Kramnik is Masters Champion

Vladimir Kramnik won the 2010 Masters in Bilbao after leading the tournament from start to finish. He held off Shirov's aggressive opening while the other game, Anand-Carlsen, was also drawn.

Alexei Shirov showed his willingness for a fight by employing the double-edged 4.f3 against the Nimzo-indian. He would have dearly loved to have obtained his revenge, but it wasn't to be as a tactical flurry led to mass simplification and a drawn endgame.

Carlsen lost his earlier encounter with Anand

Anand against Carlsen was the same opening variation as in Shirov-Carlsen (from round 3) with the Indian varying on move 18. This time, matters developed more quietly, with the main assymetry in the middlegame being White giving up one, then the other, bishop for Black's knights. Anand retained his space advantage, but Carlsen made some headway on the kingside. Rook exchanges left both kings exposed, so it was no surprise that the game ended with perpetual check.

Round 6:

NameRatingCountryResultNameRatingCountryOpeningMoves
Viswanathan Anand 2800IND0.5-0.5Magnus Carlsen 2826NORSpanish Breyer50
Alexei Shirov2749ESP0.5-0.5Vladimir Kramnik2780RUSNimzoindian 4.f334

So Kramnik finished the tournament unbeaten whereas Shirov failed to win any games.

The Final standings are as follows:

StandingPlayer (World ranking)RatingAgeCountry1W1B2W2B3W3B4W4BScore (Bilbao)Score (Standard)Expected ScoreElo +/-
1Vladimir Kramnik (5)278035RUSXX==1=1=1042.9+11
2Viswanathan Anand (3)280040IND==XX=1==83.53.1+4
3Magnus Carlsen (1)282619NOR=00=XX1=62.53.4-9
4Alexei Shirov (12)274938ESP=0===0XX422.6-6

Kramnik won 11 rating points and Anand 4 at the expense of Carlsen (-9) and Shirov (-6).

As a reminder, here is a summary of the earlier rounds:

Round 1:

NameRatingCountryResultNameRatingCountryOpeningMoves
Alexei Shirov2749ESP0.5-0.5Viswanathan Anand 2800INDSpanish Berlin41
Vladimir Kramnik2780RUS1-0Magnus Carlsen 2826NORQueen's Indian Defence45

Round 2:

NameRatingCountryResultNameRatingCountryOpeningMoves
Magnus Carlsen2826NOR0-1Viswanathan Anand2800INDSpanish Berlin45
Vladimir Kramnik2780RUS1-0Alexei Shirov2749ESPSlav Defence41

Round 3:

NameRatingCountryResultNameRatingCountryOpeningMoves
Alexei Shirov2749ESP0.5-0.5Magnus Carlsen2826NORSpanish Breyer174
Viswanathan Anand2800IND0.5-0.5Vladimir Kramnik2780RUSCatalan opening34

Round 4:

NameRatingCountryResultNameRatingCountryOpeningNo. Moves
Magnus Carlsen2826NOR0.5-0.5Vladimir Kramnik2780RUSEnglish Opening73
Viswanathan Anand2800IND0.5-0.5Alexei Shirov2749ESPFrench McClutcheon38

Round 5:

NameRatingCountryResultNameRatingCountryOpeningMoves
Magnus Carlsen2826NOR1-0Alexei Shirov2749ESPSpanish Neo-Archangel65
Vladimir Kramnik2780RUS0.5-0.5Viswanathan Anand 2800INDQueen's Gambit Vienna37

For more information go to the Official site


Published on , Updated on