Bilbao, Rounds 8 & 9: Carlsen & Caruana Lead Entering the Final Round
Coming into round 8 of the Final Masters (now in Bilbao; the first half was in Sao Paulo), Fabiano Caruana and Magnus Carlsen were tied for first, one point (on 3-1-0 scoring) ahead of Levon Aronian. With one round to go, the race has gone from three horses to two, thanks to the drama of round 9.
First though, round 8. All three games were drawn. The best and most thrilling game was Vallejo-Aronian, which was itself a very narrow escape for the world's #2 player. He was in big trouble, in a passive position with his king about to come under an attack, and short of time as well. Fortunately for him, Francisco Vallejo avoided the pedestrian 26.Bxd4, which would have given him a no muss, no fuss clear advantage. Instead, he went for glory with 26.hxg6 fxg6 27.Rxh7+, and from there through the end of the time control it was a thrill ride for the spectators. Practically every turn required Aronian to find the only move, and he rose to the occasion, pulling out a tough draw.
In round 9, however, Aronian was not able to pull a rabbit out of his hat. In a way, it was an inverse of round 8. Though he had Black again, this time his position was just fine coming out of the opening and into the middlegame. That's not to say the position was simple, as it wasn't. After 20.Nh4 b3 21.Bb1 Caruana was clearly going headhunting on the kingside, with first the bishop and then Black's king as targets. Nevertheless, with 21...c4 or 21...Nd7 followed by ...c4, Black would have been very much in the game. Instead, either from panic or an oversight somewhere in his calculations, Aronian decided to sacrifice a piece with 21...Nxg4. His follow-up was even less successful, and soon Caruana's position was completely won. It looks like Aronian just had a bad day, and as a result he is out of the race for first.
The other game relevant for the first place standings was Carlsen's battle against world champion Viswanathan Anand, who is unfortunately playing less and less like a champion every year. (His narrowly defeated rival, Boris Gelfand, is on the other hand playing better and better: not only did he tie for first in the London Grand Prix a week or two ago; he has also gotten off to a good start in the insanely strong European Club Cup in Eilat, Israel. A quick look at the right sidebar of the live chess ratings page will give some idea of how loaded the field is.) Anand's string of eight draws came to an end as he lost in a Moscow Sicilian. It seems that Anand may have underestimated Carlsen's attacking plan of 18.e5, 19.e6 and then 20.Nf4. It took a few more moves before Black's potentially vulnerable kingside turned into a death zone for his king, but 24.g4! (restricting Black's knight) and then the powerful retreat 25.Nh3! ensured Black's fate. With all Anand's heavy pieces stuck helplessly on the queenside, the end was near and his position was hopeless, so Anand gave up before the overt massacre appeared on the board.
The last game wasn't important in the race for first, but it was another exciting battle. Sergey Karjakin was on the ropes against Vallejo, but this time the story was even sadder for Vallejo. He drew against Aronian, but this time he lost, and from a winning position. 32...b3 would have maintained a decisive advantage, and 33...Nxe5 would have kept a meaningful plus as well. His position deteriorated over the next few moves, probably due to time trouble, and the final straw was 37...Qb2, blundering into mate.
And so the last round pairings look like this (player scores are in parentheses):
- Vallejo (5) - Caruana (16)
- Aronian (10) - Carlsen (16)
- Anand (8) - Karjakin (9)
Reader Comments (1)
After round 7, Aronian wasn't one but three football points behind Caruana and Carlsen (see for example your previous blog post), which might explain his subsequent play:
His dodgy opening against Vallejo may have been an attempt to confuse the underdog and create winning chances with black - another story is that at least the latter didn't happen in the game. Aronian did it before, a Czech Benoni in Wijk aan Zee against l'Ami comes to my mind. That game followed a similar plot, Aronian ended up worse but finally saved a draw. Aronian may also have been inspired by Kramnik who played the Pirc in similar tournament situations against somewhat similar opponents, with mixed results (wins against Smeets and Galkin, loss against Naiditsch).
Then his piece sacrifice against Caruana may not have been panic (in the sense of "I am worse and have to muddy the waters") but also a misguided winning attempt or indeed a calculation error.
[Lots of "mays" and "mights", only Aronian himself knows for sure ...]