Vallejo upsets the leader

Vallejo Pons

Francisco Vallejo Pons made the most of his chances against Vassily Ivanchuk converting his early positional advantage in the endgame. A passed d-pawn tied down the Ukrainian, but it was the passed a-pawn that made all the difference. Ivanchuk still leads, but the group behind him is tightening up.

Hikaru Nakamura played a tricky manoeuvre which led to the cheeky win of a pawn. The World Champion however was able to retain enough activity to lead the game ultimately towards a repetition.

The early h2-h4 employed by Vallejo is a fairly off-beat theme in the 'Anti-Grünfeld' variation of the English opening. Play switched back to typical Grünfeld play with White expanding in the centre and Black hitting back with ...c5 and ...Qa5. Despite the lack of minor pieces, the passed d-pawn caused Black some difficulties and Vallejo kept winning chances throughout.

Levon Aronian and Magnus Carlsen entered some sharp complications, with Aronian having ideas of a direct kingside attack and the Norwegian biting back where he could. Mass simplification led to a bishop against knight endgame which turns out to be balanced.

Here is a summary of the 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 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	*	*	1	½	.	1	.	1	0	.	1	0	13 (4½)
2-5	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2753	½	0	*	*	½	½	.	½	.	½	1	.	8 (3½)
2-5	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2817	0	.	½	½	*	*	½	.	½	½	.	1	8 (3½)
2-5	Levon Aronian	ARM	2807	0	.	½	.	.	½	*	*	½	½	1	½	8 (3½)
2-5	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2823	.	1	½	.	½	½	½	½	*	*	.	0	8 (3½)
6	Francisco Vallejo Pons	ESP	2716	1	0	.	0	0	.	½	0	1	.	*	*	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

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

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

The remaining games will be on the 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 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)