Magnus has had a difficult streak in the past month, starting with the Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk. It carries over to the start of the Bilbao Final Masters. But never count this young phenom out. I have no doubt that he will bounce back soon.
Magnus did not want to take the easy draw in the endgame against Anand. He went for it and lost. Even though he lost, he did not lose his fighting spirit.
Bilbao Final Masters round 2 results:
| # | White | Results | Black |
| 1 | Magnus Carlsen | 0-1 | Viswanathan Anand |
| 2 | Vladimir Kramnik | 1-0 | Alexei Shirov |
http://www.bilbaofinalmasters.com/2010/en/torneo/fase-final-de-bilbao/resultados/
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
I hope Magnus will not copy the career of Boris Spasski in the Fifties/Sixties: Top in the middle of the Fifties and qualifiing for the 1956 Candidates’ Tournament at the age of 19 and then a lean period of 8 long years until 1964 when he managed to attack again to the world championship.
I am surprised that Carlsen didn’t see earlier that he shouldn’t have sacrificed a piece just to queen a passed pawn. In the end, he trapped his knight because of Anand’s well positioned bishop. This reminds me of Kramnik’s fatal error against Deep Fritz when he missed mate in one. I am glad that Carlsen’s rating has dropped because having such a high rating is unsustainable. Karjakin, Nakamura, and others should be playing in this tournament as well. Susan, where are your comments and game analysis? I would love to see your point of view.
I think Kramnik will emerge as victorious.