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Spassky comes to Bilbao and Topalov leads the first round
Boris Spassky, a legend on the chessboard, chaired the last game of the Chess Master Final Round. His mention causes a deep impact on the audience, even for those who are not keen on chess, as he played an unforgettable World Champion´s game against the American Booby Fischer in 1972. The audience crowed on the Plaza Nueva could enjoy the commentaries he made along with Leontxo García and Zsuzsa Polgar. It was such a special occasion, as we were listening to one of the greatest chess players of the world. At the same time, the Bulgarian player Veselin Topalov, playing with black pieces, takes the lead in the tournament after tying with the Ukrainian player Vasily Ivanchuk. On the other hand, Carlsen made things difficult for Viswanthan Anand, the Indian World Champion. We witnessed an epic duel, ending in a well deserved draw.
Topalov used a Nimzoindia Defense to balance his position with Ivanchuk; this strategy is similar to the Berlin Defense with a Spanish opening in which queens are exchanged and the black pawns doubled. Thought the position seems very simple, it has a lot of variations for both opponents, and that is why the players found it very attractive: a solid position is the result of the strategy. Ivanchuk secured a comfortable position, as he admitted at the end of the match, but he wasn´t able to find a strategy to create a pleasant advantage for himself. They played well, but finally, in the 44 move the match ended in a draw.
Nowadays, youth is daring and wild. Carlsen had never won before a low speed match against the World Champion; however, he wasn´t scared to play with black pieces and he tried the Schliemann variant against the Spanish opening. This line is commonly used by Radjabov, who obtained good results though he considers the theory inferior. Carlsen was one of Radjabov´s opponents so he decided to use this strategy as he wasn´t getting good results. Anand was surprised by the chose of his opponent and he spent a lot of time thinking about his next move. The world champion had to give a rook for a bishop and a pawn in his 20 move. Carlsen was in a good position but in his 25 move, he chose to move the rook instead of the queen and Anand could end the match in a draw. Teymur Radjabov, the Azerbaijan player and the Armenian Levon Aronian ended the game in a draw after 2 hours match and 34 moves. Radjabov tried a variant used by the Chinese players Ni Hua and Zhang Zhong against the Scottish opening. He changed his queens early in the match and after some maneuvers, the player from Bakú gain an advantage position over his opponent. Although Radjabov was having a weak pawn line, he couldn´t win the match against Aronian. The Azerbaijan player, who was running out of time, chose to resign in a draw on moves repetition and tried not to risk his position.
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