Chess

VASSILY IVANCHUK has just completed the roller-coaster ride of his life at the Grand Slam Final. The Ukrainian dominated the São Paulo leg, was robbed at gunpoint as he left Brazil, looked set for a memorable victory going into the final rounds in Bilbao … only for Magnus Carlsen snatch the title from him after a playoff.

The omens started to look bad for Ivanchuk after he suffered a second crushing defeat at the hands of Carlsen in the penultimate round. That left both tied at the top – and when both drew their final round games, the odds firmly switched to Carlsen for the speed playoff to decide the title and first prize, which the Norwegian duly won after a crushing attack in game two.

Meanwhile at the opposite end of the tournament, Viswanathan Anand almost had a first for a reigning World Champion by finishing in last place. His tournament was salvaged, though, in the final round when he beat Francisco Vallejo in style from today’s diagram with 31 Rh8+! Kxh8 32 g7+ Kg8 33 gxf8Q+ Kxf8 34 Nxd4 Nd5 35 Nb5 Rc8 36 Rg4 a5 37 Nc7 Nxc7 38 Rc4 and black soon resigned.

Carlsen’s overall performance gained the World No 1 more Elo points to extend his lead over Anand and Levon Aronian at the top of the unofficial live rating list (www.2700chess.com/).

Final standings: 1. Carlsen, 15/30 (6/10); 2. Ivanchuk, 15 (5.5); 3-5. Nakamura, Aronian and Anand, 12 (5); 6 Vallejo, 10 (3.5).

V Ivanchuk - M Carlsen

Final Master Playoff, (2)

Ruy Lopez

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Nf6 4 d3 Bc5 5 Be3 Qe7 6 Bxc6 bxc6 7 Bxc5 Qxc5 8 Nc3 0–0 9 0–0 Rb8 10 Qd2 Qe7 11 b3 c5 12 h3 d6 13 Nh2 Nh5 14 Nd5 Qd8 15 Rae1 Be6 16 Nc3 f5 17 exf5 Bxf5 18 f3 Bg6 19 Rf2 Qh4 20 Nd5 Rf7 21 Qc3 c6 22 Ne3 Nf4 23 Qd2 Rbf8 24 Nd1 h5 25 Nc3 Bf5 26 Ne2 Ne6 27 Qe3 Rf6 28 Kh1 Rg6 29 Rg1 Nc7 30 Rgf1 Nd5 31 Qd2 Rgf6 32 Nc3 Nf4 33 Ne4 Rg6 34 Rg1 Qd8 35 Nf1 Qe7 36 Nfg3 d5 37 Nxf5 Rxf5 38 Nc3 Qh4 39 Kh2 Qg3+ 0–1