Sao Paulo/Bilbao 2011, Round 8: Ivanchuk Draws; Carlsen, Nakamura Win

In the first cycle, Magnus Carlsen was winning against Francisco Vallejo, but first missed the win and then lost on a blunder. This time, Vallejo came out of the gate in good shape, but Carlsen gradually improved his position, exploited Vallejo's ever-present time trouble and pulled out a win. This kept Vallejo in last, while Carlsen gained some ground on Vassily Ivanchuk.

Also gaining grounds and maintaining a tie for second with Carlsen is Hikaru Nakamura. Not all was clean and clear in the first part of the game, but in the ending Nakamura beautifully outplayed Levon Aronian to take the full point. (Or rather, three points!) Aronian played on longer than etiquette would normally dictate, and it almost worked! Nakamura got a bit sloppy in the piece up ending, but at the key moment played 71.Nd7 (after serious thought), and it was good enough.

Finally, Ivanchuk had some pull against the world champion, but Viswanathan Anand is a great defender and managed to use Ivanchuk's time trouble to equalize and perhaps a tiny bit more. It wasn't enough to play for a win though, and the game was drawn in a longish knight ending.

Standings After Round 8 (of 10) (Remember, it's 3-1-0 scoring, traditional scoring is given in parentheses):

1. Ivanchuk 14 (5)
2-3. Nakamura, Carlsen 11 (4.5)
4. Anand 9 (4)
5. Aronian 8 (3.5)
6. Vallejo 7 (2.5)

Round 9 Pairings (on Monday; tomorrow is a rest day):

• Carlsen - Ivanchuk (obviously a huge game for the final standings!)
• Vallejo - Nakamura
• Aronian - Anand

Official site here, games (without comments today - sorry!) here.

(Blog note: You'll see if you click on the games link that they are numbered 3999, 4000 and 4001. That's how many games and fragments (mostly games) I've presented since I started blogging in 2005. Most of the games have been annotated, so that's a lot of work over the years!)

Comments

[tackhead]

For only six years I appreciate your insightful comments on our beloved game?
Feels rather like a decade at least.

[Yan]

Dennis, just want to thank you for your excellent Chess blogging and videos. It has been very educational, informative, and fun. Thank you for your hard work.

[hylen]

Heh heh. Carlsen:

I, um, had a slightly better position, put some pressure on him and, and then um, he blundered in the end . . . that's the way it often works . . .

Yes it is.

Bonus link: Who doesn't love Ivanchuk?