Bilbao Rd7: Carlsen joins Caruana in lead

São Paulo / Bilbao Grand Slam Final

Round seven report

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While the players all made due efforts to play out their games, not all were of equal excitement. Levon Aronian was quickly neutralized by Vishy Anand's Queen's Gambit Declined and after fifteen moves, there was little doubt as to the result. They played it out until move 33 before agreeing to the draw.

When the Berlin comes up, one can never be sure whether the player is trying to play something sneaky to outplay his opponent, or whether it is simply an attempt to draw with little risk. Either way, neither Caruana nor Karjakin were able to create any real momentum in their game, despite mild efforts, and they too drew.

The game between Magnus Carlsen and Francisco Vallejo Pons was quite another story. When Carlsen opted for the Exchange variation against 3...Bb4 in a French, it was not a declaration of peace as might be assumed, it was simply his way of sidestepping the reams of theory dedicated to the opening.

With this second consecutive win, Carlsen joins Caruana in the lead in both traditional and Bilbao scoring. Bearing in mind that Aronian is also right behind, and the top prize is once again wide open. Don't miss the final rounds!

Daniel King's Play of the Day: Magnus Carlsen - Paco Vallejo Pons

Player portraits

Viswanathan Anand – the five-time champion wants more

There are already irrefutable arguments which confirm that Viswanathan Anand is one of the best chess players of all time: five-time world champion in all possible formats (knockout, tournament and long duels), and his career is not over yet. At the age of 42 (and after becoming a first-time dad in 2011) he has just recaptured the throne and is looking for more victories. One of the few that elude him is a win at the Masters Final.

Anand works very hard on his technique, between six and nine hours a day. He probably lacks that ‘killer instinct’ that distinguishes Fisher, Karpov and Kasparov, but he looks after his physique as much as or even more than they do. “Yes, years ago I realized that it was important. I am convinced that my two hours a day at the gym when I am at home are essential in order to withstand the wear and tear of the tournaments”, he explains, in perfect Spanish. As for psychological balance, apart from his family and chess he is also passionate about astronomy and economy.

The amazing speed of his reflexes, which allows for a display of brilliant moves in tenths of a second, frustrated his opponents since his first appearance at Linares in 1991, where an entire game took him scarcely half an hour. “The thing is, if I think, I don’t play well,” was his peculiar explanation. Today Anand maintains the same humility he had back then and is highly regarded in India, where in 2000 he was named Sportsman of the Millennium by popular vote and paraded in a horse-drawn carriage, with Chennai’s (formerly Madras) traffic cut off by a crowd which enthusiastically mobbed him. He once underwent a test to show that the right side of his brain, the side that controls intuition, is that of a genius, to which he replied, “I couldn’t care less about my mindpower”.

After his great victories, he always first thanks his wife Aruna, who he says “always takes perfect care of a thousand details”, and next he thanks his main trainer, Peter Heine Nielsen from Denmark. “I owe many of my World Championship victories largely to his magnificent work”. Karpov and Kasparov were never that generous to the people who aided them.

After toppling Topalov at the Sofia championship in 2010, Anand made it clear that he was still hungry for success saying, “The day you get used to victory is the end. I am as happy now as the first time, especially because this has been my most difficult victory, in which I suffered until the end. I remain with the ambition and especially the will to keep enjoying chess. Logically, winning is a big part of that, and I suppose that one day it will end. Nevertheless, age 40 is not a special number for me; it is simply the one that comes after 39. My professional attitude for the next two years is the same one that I had before my duel with Topalov”.

Subsequent events have been consistent with these words, although not without suffering. For Anand it had to come down to quick games (after the 6-6 of the twelve assaults at normal speed) to defend his title against the very tough Israeli Boris Guelfand at Moscow’s Tretiákov Museum this spring. He is already 42 years old but his opinion has not changed. “I see no reason to retire now,” he says.

Anand will continue to stir up excitement in a country with 1.1 billion inhabitants. “There are already more than 700,000 Indians receiving chess classes; of those, 200,000 are enrolled in my World Champion’s Academy. I hope to contribute to increasing that number”.

Leontxo García

Traditional crosstable after seven rounds

Bilbao crosstable after seven rounds

Schedule and results

Links Official tournament site All 2012 São Paulo/Bilbao reports All games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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