Kramniks wins Bilbao!

Vladimir Kramnik has emerged the Champion of the 3rd Grand Slam Chess Masters Final played in Bilbao from October 9th to 15th! He now joins 2008 winner Veselin Topalov and last year’s winner Levon Aronian on the list of winners of this tournament.

In the first match, tournament leader Vladimir Kramnik should have defended the black pieces agaist Alexei Shirov, a rival who usually chokes. The game followed the same course as the one they played in the preliminary round in Shanghai, a quick f3 variation of the Nizmo-Indian defence. On this occasion, Kramnik departed from the previous game, opting for a calmer variation. The game developed around the weakness of the c5 black pawn, which Kramnik decided to resolve by sacrificing it in exchange for some counterplay in the open files on the queen’s side. This counterplay resulted in the recovery of the pawn after a tactical sequence, leading to an endgame very limited in material. In the end a draw was inevitable, especially for black, as confirmed by Vladimir after the game.

In the other match, current World Champion Viswanathan Anand played with white against Magnus Carlsen, with the top spot in the world ranking, according to the ELO rating system, up for grabs. Anand needed both victory for himself and also for Kramnik to draw or lose in order to catch up to or surpass the tournament leader. Magnus repeated the variation he played two days ago against Shirov. Anand prepared a quick f5 advance, a scheme which prevented the counterplay which had been so successful for Magnus in his last game. The game entered a style of play typical of Ruy Lopez, where white has a significant spatial advantage and black looks for counterplay before his spatial disadvantage does him in. Magnus was able to make headway on the white king’s side, while Anand advanced on the queen’s side. At the most critical point of the game, both players made the most of their advantages. At this moment of strike and counterstrike, Carlsen found a path to obtaining perpetual check. The game ended in a draw and Kramnik brilliantly walked away the winner (www.bilbaofinalmasters.com).