So Wins Bilbao In A Playoff
It wasn't the most exciting super-tournament in history...or this year, or in the last couple of weeks, but it did at least go to a playoff, where Wesley So managed to defeat Anish Giri 1.5-.5 in the blitz tiebreaks. Giri was better, even winning in both games, but a howler in the first (42...Nf4??) turned what was already then headed for a draw into a loss, while a missed shot in the second (39.Bg8+!) let So fight on and eventually pull out a draw. Congratulations to Wesley So, who despite being #10 in the world was the bottom seed in the event!
This came only a pair of draws in the last classical round, which meant that So and Giri tied for first by winning one game and drawing the rest, while Viswanathan Anand and Ding Liren tied for last by losing just one game. (So much for the 3-1-0 system forcing fighting chess, a point I made repeatedly when this experiment started. That said, I was probably wrong in dismissing rules that forbid draw offers until move 30 or 40. Players can and do get around it whenever they want to, but in general it creates a general atmosphere of disapproval for such draws, and that rather than the rule itself seems to promote more fighting chess.)
The tournament site (which unfortunately wasn't very good, and their transmission of the games was poor even by 20th century standards) is here.
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