Sao Paulo Chess Masters R4: Caruana Beats Vallejo; Leads

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,



Fabiano Caruana won his fourth-round game against Francisco Vallejo to maintain his lead at the Sao Paulo Chess Masters Grand Slam event. The Italian's victory over the Spanish and the draw between Carlsen and Aronian ensures that Caruana holds on to his lead in the first leg of the event that ends with Round 5 on Saturday in Sao Paulo. The second half will be played in Bilbao, Spain.

Day 4 results:
Caruana-Vallejo 1-0
Carlsen-Aronian 1/2-1/2
Karjakin-Anand 1/2-1/2

The scoring pattern is 3-1-0 and the standings so far are:

Fabiano Caruana: 10 points.
Levon Aronian: 6 points.
Magnus Carlsen: 5 points.
Viswanathan Anand: 4 points.
Francisco Vallejo: 2 point.
Sergei Karjakin: 2 points

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Vallejo Prediction: Sao Paulo Chess Masters Final Results Will be Close

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,

Spanish Grandmaster Francisco Vallejo has said he is confident of having a good tournament at the Sao Paulo-Bilbao Chess Masters Grand Slam and it would be a tough fight for whoever becomes champion. Vallejo said he was not surprised by Caruana’s early lead, although he thinks that the Italian “was lucky” in his game with Carlsen.

 

The Spanish chess champion and number 25 in the world rankings, Francisco Vallejo, believes that “the name of the champion won’t be known until the last day of the second leg of the Final in Bilbao”. 

The Menorcan, on the rest day of the 5th Chess Masters Final first leg which takes place in Sao Paulo until tomorrow Saturday (Sunday morning Spanish time) has stated the he is not surprised by the early lead in the tournament by the talented 19 year old Italian, Fabiano Caruana: “He is an up and coming player of great quality and his results in other tournaments show that he is a strong candidate to win,” although he adds that Caruana has had some luck in being able to take advantage of the mistakes committed by the world number one, Magnus Carlsen, in the game they disputed in the first round.


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Also see her personal blog at
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Sao Paulo Chess Masters R3: Fabiano Caruana in Lead

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

The third day at the Sao Paulo Chess Masters Grand Slam witnessed three draws: Aronian drew with Vallejo, Caruana drew with Anand and Carlsen drew with Karjakin. Two more rounds are to be played after Thursday's rest day. The next half of the event would then proceed to the city of Bilbao in Spain from October 8 to 13. The standings are:

Fabiano Caruana: 7
Levon Aronian: 5
Magnus Carlsen: 4
Viswanathan Anand: 3
Francisco Vallejo: 2
Sergey Karjakin: 1

Fabiano Caruana could not convert his advantage and drew with Viswanathan Anand. Anand defended a position well with three vs four pawns and even if there was a win somewhere it would have been difficult to achieve for Caruana.

 

In the Aronian-Vallejo duel, the Spanish champion gained a clear opening advantage and he seemed on his way to earning his first victory of the tournament. The errors committed by the Armenian double Olympic champion only served to increase the Minorcan’s advantage. However, Vallejo decided not to enter into the endgame, in an excess of respect for the quality of his opponent and gave up the advantage to enter a line which which allowed him to easily maintain a draw and with it his second point on the scoreboard. “The way things were, I am satisfied with the draw achieved,” said Vallejo.

In the third matchup starring Carlsen and Karjakin, the Russian obtained his promising first place in the Final, to later throw away the advantage in a slightly misguided mid game, which condemned him to playing the endgame in an inferior position. In this last stage, world number one, Carlsen, was about to repeat the fatal error he made on the first day, and through an excess of ambition, gave clear opportunities to his opponent to win, that the latter was unable to take advantage of since the time on the clock was thrown on top of
him. In short, it was a fair draw in a back and forth encounter which either of them could have won.

The matches can be followed live on the tournament’s oficial website www.bilbaomastersfinal.com and will resume on Friday.

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Sao Paulo Chess Masters R1: Aronian Beats Karjakin, Carlsen Loses to Caruana, Anand Draws with Paco

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

The very strong chess masters grand slam event has begun in Sao Paulo. The first round saw very exciting games with Levon Aronian grounding out Sergey Karjakin. Magnus Carlsen tried to pull off a win from a draw and then blundered in time trouble. Vallejo Paco did well to hold world chess champion Vishy Anand to a tough draw.



Round 1 Results
Viswanathan Anand ½-½ Francisco Vallejo

Levon Aronian 1-0 Sergey Karjakin

Fabiano Caruana 1-0 Magnus Carlsen

Click on each of the links above to see the games with Chess King.

Sao Paulo tournament organiser Davy D'Israel shakes hands with Vishy Anand to start the game.

The event will see chess games in a 10-round double round-robin format. The scoring is based on the three points for a win, and only one for a draw with the Sofia rules. Following tradition, the games are played in the glass cube! GM Ian Rogers joined GM Gilberto Milos for the live commentary during the round. There were several chess-related activities for children and other players and these activities will continue throughout the tournament.
Photos by Albert Silver and official site

Round 2: Francisco Vallejo - Magnus Carlsen
Sergey Karjakin - Fabiano Caruana
Viswanathan Anand - Levon Aronian

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com
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