11 October 2011

Grand Slam Chess Masters Final R9: Carlsen beats Ivanchuk to lead jointly; Aronian beats Anand and Nakamura loses to Vallejo
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011

Hello everyone,

The ninth and the penultimate round at the Grand Slam Final in Bilbao would be remembered for just three things – a porcupine, a clock and a sleeping titan. That’s so much drama in a single round in such a high-level tournament.



First, the sleeping titan. This time world champion Vishy Anand was on the losing side with Levon Aronian playing a naturally-flowing symphony. Meanwhile, Hikaru Nakamura lost on time in a strange way. According to a detailed explanation on www.chessvibes.com, he thought he had made the 40th move and went away from the table. In effect, he had not and lost!

The game between Carlsen and tournament leader Vassily Ivanchuk should be watched rather than described. What to do when a porcupine attacks you?

Here are the nice games of the round. The last round would be played on Tuesday with Carlsen and Ivanchuk in joint lead. An exciting finish to the event is awaited.

Grand Slam Masters Final 2011 | Round 9 Standings (football)1-2 Magnus Carlsen, Vassily Ivanchuk 14
3-4 Hikaru Nakamura, Levon Aronian 11
5 Francisco Vallejo 10
6 Vishy Anand 9 




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