Tag: Bilbao

  • Wesley So Victorious in Bilbao

    American Grandmaster Wesley So achieved victory through a blitz tiebreaker against GM Anish Giri 1.5-0.5. Giri made headlines earlier this week for [destroying](http://www.campfirechess.com/2015/anands-worst-game-ever/) Vishy Anand in Round 4 and for playing a mammoth [172 move draw](http://www.campfirechess.com/2015/giri-plays-172-move-nail-biter/) against Ding Liren. Unfortunately the recently married GM from the Netherlands was unable to keep up the pace and was outmaneuvered in the tiebreaker by So. Wesley was the only player to win a game in the first half of the tournament and quickly became an early favorite to take the lead or at least find himself in a deathmatch with Giri. Like his American counterpart GM Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So is also a deadly blitz master:

    [pgn]
    [Event “8th Grand Slam Masters TB”]
    [Site “Bilbao ESP”]
    [Date “2015.11.01”]
    [Round “1”]
    [White “So, Wesley”]
    [Black “Giri, Anish”]
    [Result “1-0”]
    [ECO “D10”]
    [WhiteElo “2767”]
    [BlackElo “2778”]
    [PlyCount “85”]
    [EventDate “2015.11.01”]

    1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Bf4 Nc6 6. e3 Bg4 7. Qb3 Na5 8.
    Qa4+ Bd7 9. Qc2 e6 10. Bd3 Bb4 11. Nge2 O-O 12. f3 Rc8 13. O-O h6 14. Bg3 Nc4
    15. Bf2 Re8 16. a3 Bf8 17. Rfc1 b5 18. Rd1 a5 19. Qb1 Qc7 20. a4 bxa4 21. Nxa4
    Qb8 22. Nec3 Nxb2 23. Qxb2 Qxb2 24. Nxb2 Rxc3 25. Be1 Rb3 26. Na4 Bxa4 27. Rxa4
    Bb4 28. Bxb4 axb4 29. Kf2 Rb2+ 30. Kf1 Rc8 31. Raa1 Kf8 32. Rab1 Rxb1 33. Rxb1
    Rb8 34. Ke2 Ke7 35. Kd2 Nd7 36. Kc2 e5 37. Ra1 exd4 38. exd4 Nf8 39. Ra7+ Kf6
    40. Ra5 Ne6 41. Rxd5 b3+ 42. Kb2 Nf4 43. Rf5+ 1-0

    [Event “8th Grand Slam Masters TB”]
    [Site “Bilbao ESP”]
    [Date “2015.11.01”]
    [Round “2”]
    [White “Giri, Anish”]
    [Black “So, Wesley”]
    [Result “1/2-1/2”]
    [ECO “C50”]
    [WhiteElo “2778”]
    [BlackElo “2767”]
    [PlyCount “196”]
    [EventDate “2015.11.01”]

    1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 Nf6 5. O-O a6 6. c3 Ba7 7. Bb3 h6 8. Nbd2
    d6 9. Re1 O-O 10. h3 Be6 11. Bc2 Re8 12. Nf1 d5 13. exd5 Nxd5 14. Ng3 Qd6 15.
    Nh4 Qd7 16. Qf3 Qe7 17. Nhf5 Qf8 18. Bb3 Rad8 19. Nh5 Bxf5 20. Qxf5 Nde7 21.
    Qf3 Ng6 22. Re4 Na5 23. Bc2 f5 24. Re1 Kh8 25. Ng3 Nh4 26. Qh5 Qf6 27. d4 e4
    28. Bf4 Bb6 29. Qe2 Nc6 30. Nh5 Qf8 31. Bg3 Ng6 32. Qe3 Re7 33. b4 Rde8 34. Bb3
    Nce5 35. Bxe5 Nxe5 36. Nf4 Kh7 37. Nd5 Nd3 38. Nxe7 Nxe1 39. Nxf5 Nxg2 40. Kxg2
    Qxf5 41. Bc2 Kh8 42. Re1 Qf7 43. Bxe4 c6 44. a4 Bc7 45. Re2 Qh5 46. Qf3 Qg5+
    47. Qg4 Qxg4+ 48. hxg4 a5 49. b5 Bd6 50. f3 c5 51. dxc5 Bxc5 52. Rd2 b6 53. Bg6
    Rf8 54. Rd7 Rf6 55. Be4 g5 56. Kf1 Kg8 57. Ke2 Rd6 58. Rb7 Kf8 59. Rh7 Kg8 60.
    Rc7 Kf8 61. c4 Ke8 62. Bd5 Kd8 63. Rh7 Rf6 64. Kd3 Bd6 65. Be4 Bc5 66. Rg7 Bf8
    67. Rb7 Bc5 68. Ra7 Kc8 69. Rh7 Kd8 70. Rg7 Bf8 71. Ra7 Bc5 72. Rh7 Re6 73. Rf7
    Ke8 74. Rg7 Kd8 75. Rb7 Rf6 76. Bd5 Kc8 77. Ke4 Rf4+ 78. Ke5 Rxc4 79. Rh7 Rxa4
    80. Rxh6 Ra1 81. Rh7 Kd8 82. Be4 a4 83. Ke6 a3 84. Rh8+ Kc7 85. Ra8 Rd1 86.
    Ra7+ Kb8 87. Ra4 Rd8 88. Kf5 Be7 89. Ra8+ Kc7 90. Ra7+ Kd6 91. Rb7 Rf8+ 92. Kg6
    Bd8 93. Ra7 Kc5 94. Rxa3 Kxb5 95. Kg7 Re8 96. Rd3 Bc7 97. Rc3 Be5+ 98. Kf7 Bxc3
    1/2-1/2
    [/pgn]

    Check out a complete recap with photos and commentary on [Chessbase](http://en.chessbase.com/post/bilbao-so-wins-after-tie-break).

  • Anand’s Worst Game…Ever?

    On Thursday as the Bilbao Masters tournament resumed play into Round 4 nobody expected that former World Champion Viswanathan Anand would be offering up such a scathing criticism of his own game. Anand fought back hard and tournament commentators believed that he had a fighting chance to win the game but lost on time. Anand had this to say about his loss:

    Today was perhaps the worst game of my life. I’ve never made so many ridiculous moves.

    For a man of Vishy’s chess playing caliber it is hard to imagine such a devastating loss occurring in high-level chess, but it does happen! Just when I or others think that the 5-minute blitz game that was bombed at 2AM on Chess.com was the worst game of our lives…there are things worse than that. Judge for yourself by replaying Vishy’s Round 4 game against Anish Giri in its entirety:

    [pgn][Event “VIII Chess Masters Final”]
    [Site “Bilbao”]
    [Date “2015.10.30”]
    [Round “4”]
    [White “GM Giri, Anish(NED)”]
    [Black “GM Anand, Viswanathan(IND)”]
    [Result “1-0”]
    [ECO “A22”]

    1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 Bb4 4. Bg2 O-O 5. e4 Bxc3 6. bxc3 c6 7. Nf3 Nxe4 8.
    O-O d6 9. Nxe5 dxe5 10. Bxe4 Be6 11. Ba3 Re8 12. Qb1 Qxd2 13. Qxb7 Nd7 14. Bxc6
    Reb8 15. Qa6 Rb6 16. Qa4 Rc8 17. Rad1 Qxd1 18. Rxd1 Rbxc6 19. Qxa7 R6c7 20. Qe3
    Rxc4 21. Bb4 h6 22. a4 Nf6 23. Qxe5 Re4 24. Qa5 Kh7 25. f3 Re2 26. Qb5 Ra2 27.
    g4 Re8 28. Bc5 Kg8 29. Re1 Ra8 30. Bd4 R2xa4 31. h4 Ra2 32. Qb1 Bd5 33. Qf5 Be6
    34. Qf4 Nd7 35. Rf1 Nf8 36. Rf2 R2a5 37. Qg3 Bc4 1-0[/pgn]

    Read more on the match between Anand and Giri on Chess24.com.

  • Giri Plays 172 Move Nail-Biter

    If I were Anish Giri I would want to find a cold scoop of ice cream and curl up in bed for the rest of the night. The recently married Grandmaster just finished a 172-move game against Ding Liren at the Bilbao Masters tournament. Giri missed several opportunities to capitalize against his opponent and was only able to manage a draw after six hours of play!

    Check out more at Chess24.com.