Bilbao Masters 2009

Bilbao Masters: Girschuk beats Aronian
06.09.2009 – The II Grand Slam Final Chess Master 2009 has begun, in Bilbao, Spain. In the first round a well-prepared Alexei Shirov played an Anti-Moscow and drew in 24 moves with black against Sergey Karjakin. Top seed Levon Aronian was smoothly outplayed by Russian GM Alexander Grischuk. There is a special scoring system in place, which sees Grischuk in the lead with three points. Illustrated report.

Bilbao Masters: Girschuk strikes again, beats Shirov
08.09.2009 – Alexander Grischuk, fresh from victory in the Moscow Blitz tournament, is on a rampage in the Grand Slam Final in Bilbao. The Russian grandmaster won his second game, this time with fine endgame play against Alexei Shirov. Meanwhile Levon Aronian struck out against an ill-prepared Sergey Karjakin to put three Bilbao points behind his name. Round two report.

Bilbao Masters: Aronian beats Shirov, Karjakin beats Grischuk
09.09.2009 – What an unusual tournament: at halftime we note that there has been just one undecisive game (drawing average 16%!). Today Sergey Karjakin defeated the tournament leader Alexander Grischuk, while Levon Aronian beat Alexei Shirov with the black pieces to join Grischuk in the lead, both now having six Bilbao points. Illustrated round three report.

Bilbao Masters: Aronian beats Grischuk, takes lead
11.09.2009 – It was the third consecutive win for Armenia's top grandmaster, after he had lost his first game in Bilabo. And it was the second consecutive loss for the Russian, who had won is first two games in this event. Levon Aronian vs Alexander Grischuk was definitely the game to watch in round four of the Grand Slam Final, which Aronian now leads with nine "Bilbao points". Illustrated report.

Bilbao Masters: Aronian wins Grand Slam Final
12.09.2009 – ... with a round to go! Levon Aronian defeated Alexei Shirov to take an unassailable lead of twelve Bilbao points. This means that the Armenian GM, currently number three in the world, is already the winner, and Saturday's final round can change nothing in that respect. Alexander Grischuk defended an interesting endgame against Sergey Karjakin to keep second place. Round five report.

Bilbao Masters: Aronian wins Grand Slam Final
13.09.2009 – Same title as the previous report? Yes, same title. Nothing changed, Levon Aronian could not be caught, and since both games were drawn even the exact oder of the following players remained the same. Aronian had a 2919 performance in Bilbao and is good for a 2784 rating on the next FIDE list – just four points behind the world's second-highest rated player Vishy Anand. Final report.