Two draws in last round, Aronian wins Grand Slam Final Masters
12 September 2009, 21.39 CET | Last modified: 13:15 | By Peter Doggers | Filed under: Reports | Tags:
Both games in the 6th and last round of the Grand Slam Final in Bilbao ended in a draw. Levon Aronian won the tournament convincingly, finishing five points ahead of Grischuk (one and a half according to the classical system).
The 2nd Grand Slam Masters Final takes place September 6-12 in Bilbao, Spain. It’s a 4-player, double round-robin with Levon Aronian, Alexander Grischuk, Sergei Karjakin and Alexei Shirov. The prize fund is € 110,000.
The rate of play is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves and then 60 minutes to finish the game, with 10 extra seconds per move from move number 41. Like last year, the Masters Final will use both the “Sofia Rule” and the “football” scoring system: players will get 3 points for winning a game, 1 point for drawing and 0 points for losing.
Round 6
Two draws in the last round raised the drawing percentage in this tournament from 30% to 42% – still very low at this level. It’s probably a combination of factors that made this short event very fightful and interesting to watch. None of the four players is of the super-solid, cautious kind, the Sofia Rule has played a role and probably also the short time control.
In the last round, Aronian had the better end of the draw against Karjakin but the Armenian was satisfied with a draw. The game could be relevant theoretically speaking, since Black’s setup looks like another good way of answering the Ruy Lopez Exchange Variation.
Caissa didn’t allow Shirov one victory in Bilbao; in good shape the tailender would certainly have found a knockout blow somewhere against Grischuk, whose position (and clock situation) was again on the verge of defeat.
Aronian’s winning streak of four games is very rare at this level and in a tournament that runs just six rounds, it’s obviously more than enough for clear first. In the classical scoring system Aronian finished 1.5 point clear, and in the football system (which basically only worked as a tiebreaker in Bilbao, just like last year) his victory looks even more impressive.
It has been a great year for Aronian – well, two years, in fact. In 2008 he shared first at Corus, won the Amber tournament, won the Grand Prix in Sochi and finished 2nd in Nanjing; this year he retained his “title” at Amber, won the Grand Prix in Nalchik and then secured overall GP victory with a shared 2nd place in Jermuk last month, followed by a good show in Mainz and then this victory in Bilbao.
The future looks bright for Armenia’s number one, who seems destined to fight for the World Championship in the coming years. In Topalov, Anand and Kramnik he will find his toughest opponents, and then there’s of course Magnus Carlsen. Of the new generation, Aronian and Carlsen are making the difference – these two players seem to have that little bit “extra” that’s needed to climb to the absolute top. Who will get there first is the exciting question that only the future can answer.
Don’t miss Macauley’s material on the Chess.FM blog, where at the moment of writing a video with Aronian has been published, but also for example an audio clip with his girlfriend Arianne Caoili.
Round 6 games
Game viewer by ChessTempo
Bilbao Grand Slam Final Masters 2009 | Schedule & results
All photos by Manu de Alba courtesy of the official website
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I want to see Levon Aronian compete for the World Championship! His performance in the past several years has been very convincing!
Yes, Chessvibes is right, Aronian is getting there. In general people who win the Amber twice in a row are rare and certainly WC level!
4 players – not much of a tournament really.
Are chess punters really interested in such shows of minimalism?
Doubt that, even with Shirov there. All just a bit turgid.
“the football system (which basically only worked as a tiebreaker in Bilbao, just like last year)”
Your logic is flawed. The only way it worked “only as a tiebreaker”, is if you assume that the 3-1-0 system doesn’t change the choices of the players in the tournament – opening selection, willingness to make risky/double-edged moves, willingness to risk time trouble, willingness to go for a win with black….
Given that the entire purpose of the 3-1-0 system is to influence the way the players play, it seems absurd to assume it has influence influence only as an after-the-fact potential alteration to final rankings/tiebreaks.
To think that the 3-1-0 system hasn’t changed anything if it agrees with a 1-1/2-0 system at the end of the tournament, is to entirely miss the point (just like last year).
All I wanted to say is that in the final standings it only works as a tiebreaker, of course not during the tournament.
My apologies if my post was unnecessarily combative. While some people do seem to miss the point in the way I outlined, there’s little to suggest that you do.
I would say, however, that it’s a bit odd not to include the scoring system as a possible factor in the low drawing percentage. Certainly there are many factors involved, as you rightly point out, but I guess the 3-1-0 system is one of them. Perhaps that’s just obvious, and I guess you weren’t aiming to focus much on the scoring system.
I do think it’d be interesting to see the impact of a 3-1-0 system with longer time-controls, but I guess that’s unlikely: organizers who favour a football system are likely to favour shorter time controls, since they both push things in the same direction.
Some good games, and great play from Aronian – even if quite a lot was decided in time-trouble. I’m with John A. in wanting to see Aronian compete for the world championship. His GP win gets him to the candidates’ tournament (right?), so it’s on the cards to happen relatively soon. It will be interesting to see how Carlsen’s game changes (if at all) after working with Kasparov though.
Agreed, the scoring system might have been of some influence as well. Although I cannot believe that the players are really thinking about that very much during the games.