Nakamura and Carlsen win

Five from six
Hikaru Nakamura seized second place with a win over back-marker Francisco Vallejo Pons, while Magnus Carlsen outplayed the leader Vassily Ivanchuk. All six players managed to win at least one game in Sao Paulo. In a few days, after changing continents, the Masters Final will continue in Bilbao.

Vassily Ivanchuk made a serious error after the exchange of queens and then came under pressure.

The World Champion Viswanathan Anand was held fairly efficiently by Levon Aronian as the tactical flurry in the middlegame just led to drawish simplification.

Hikaru Nakamura beat a dispirited Francisco Vallejo Pons, who sacrificed a piece somewhat unsoundly, as he over-estimated the weakness of White's king. Nakamura soon obtained a clear advantage after returning the piece for a pawn plus the initiative.

Here are the results from the 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 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 0 . 1 . 10 (3½)
2 Hikaru Nakamura  USA 2753 ½ . * ½ . . ½ . ½ 1 . 7 (3)
3-5 Viswanathan Anand  IND  2817  0 . . ½ * * ½ . ½  . . 1 6 (2½)
3-5 Levon Aronian  ARM 2807 0 . ½ . . ½ * * . ½ 1 . 6 (2½)
3-5 Magnus Carlsen  NOR 2823 . 1 ½ . . ½ ½ . * * . 0 6 (2½)
6 Francisco Vallejo Pons ESP 2716 . 0 . 0 0 . . 0 1 . * * 3 (1)

The tournament has opened up somewhat after Ivanchuk's defeat, with any of the first five still in contention.

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

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

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

Note the changed times if you want to follow the live games in Bilbao, Spain which start on Thursday the 6th of October.

There will be games on the 6th, 7th and 8th, followed by a rest day on Sunday the 9th, and then the final two rounds will be on the 10th and 11th.

All the remaining 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)


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