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The rain does´t stop the audience from enjoying chess
The new playing room of the Chess Master Final Round, a soundproof glassed case located in the middle of the Plaza Nueva, caused great expectation among the audience. However, the weather was not as good as it was expected. In the afternoon, thousands of people came closer to the glassed case, just like the first day, to see the chess players and some of them decided to participate in the different activities planned by the organization. The rain, fortunately, didn´t stop children, young people and adults from having fun. The audience observed the chess stars players and afterwards, they got nearer to Leontxo GarcÃa and the Hungarian Zsuzsa Polgar to listen to their commentaries about the chess tournament. Later on, six of the final players were invited to the show and they answered to their questions kindly. It was a successful and funny afternoon, and it proved that chess games can be a funny as well as formative entertainments.
It is generally believed that a perfectly played chess game will always end in a draw. Sometimes, the result can put up struggle between players. In this case, the organization of the Final Chess Master of Bilbao has adopted some rules to prevent any kind of disruptive behavior, although it is known that the six chess experts are professional players. The three games played on the second round ended in a draw, after some sacrifices and delicate maneuvers performed by the chessboard artists. Rain couldn´t stop a beautiful and artistic chess afternoon.
The game between the Ukranian player Vasily Ivanchuk, the second world champion, and the Norwegian, Magnus Carlsen, third in the ranking and leader of the tournament, ended in a draw after a perpetual checkmate done in 29 moves, in 2 hours. The young Norwegian star, playing with black pieces, used the aggressive Sicilian Dragon Defense. He has added it recently to his strategy list, although it has not been used by the chess players during the last years, as it is considered inferior for the black pieces. However, theory changes when the players, the chessboard stars, create new attacks or decide to use old variants, ignoring any kind of theoretical notions.
Carlsen, who was playing in a critical line, moved his rook´s pawn to the a6. Ivanchuk, surprised by the move of his opponent, spend 40 minutes thinking about the following move so he could avoid the attack of the pawn on the king´s side, in an opposite castling attack. The young chess player, instead of changing strategies, performed a sacrifice rook-knight to weak Ivanchuk´s defense. The Ukranian player, who learnt Spanish in less than one month, forced Carlsen to end in a draw due to perpetual checkmate. Undoubtedly, it was an exciting game.
The Indian player Viswanathan Anand who is living in Collado Mediano, a town near Madrid, tie with the Azerbaijani Teymur Radjabov after 29 moves in 90 minutes time. The world champion played his best game to defeat the Svesnikhov Defense performed by his opponent. Radjabov is one of the three best players in the world and he always uses that Sicilian variant against the king´s pawn. Anand chose a very common line nowadays and his opponent reacted sacrificing a pawn. The Indian player accepted the pawn but, at the end of the game, he admitted that it was a wrong move. Radjabov, ended the game in a draw.
The Bulgarian player Veselin Topalov played a three hours game against the Armenian Levon Aronian. They tie after 37 moves. Topalov chose a new theoretical action in his 7 move which allowed him to obtain the pair of bishops. As he foretold the attack, the ex-world champion left the king in the middle of the chessboard; however, Aronian could counterattack easily. Topalov, decided to force a perpetual checkmate and ended the game in a draw.
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