CARUANA RESISTS ARONIAN´S FIREPROOF AND CONSOLIDATES HIS LEADERSHIP AT THE END OF THE FIRST ROUND OF THE MASTERS FINAL IN SAO PAULO.
The Italian, with 10 points, will start the second round in Bilbao, on October 8th, with an advantage of 5 points over the Armenian and 6 over Carlsen.
Day 5th Results:
– Aronian (Armenia) (w) – Caruana (Italy) (b) 1-1 (duration: 4h 54m.; 73 plays).
– Vallejo (Spain) (w) – Karjakin (Russia) (b) 1-1 (duration: 3h 21m.; 55 plays).
– Anand (India) (w) – Carlsen (Norway) (b) 1-1 (duration: 2h 46m.; 58 plays).
Final classification of the First Phase:
– Fabiano Caruana: 11 points.
– Levon Aronian: 7 points.
– Magnus Carlsen: 6 points.
– Viswanathan Anand: 5 points.
– Francisco Vallejo: 3 points.
– Sergei Karjakin: 3 points
Sao Paulo. 09/29/2012
Breaking the forecasts that stood Fabiano Caruana as an unlikely winning beat, last night (this early morning in Spain) he consolidated his leadership at the end of the first round of the V Chess Masters Final, which has been held in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, after five rounds of contest. The second and definitive phase will start on October 8th in Bilbao and will face, in a league of all against all, five of the eight best world chess players.
The confirmation of Caruana as the principal favorite to conquer the Masters Final was consolidated in his last play, in which he played against his closest rival in the standing, the Olymplic champion and No. 2 of the world ranking, Levon Aronian, a play which ended up draw. Identical results were seen in the other two plays which matched on the one hand, the world champion, Viswanathan Anand and the No. 1 of the world ranking, Magnus Carlsen, and on the other hand, Paco Vallejo versus the Russian Sergei Karjakin.
After this last round in Sao Paulo, the Italian-American will start the second round in Bilbao with 10 points, 4 more points than Aronian and 5 more than Carlsen. In the middle of the classification we can find the world champion, Anand, with 5 points, while Vallejo and Karjakin, both with 3 points, rear the classification, with difficult choices to overcome their results.
Despite the differences accumulated in this first phase of the Final the development of the tournament has been defined by its equality so far, since even if Caruana, Aronian and Anand have ended up undefeated, the latter, the world champion, has finished all his plays tie. In any case, the scoring system applied in the Chess Masters Final, called Bilbao rule, -which grants 3 points per win- makes it possible for the classification differences not to be that extraordinary. In fact, in the last edition, the Ukranian Vasily Ivanchuk ended Sao Paulo round 3 points ahead of his nearest rival, theAmerican Nakamura, and the tournament was decided on the last day in a tie-breaker play between Ivanchuk and the world No. 1., Magnus carlsen, who ended up winning.
The match played tonight between Caruana and Aronian has been conditioned by the necessity of the Armenian to gain the victory with white pieces in order to approach his rival in the classification. Therefore, he has raised the aggressive and tecnhical english opening, trying to play by the advantage from the vert beginning. The italian has not felt daunted and has raised an equal battle, using the most aggresive defense allowed by back pieces.
In this struggle in the brink, Caruana has assessed the position wrongly and over confidently, while trying to fight for the initiative, he has made a severe mistake which has put him in clear inferiority. Nevertheless, Levon Aronian has played away from his usual talent and even if he has tried to win until the clock was stating 14 seconds left, the match has ended up tie.
The morbid duel between the No.1 of the ranking, Carlsen, and the world champion, Anand, has ended up tie too. As it happened in the previous four rounds, the indian champion has raised a strong opening and has tried to drive the game to a fast tie. However, Carlsen has declined this approach, getting a light advantage which has not been anough to gain the game, due to the accuracy in Anand´s performance. As a curiosity, the game has been played to the end, finishing with the two single kings on the board, a very rare circumstance among elite players.
In the duel faced between the last two classifieds, Spanish Francisco Vallejo and russian Sergei Karjakin, the black pieces have sought the tie from the very beginning through a Berlines opening, which in soccer terms can be analogous to catenaccio. Vallejo has declined this approach and his proposal has been a more active play, trying to maintain the maximum possible pieces on the board. Nevertheless, through his ability, Karjakin has managed to change some of the pieces, developing the play to a calmer outcome. The critical point in the duel occurred when the aggressive game of the player from Menorca has resulted in the gain of a pawn in exchange of a more active play. “At that point” said Vallejo, “I have realized that I should play for the tie and I have committed some kind of inaccuracies which have taken me to the brink of the defeat. However, I have recovered the accuracy, and despite my problems with time, I have achieved a draw.”
The plays can be followed in live via the tournament official web www.bilbaomasters.com. Live retransmissions will resume on October 8th, in “La Alhondiga” Bilbao.
For further Information:
Press Office: Group Projection: 944790880
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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