tournament, the italian-american Caruana, the indian has used “Grundfield” opening, very popular in the last few years and one of his favorite weapons in the recent world championship, in which he retained his title agains Bris Geifand.

The italian, who knew the preference of the world´s champion for this opening, was prepared for it, and he has realized a novelty on the move number eleventh, that is, until this day there was no constancy about this order in the movements. The innovative move horse f6 at that point of the game has permitted the italian player to neutralize anand attemps to achieve advantage, which has given him the opportunity to set a tie game even if playing with black pieces.

In the third play of the afternoon and the longest one in duration, the “Karo-Pic” defense raised by Aronian has wrecked due to the attack realized by the spanish champion Vallejo, who has sacrificed the tower in oreder to open the H column and launched to the black king with all his available forces. At this point, when Vallejo´s victory seemed to be secured, Aronian has found a very precise defense which has let him to save the gam. As a curiosity, in this moment, the powerful software modules which analyze the moves have not been able to determine, by the complexity of the situatio, if it was a path to the victory in this final moments of the game. The great play realized by the player form Menorca has given him the prize of getting a tie, and has given the armenian hope in order to achieve his second triumph in the Chess Masters Final, after the one achieved in 2009.

The games can be followed in live via the tournament official website www.bilbaomastersfinal.com. The broadcasts will resume in tomorrow´s sesión, penultimate session of the tournament.

For more information:

Press Office: Group Projection: 944790880

• The world No. 1 and the italian lead the standing with 12 points, 3 over Aronian.

Bilbao 10.09.2012

The No. 1 in the world ranking, Magnus Carlsen, has reached the leadership in the Chess Masters Final, which takes place in Bilbao in its second and final round, by winning this afternoon the play against the spanish Francisco Vallejo. This victory, combined with the draw achieved by the previous leader, Caruana, leaves the classification, before the rest day, with a shared leadership between the norwegian and the italian-american. The tie between the world champion Anand and the olympic champion Aronian alienate the latter from the top two classified and leave the indian in the curious position of not having lost neither won any of the seven games played in the tournament, both in Bilbao and Sao Paulo, where the first round was held.

Taking into account the results of the seventh round, played in the Alhondiga Bilbao, the classification is led jointly by Carlesen and Caruana with 12 points each. They are followed by the armenian Aronian with 9 points, with a difference of a victory among them. After him we can find Anand with 7 points, Kariakin with 5 and the player from Mallorca closes the classification with 4 points after his defeat against Carlsen.

In what looks like a replay of last year´s edition, Magnus Carlsen, coming from the very behind in the standings has traced up in the first two days of the Final in Bilbao the five points of disadvantage regarding Caruana that he brought from Brazil, and has already reached the leadership they both share before the rest day which will take place tomorrow. In this shift in the classification they have to do both, the combination of results of the norwegian and italian players and the scoring system applied in the Chess Masters Final, which awards the victory with 3 points, a tie with a single point and a defeat with a zero score.

In the main game of the day, Carlsen has raised the so-called “Winawere variant” of the french opening, an unusual option but popular among spanish elite players and in the repertory of the spanish player. That is the reason why Vallejo has managed a coherent defense until the position has been opened due to trouble with time, allowing the spanish to have different chances to equal or even win the world No. 1. However, troubled by the time, Valleko has carried out two inaccurate plays which have left him with no chance when the position was giving him the best perspectives. A couple of minutes after, the mistakes of the spanish champion have led him to the defeat.

Even he was playing with white pieces, Caruana has missed his initial advantage position, ending up tie against the russian Karjakin. The result has been motivated by the use of the extradionarily rocky “berlines variant” of the spanish opening by the russian, which is characterized by the fast shift of queens to dry the game. Without queens in the board. the italian-american has not been able to generate enough danger in order to bother Karjakin and the game has ended up tie.

In what might be a record if it goes on reaching the same result, the world champion Anand achieved a draw again in his seventh play, in this case against the olympic champion Aronian. Nevertheless, this time, and taking into account that he was playing against who is probably the best specialist playing with white pieces, the indian has achieved a creditable draw. In order to get there, the match has run the “Ragotzin variant”, which is the same Vallejo used in Sao Paulo against Aronian. Equality has been the trend of this match and obviously it has ended up tie.

The games can be followed in live via the tournament official website www.bilbaomastersfinal.com. The broadcasts will resume on Thursday after tomorrow´s rest day.

For more information:

Press Office: Group Projection: 944790880