Final Chess Masters Bilbao 2008

Ivanchuk, the most veteran competitor of the tournament, who playing with black pieces, launched the Queen´s Gambit Opening position. Even though he had an isolated pawn in the middle of the chessboard, he could move his pieces easily. In the 13 move, Carlsen played imprecisely and let his opponent develop an initiative on the queen´s wing. The Norwegian player couldn´t avoid Ivanchuck´s pawns on the queen´s wing to fight against his castling and, finally, he was defeated.

Veselin Toplaov didn´t take advantage of the Norwegian´s defeat and he lost the game against the Armenian player, Levon Aronian, in 58 moves in a 4 hours and a half game.

The chess master who is living in Salamanca made a mistake in his 16 move as he chose Cd5 instead of 16 Cb6, a move recommended by Boris Spassky, the mythic ex-world champion. Topalov gave his opponent a pawn back and the Armenian player took advantage over him. The ending of the game consisted of a queen and a pair of bishop against queen, bishop and knight fight.

The Indian player Viswanathan Anand and the Azerbaijani player Teymur Radjabov ended the game in a draw after 29 moves in a 2 hours game. The world champion, playing with black pieces, tried an ambitious and new Paulsen variant from the Sicilian Defense in his 8 move. He chose a tactic move which required a hard mental calculation.

Radjabov chose risky options in the 11 move and, finally, he couldn´t play with his pair of bishops as Anand was not willing to open his position. Finally, they tie in the 29 move. Both players decided to end the game without taking any risk as they were in a difficult position and, finally, the game ended in a draw.