Nakamura and Carlsen reduce the gap

Magnus Carlsen (Manu de Alba)

Wins by Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen have reduced the lead of Vassily Ivanchuk, who drew today. The victorious pair are now in equal second place. Both players employed a similar winning ploy: trapping a knight after their opponents had allowed their steeds to get stuck on the rim.

Vassily Ivanchuk and Viswanathan Anand fought out their game to the end, but at no point did their steady Queen's Indian ever really favour either player.

Hikaru Nakamura was able to win a fine technical game. He employed an unusual king manoeuvre to ensure that he regained his pawn, thus leaving him with a superior pawn structure. Later his king was able to advance up the board to pressurize Aronian's isolated pawn, and the Armenian had to suffer the indignity of getting his knight trapped.

Magnus Carlsen's revenge over Francisco Vallejo Pons also involved him trapping a sidelined knight, and two pawns weren't enough compensation for the Spaniard in the endgame.

Here is a summary of the eighth round:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Opening
Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2765	½-½	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2817	Queen's Indian Defence
Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2823	1-0	Francisco Vallejo Pons	ESP	2716	Slav 4.e3
Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2753	1-0	Levon Aronian	ARM	2807	Queen's Gambit 3...Be7

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	*	*	0	.	1	½	½	1	.	1	1	0	14 (5)
2-3	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2823	.	1	*	*	½	.	½	½	½	½	1	0	11 (4½)
2-3	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2753	½	0	.	½	*	*	½	½	1	½	1	.	11 (4½)
4	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2817	0	½	½	½	½	½	*	*	½	.	.	1	9 (4)
5	Levon Aronian	ARM	2807	0	.	½	½	½	0	.	½	*	*	1	½	8 (3½)
6	Francisco Vallejo Pons	ESP	2716	1	0	1	0	.	0	0	.	½	0	*	*	7 (2½)

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

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

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

Fourth round

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Opening
Levon Aronian	ARM	2807	0-1	Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2765	Queen's Gambit Ragozin
Francisco Vallejo Pons	ESP	2716	0-1	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2817	English Opening
Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2823	½-½	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2753	Queen's Gambit Declined

Fifth round

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

The first two rounds from Bilbao went as follows:

Sixth round

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

Seventh round

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Opening
Viswanathan Anand	IND	2817	½-½	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2753	Spanish Berlin
Levon Aronian	ARM	2807	½-½	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2823	Queen's Gambit Orthodox
Francisco Vallejo Pons	ESP	2716	1-0	Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2765	English (with transposition to Grünfeld)

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

There will be a rest day on Sunday the 9th, and then the final two rounds will be on the 10th and 11th.

All the rounds will be at the following times:

4pm (Bilbao and Paris)

3pm (London)

6pm (Moscow)

10am (New York)

7am (Los Angeles)

1am next day (Sydney)