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Ivanchuk leader after the Sao Paolo leg of the Final Masters |
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Monday, 03 October 2011 07:32 |
 Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk ended the first phase in Sao Paolo on top of the standings, despite losing in the last round of the Grand Slam Chess Masters Final opposite Norwegian Magnus Carlsen.
On the same day Spain's Paco Vallejo, notwithstanding his display of aggression and creativity, could not avoid defeat at the hands of Japanese-born American Hiraku Nakamura in an arduous final. In the last of the three matches played in the 5th round, Anand and Aronian split the point.
Ivanchuk gave up the chance to have almost sealed the tournament and win his first game against Carlsen. However, his defeat tightens the leaderboard to the point that in Bilbao, five of the six grandmasters, with Vallejo almost certainly out, still have a chance of winning the Final.
“Sao Paulo could not have produced better results to keep the excitement until the final in Bilbao”, said the Director of the 2011 Grand Slam Masters Final, Andoni Madariaga.
The second leg of the Final will be played in Bilbao, in the central atrium of the Alhóndiga, from next Thursday, October 6. The tournament will conclude on October 11 with the declaration of the overall winner of what is considered the best chess tournament in the world. The winner will replace Russia's Vladimir Kramnik, the 2010 champion, on the list of Grand Slam winners.
Round 5 standings:
1. Vasily Ivanchuk - 10
2. Hikaru Nakamura - 7
3-6. Levon Aronian, Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen - 6
6. Francisco Vallejo - 3
(Bilbao Rule: Win 3 points, Draw 1 point, Loss 0 points.)
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Tournament website
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