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Home » Chess News » Events » 5th Final Masters Sao Paulo and Bilbao 2012 » Carlsen and Caruana wins take 5th Final Masters down to the wire

Magnus Carlsen scored a comfortable win against a struggling Viswanathan Anand. Anand had drawn all his games so far but hadn't been impressive. Here Anand couldn't fend off a dangerous kingside attach which was probably allowed by the inaccurate 17...Rdc8 because there don't seem significant improvements for black up to move 27 where Anand is already lost.

Carlsen,Magnus (2843) - Anand,Viswanathan (2780) [B52]
5th Final Masters Sao Paulo/Bilbao BRA/ESP (9), 12.10.2012

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 g6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bg7 9.f3 Qc7 10.b3 Qa5 11.Bb2 Nc6 12.0-0 0-0 13.Nce2 Rfd8 14.Bc3 Qb6 15.Kh1 d5 16.Nxc6 bxc6 17.Qe1

Threatening Ba5 winning the exchange.

17...Rdc8?

Possibly where things start to go wrong for Anand.

[17...a5 Black's rook remaining on d8 will allow d4 to be played later.]

18.e5 Ne8 19.e6 fxe6 20.Nf4 Bxc3 21.Qxc3

White now has a dangerous attack.

21...d4 22.Qd2 c5 23.Rae1 Ng7 24.g4 Rc6 25.Nh3 Ne8 26.Qh6 Nf6 27.Ng5

White is already winning.

27...d3 28.Re5 Kh8 29.Rd1 Qa6 30.a4 1-0

Fabiano Caruana had a fine first half in Sao Paulo but a loss to Carlsen and the rest have been drawn in Bilbao until today. He beat Levon Aronian by refuting a rather dubious knight sacrifice from Aronian.

Caruana,Fabiano (2773) - Aronian,Levon (2816) [C88]
5th Final Masters Sao Paulo/Bilbao BRA/ESP (9), 12.10.2012

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.d3 d6 9.a4 Bd7 10.c3 Na5 11.Bc2 c5 12.Nbd2 Re8 13.d4 exd4 14.cxd4 Bg4 15.h3 Bh5 16.d5 Qc8 17.Nf1 Bd8 18.g4 Bg6 19.Ng3 b4 20.Nh4 b3 21.Bb1 Nxg4?!

This piece sacrifice might have worked against another opponent but is dubious.

[21...c4 22.Nhf5 Bb6 23.Bd2 Qc5 24.Qf3 Nd7 25.Rc1 Bxf5 26.Nxf5 Ne5]

22.Nxg6 Nxf2 23.Ne7+ Rxe7 24.Kxf2 Re5?! 25.Kg2 c4 26.Nf5 Bf6 27.Qf3 c3 28.Nh6+

This seems to win in all variations.

28...Kh8

[28...Kf8]

29.Bd3 Re7 30.e5 Bxe5 31.Qe4 g6 32.Qh4 f6 33.Rxe5 dxe5 34.Qxf6+ Rg7 35.Qxe5 Qe8 36.Qxc3 Rc8 37.Qxa5 Re7 38.Bg5 Re2+ 39.Kg1 1-0

Sergey Karjakin scored his first win probably somewhat fortuitously. In a sharp French Defence Vallejo seemed to have built a significant advantage by move 33. Here he had the right idea but played the wrong move order and with three bad moves in a row lost a game he might easily have won if he had played 33...Nxe5! first instead of 33...bxc3+? then by playing the sacrifice on the following move he was worse and a further error meant he was lost. Probably all in great time trouble.

Karjakin,Sergey (2778) - Vallejo Pons,Francisco (2697) [C19]
5th Final Masters Sao Paulo/Bilbao BRA/ESP (9), 12.10.2012

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4 0-0 8.Bd3 Nbc6 9.Qh5 Ng6 10.Nf3 Qc7 11.Be3 c4 12.Bxg6 fxg6 13.Qg4 Qf7 14.Ng5 Qe8 15.h4 Ne7 16.a4

[16.Nh3 b5 17.Nf4 h6 18.Qe2 Bd7 19.g4 a5 20.Kd2 b4 21.axb4 axb4 22.cxb4 c3+ 23.Kxc3 Bb5 24.Qd2 Ba4 25.Nd3 Qb5 26.Kb2 Rfc8 27.Rhb1 Rc4 28.c3 Nc6 29.Kc1 Rc8 30.Nc5 Nxb4 31.Nxa4 Rb8 32.Nc5 Rxc5 33.dxc5 Qf1+ 34.Qd1 Qc4 35.Qd4 Nd3+ 36.Kd2 Rxb1 37.Qxc4 1-0 Swinkels,R (2448) -Miedema,R (2281)/Venlo NED 2008/The Week in Chess 704]

16...a5 17.Qe2 Bd7 18.g4 Ra6 19.Bc1 Bxa4 20.Ba3 h6 21.Nh3 b5 22.Bc5 Rc6 23.Bd6 Rf7 24.h5 gxh5 25.g5 Nf5 26.gxh6 Nxh6 27.Kd2 Rf5 28.Rhg1 Rb6 29.f3 b4 30.Qe3 Nf7 31.Bc5 Rb7 32.Rg2 Qb5 33.Rag1

33...bxc3+?

[33...Nxe5! 34.Ng5 (34.dxe5 bxc3+ 35.Ke2 Bxc2 wins for black.) 34...bxc3+ 35.Qxc3 Ng4 36.fxg4 Rxg5 is better for black.]

34.Ke2 Nxe5?

[34...Nd8 35.Qh6 Qd7 36.Bb6 Bxc2 37.Rxg7+ Qxg7 38.Rxg7+ Rxg7 39.Bxd8 Bd3+ may well be equal.]

35.Qh6!

35...Rff7?

Loses.

[35...Ng4 and black may end up just being a bit worse. 36.Qxe6+ Kh8 37.fxg4 (37.Qxf5 Qe8+ mates!) 37...Rf6 38.Qc8+ Qe8+ 39.Qxe8+ Bxe8 40.Ke3 Bd7 41.g5 Re6+ 42.Kf3]

36.Qxe6 Ng4 37.Ng5 Qb2

[37...Qxc5!? and black can at least play on. 38.dxc5 Rbe7 39.fxg4 Rxe6+ 40.Nxe6 Re7 41.gxh5 Rxe6+ but the game can't be saved.]

38.Qc8+

Mate in two.

1-0

5th Final Masters Sao Paulo/Bilbao (BRA/ESP), 24 ix-13 x 2012											cat. XXII (2781)
					1		2		3		4		5		6
1.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	ITA	2773	*	*	1	0	½	1	1	½	½	½	1	.	16	2917
2.	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2843	0	1	*	*	½	.	½	½	½	1	1	1	16	2888
3.	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2816	½	0	½	.	*	*	1	½	½	½	½	½	10	2766
4.	Karjakin, Sergey	g	RUS	2778	0	½	½	½	0	½	*	*	½	.	½	1	9	2739
5.	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2780	½	½	½	0	½	½	½	.	*	*	½	½	8	2738
6.	Vallejo Pons, Francisco	g	ESP	2697	0	.	0	0	½	½	½	0	½	½	*	*	5	2634

Round 9 (October 12, 2012)
Caruana, Fabiano	- Aronian, Levon	1-0	39	C88	Ruy Lopez Closed
Carlsen, Magnus	- Anand, Viswanathan	1-0	30	B52	Sicilian Rossolimo
Karjakin, Sergey	- Vallejo Pons, Francisco	1-0	38	C19	French Winawer

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