Carlsen blunders, Ivanchuk shines

Ivanchuk against Anand (official site)

Vassily Ivanchuk patiently nurtured his pawn advantage against Viswanathan Anand, whereas Magnus Carlsen blundered a piece. So Vassily Ivanchuk is the sole leader and Francisco Vallejo Pons is off the bottom. In the other game, Hikaru Nakamura was too solid for Levon Aronian, who made no real progress, and so the American continues his run of draws.

Here are the results from the third round:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Opening
Viswanathan Anand	IND	2817	0-1	Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2765	Spanish Schliemann
Francisco Vallejo Pons	ESP	2716	1-0	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2823	Modern Opening
Levon Aronian	ARM	2807	½-½	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2753	Slav/Grünfeld

So the three 2800+ players only managed 0.5/3 against their lower-rated counterparts.

The tournament table takes into account the Sofia rules: 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, but the traditional scoring system can be found in brackets.

Rank	Name	Country	Rating	1w	1b	2w	2b	3w	3b	4w	4b	5w	5b	6w	6b	Points
1	Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2765	*	*	.	.	.	½	1	.	.	.	.	1	7 (2½)
2	Levon Aronian	ARM	2807	.	.	*	*	½	.	1	.	.	½	.	.	5 (2)
3	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2753	½	.	.	½	*	*	.	.	.	.	½	.	3 (1½)
4	Francisco Vallejo Pons	ESP	2716	.	0	.	0	.	.	*	*	1	.	.	.	3 (1)
5-6	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2823	.	.	½	.	.	.	.	0	*	*	.	½	2 (1)
5-6	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2817	0	.	.	.	.	½	.	.	½	.	*	*	2 (1)

The top two in the world find themselves sharing the wooden spoon!

As a reminder, here is what happened in the earlier rounds:

First round

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Opening
Levon Aronian	ARM	2807	1-0	Francisco Vallejo Pons	ESP	2716	Slav Defence
Viswanathan Anand	IND	2817	½-½	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2823	Spanish Berlin
Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2753	½-½	Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2765	Keres Defence

Second round

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Opening
Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2765	1-0	Francisco Vallejo Pons	ESP	2716	English Opening
Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2823	½-½	Levon Aronian	ARM	2807	Spanish with d3
Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2753	½-½	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2817	Semi-Slav, Botvinnik

The official site for additional information www.bilbaofinalmasters.com and live games.

Note these times if you want to follow the live games:

3pm Sao Paulo

8pm (Paris)

7pm (London)

10pm (Moscow)

2pm (New York)

10am (Los Angeles)

4am (Sydney)