Chessable Houska's Caro

4th Final Masters 2011 (4)

Ivanchuk scores 3rd win in a row at the 4th Final Masters

Francisco Vallejo Pons lost again (and was already being targeted by Nakamura in Round 5 on twitter by the time he finished the game), this time to Viswanathan Anand. Andre Gordon plays the opening move. Photo ©

Francisco Vallejo Pons lost again (and was already being targeted by Nakamura in Round 5 on twitter by the time he finished the game), this time to Viswanathan Anand. Andre Gordon plays the opening move. Photo © | http://www.bilbaofinalmasters.com

Round 4 of the 4th Final Masters saw Vassily Ivanchuk win his 3rd game in a row, this time as black, against Levon Aronian in a fiendishly complicated game. Ivanchuk obtained a decisive advantage which he lost in terrible time trouble but Aronian who had more time blitzed him and blundered his position away. Viswanathan Anand ground down Vallejo Pons who admitted afterwards he is in awful form. Magnus Carlsen got absolutely nothing against a well prepared Hikaru Nakamura. Ivanchuk 10pts, Anand, Aronian 5pts, Nakamura 4pts, Carlsen and Vallejo 3pts. Round 5 Sat 1st October 19:00 BST Ivanchuk-Carlsen, Nakamura-Vallejo and Anand-Aronian.

Levon Aronian 0-1 Vassily Ivanchuk

Vassily Ivanchuk extended his lead after defeating 2nd placed Levon Aronian with the black pieces. A very complicated position resulted one which was extremely difficult to play at a time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves. However Ivanchuk found his way through the complications better and after he found the 22...Qxh3+ he was winning although then in desperate trouble on the clock, when Aronian had about 5 minutes. After 29...Rxf7 Aronian was almost equal but his 32.a4? was a terrible error and Ivanchuk made no mistake.

"I think it was an interesting game until I started blundering"

Aronian after his game quoted on twitter.

Bilbao Final Masters Twitter page

Aronian,Levon (2807) - Ivanchuk,Vassily (2765) [D38]
4th Final Masters Sao Paulo/Bilbao BRA/ESP (4.2), 30.09.2011

1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 e6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.Bg5 Bb4 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Nd2 c6 8.e3 Nf8 9.Bd3 Be7 10.Qc2

[10.h3 Ne6 11.Bh4 0-0 12.0-0 g6 13.a3 a5 14.Na4 Ra7 15.Qc2 Ng7 16.Nc5 Nf5 17.Bxf6 Bxf6 18.Nf3 Be7 19.Rfe1 Bd6= 20.e4 dxe4 21.Bxe4 Ne7 22.Rad1 Nd5 23.Bxd5 cxd5 24.Qb3 b6 25.Na4 Be6 26.Ne5 Rb7 27.Rc1 Qg5 28.Rc6 Bxe5 29.Rxe5 Qd2 30.Re3 Bd7 31.Rcc3 1/2-1/2 Alterman,B (2515)-Dizdar,G (2495)/Debrecen 1992/EU-chT]

10...Ne6 11.Bh4 g6 12.h3 0-0 13.Nf3 a5 14.g4 b5 15.Ne5 Bb7 16.f4 c5 17.f5 cxd4 18.fxe6 dxc3

Vassily Ivanchuk

r__q_rk_
_b__bp_p
____Pnp_
pp_pN___
______PB
__pBP__P
PPQ_____
R___K__R

Levon Aronian

Position after 18...dxc3

19.0-0?!

The opening has been very creative and become sharp and difficult to assess. One of the few things you can say about this game is that this castling idea is at the least very risky.

[19.exf7+ would be played by most players.]

19...d4 20.Nxf7

[20.exf7+]

20...Qd5 21.Bxf6?

This is definitely losing although is does require black to see a counter-intuitive idea.

[21.e4 Qxe6 22.Ng5 is still a game.]

21...Qh1+

[21...Bxf6 22.Rxf6 Qh1+ 23.Kf2 Qxa1 24.Bxg6 Kg7 25.Bxh7 dxe3+ 26.Ke2 Qxb2 27.Rg6+ Kxh7 28.Rh6+ with a draw is the kind of line one might expect here.]

22.Kf2 Qxh3!

Vassily Ivanchuk

r____rk_
_b__bN_p
____PBp_
pp______
___p__P_
__pBP__q
PPQ__K__
R____R__

Levon Aronian

Position after 22...Qxh3!

A tricky move to find and Ivanchuk ended up in bad time trouble doing so. Stops Nh6 mate and introduces deadly threats.

23.Ke1 cxb2 24.Qxb2 Bb4+ 25.Kd1 Bf3+ 26.Rxf3 Qxf3+ 27.Be2 Qxf6 28.g5 Qg7 29.Qxd4 Rxf7

Now Ivanchuk is blitzing and loses much of his advantage.

[29...Bc3]

30.exf7+ Qxf7 31.Rc1 Rb8 32.a4?

Vassily Ivanchuk

_r____k_
_____q_p
______p_
pp____P_
Pb_Q____
____P___
____B___
__RK____

Levon Aronian

Position after 32.a4?

Loses instantly.

[32.Rc6]

32...Qb3+ 33.Rc2 Qb1+ 34.Rc1 Qb3+ 35.Rc2 Rc8

Black repeats getting closer to time control before playing this winning idea.

36.Bc4+ bxc4 37.Qd5+ Kf8 38.Qd7 Re8

Ivanchuk is winning.

0-1

Magnus Carlsen 1/2 Hikaru Nakamura

Hikaru Nakamura again played incredibly solidly as black in a Queen's Gambit and Magnus Carlsen got absolutely no advantage.

"Nice easy draw with Black. Now its time to take my chances against Vallejo tomorrow."

Hikaru Nakaura Twitter page

Carlsen,Magnus (2823) - Nakamura,Hikaru (2753) [D55]
4th Final Masters Sao Paulo/Bilbao BRA/ESP (4.3), 30.09.2011

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Bxf6 7.e3 0-0 8.Rc1 c6 9.Bd3 Nd7 10.0-0 dxc4 11.Bxc4 e5 12.Bb3 exd4 13.exd4 Nb6 14.h3 Re8 15.Re1 Rxe1+ 16.Qxe1 Bf5 17.Ne5 Nd5 18.Nxd5 cxd5 19.g4

Trying to get get a little something for white in a well known drawish position.

[19.Rc5 Be6 20.Qe3 Rc8 21.Nd3 b6 22.Rxc8 Qxc8 23.Nb4 Qb7 24.Qc3 a5 25.Nc2 Qc8 26.Qxc8+ Bxc8 27.Bxd5 Bf5 28.Bb3 Bxc2 29.Bxc2 Bxd4 30.b3 1/2-1/2 Sviridonov,S (2358)-Malinichev,K (2290)/Volodarskij 2007/CBM 119 ext]

19...Be6 20.f4 Qb6 21.Rd1 Bxe5 22.Qxe5 Re8 23.f5 f6 24.Qf4 Bf7 25.Qf2 Qb4 26.Kg2 Re4 27.Rd2 Qd6 28.Bd1 Kf8 29.Bf3 Re7 30.Re2 Rxe2 31.Qxe2 Be8 32.Qe3 Bc6 33.a3 Qe7 34.Qc3 a6 35.b4 Ke8 36.a4 Qd7 37.a5 Qd6 38.Qc5 Qf4

Heading for perpetual check.

39.Bxd5 Qd2+ 40.Kf3 Qd3+ 41.Kf2 Qd2+ 42.Kf3 Qd3+ 43.Kf2 1/2-1/2

Hikaru Nakamura

____k___
_p____p_
p_b__p_p
P_QB_P__
_P_P__P_
___q___P
_____K__
________

Magnus Carlsen

Final Position after 43.Kf2

Francisco Vallejo Pons 0-1 Viswanathan Anand

Viswanathan Anand ground down Francisco Vallejo Pons who admitted he is far from his best. Anand played a position as black that can come from a number of openings. He avoided some finesses previously thought best for a new idea involving the trading of queens. Anand was level but with the long term advantage of the two bishops which he eventually got to use in the ending.

"If in this tournament I play at my worst level, it is hard to do something. I'm sorry"

Vallejo after his game quoted on twitter.

Bilbao Final Masters Twitter page

Vallejo Pons,Francisco (2716) - Anand,Viswanathan (2817) [A04]
4th Final Masters Sao Paulo/Bilbao BRA/ESP (4.1), 30.09.2011

1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.e3 Nf6 5.d4 cxd4 6.exd4 d5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Qb3 e6 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.Bb5 Bg7

[10...Qd6 11.0-0 Bg7 12.Re1+ Be6 13.Bd2 0-0 14.Bxc6 Qxc6 15.Rac1 1/2-1/2 Barquero Pinar,D-Rodenas Balana,L/Badalona 1999/EXT 2001]

11.Qa3 Qe7+

This seems to be a new idea in a well known position. All of this was played quickly by Anand and was clearly preparation.

12.Qxe7+ Kxe7 13.Bxc6 bxc6 14.Bf4 f6 15.Rc1 g5 16.Be3 Bd7 17.h4 h6

Viswanathan Anand

r______r
p__bk_b_
__p__p_p
___p__p_
___P___P
____BN__
PP___PP_
__R_K__R

Francisco Vallejo Pons

Final Position after 17...h6

Black has equalised but as is the modern way the World Champion has the two bishops just in case he can find something to do with them.

18.hxg5 hxg5 19.Rxh8 Rxh8 20.Kd2 Bf8 21.Ne1 Kf7 22.Nd3 Kg6 23.Nc5 Be8 24.g3 Kf5 25.Rc3 Bd6 26.Ra3 Rh7 27.Ra6 Kg4 28.Nd3 Rc7 29.b4 Bd7 30.b5 Be7 31.bxc6 Bxc6 32.Ra5 Bd8 33.Nb4 Ba8 34.Rc5 Rd7 35.a3 Bb7 36.Nd3 Ba6 37.Nb4 Bc4 38.Rc8 Be7 39.Ra8 Rb7 40.Nc6 Bxa3 41.Rxa7 Rxa7 42.Nxa7

Viswanathan Anand

________
N_______
_____p__
___p__p_
__bP__k_
b___B_P_
___K_P__
________

Francisco Vallejo Pons

Final Position after 42.Nxa7

Black has gradually outplayed Vallejo and now things are very tricky for him.

42...Bb4+ 43.Kc2 Kf3 44.Nc8 Bb5 45.Kd1 Ba4+ 46.Kc1 Ke2 47.Kb2 Bd7 48.Nb6 Bc6 49.Nc8 g4 50.Kc1 Bd7 51.Nb6 Be6 52.Na4 Be1 53.Nc5 Bf5 54.Na4 Bxf2 55.Bxf2 Kxf2 56.Nc3 Be4 57.Kd2 Bf3 0-1

Note there are three points for a win and one for a draw.

4th Final Masters Sao Paulo/Bilbao (BRA/ESP), 26 ix-11 x 2011 cat. XXII (2780)
1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2765 * * 1 . 1 . ½ . . . 1 . 10 3109
2. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2817 0 . * * . . ½ . ½ . 1 . 5 2764
3. Aronian, Levon g ARM 2807 0 . . . * * ½ . ½ . 1 . 5 2764
4. Nakamura, Hikaru g USA 2753 ½ . ½ . ½ . * * ½ . . . 4 2803
5. Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2823 . . ½ . ½ . ½ . * * 0 . 3 2686
6. Vallejo Pons, Francisco g ESP 2716 0 . 0 . 0 . . . 1 . * * 3 2610
Round 1 (September 26, 2011)
Nakamura, Hikaru - Ivanchuk, Vassily ½-½ 28 A40 Unusual Replies to 1.d4
Anand, Viswanathan - Carlsen, Magnus ½-½ 28 C67 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Aronian, Levon - Vallejo Pons, Francisco 1-0 53 D10 Slav Defence
Round 2 (September 27, 2011)
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Vallejo Pons, Francisco 1-0 37 A20 English Opening
Nakamura, Hikaru - Anand, Viswanathan ½-½ 38 D43 Anti-Meran Gambit
Carlsen, Magnus - Aronian, Levon ½-½ 56 C84 Ruy Lopez Centre Attack
Round 3 (September 28, 2011)
Anand, Viswanathan - Ivanchuk, Vassily 0-1 69 C63 Ruy Lopez Schliemann
Aronian, Levon - Nakamura, Hikaru ½-½ 46 D94 Gruenfeld Closed
Vallejo Pons, Francisco - Carlsen, Magnus 1-0 42 A04 Dutch System
Round 4 (September 30, 2011)
Aronian, Levon - Ivanchuk, Vassily 0-1 38 D37 QGD 5.Bf4
Carlsen, Magnus - Nakamura, Hikaru ½-½ 43 D55 Queens Gambit Old Lasker Variation
Vallejo Pons, Francisco - Anand, Viswanathan 0-1 57 A04 Dutch System

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