Players vowed to fight to the end

Players vowed to fight to the end for the title
Posted on 03/10/2011

The six grandmasters taking part in the Chess Grand Slam Masters Final are sure that with the second round, which begins this Thursday in Bilbao, still to come nothing is for certain and they are all ready to give their all to walk away with the title on November 11, the day of the closing ceremony of the 2011 Final. Ukraine’s Vasili Ivanchuk will arrive in the Biscayan capital the leader of the first round played in Sao Paulo (Brazil) from September 26 to November 1. He has 10 points which assure him the lead going into Bilbao. The other contenders will not make it at all easy for him to stay in that position.

Ivanchuk, the provisional top player on the leaderboard, paradoxically seems to be the careful of the players. The Ukrainian assures that “I will play each match as best I can, since all of my opponents in this tournament are very strong and dangerous”. At the moment his is the man to beat.

The man in second spot, American Hikaru Nakamura, three points behind Ivanchuk, remains focused on capturing the title in Bilbao, although he is convinced that none of his opponents will make this easy for him.

Magnus Carlsen, number one in the FIDE rankings, insists that “after beating Ivanchuk (referring to the last round in Sao Paulo) anything is possible In Bilbao. I am going to give it my all to get as many points as possible”. When asked about the current tournament leader the Norwegian is confident that “Ivanchuk is the leader now but complicated matches in Bilbao still await him”. He however rules out Vallejo, currently in last place.

When asked about the results obtained to date (Anand and Aronian tied with 6 points), the Norwegian recalls how especially exciting “the victory against Ivanchuk was. I really needed to win that game; it was something very special for me”. On the other hand, his worst match was “seeing myself in trouble against Paco Vallejo wasn’t something I enjoyed but after a loss you have to keep going”.

World Champion Anand, who stands 4 points behind current leader, Ivanchuk, does not seem worried by the difference. “There are still matches left so we have got to try” he says. The Indian chessplayer appears very critical of the way he has played so far, saying “It hasn’t been ideal. I feel like it hasn’t gone too well. It is difficult to choose the worst match but I suppose it would be the one I lost”.

When asked to evaluate his performance so far, Aronian blows both hot and cold. He believes that “the majority of the matches have been interesting” but only seems dissatisfied with his game against Anand. He thinks it is “time to improve. I am confident that I will play better in Bilbao”, where he will undoubtedly fight for victory. donde además luchará por la victoria. “There are still five rounds left, so anyone who is not way down in terms of points can win the title”, he advises.

Paco Vallejo, special guest at the Masters Final this year, is not hiding his disappointment over his poor showing so far. “I haven’t been very inspired in the games”, he recognizes after ending up in last place in the first stage. In the five rounds played in Brazil the Spaniard has suffered four losses and has walked away with one victory. “It’s no use grumbling about it, so in Bilbao I will come out with full force. I am sure I will do much better” he assures. Vallejo is aware that he is competing among players all within the top ten in the world, but he believes he has “what it takes to play against them and do much better”. When it comes to what we can expect in Bilbao he is convinced that, “in the remaining matches there is still a lot of game left. I would not rule anyone out (when it comes to the title), not even myself…”.

Official website: http://www.bilbaomastersfinal.com/en