[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: Amber Rapid & Blindfold: Round 10

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
Amber Rapid & Blindfold: Round 10
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1206588478.shtml


   All the leaders drew their matches, and that means that Levon Aronian
   has won the event. After he drew both games with Vladimir Kramnik and
   the Peter Leko-Magnus Carlsen contest was also split, he maintained a
   2.5 point lead with just 2 games to go. Congratulations to Aronian are
   in order, and while this is just one event, it is becoming
   increasingly possible that Anand's tenure on top of the rapid chess
   pile (at least post-Kasparov) is at an end.
   In other action, Topalov defeated van Wely 1.5-.5 and joined the tie
   for second. Anand defeated Gelfand in the blindfold game, and had he
   won the rapid game he'd have joined the tie; unfortunately, he lost,
   and with White. Finally, Mamedyarov and Morozevich defeated Ivanchuk
   and Karjakin, respectively, by identical 1.5-.5 scores.
   Leading Blindfold Standings after Round 10:
   1-3. Kramnik, Aronian, Morozevich 6
   4-7. Topalov, Leko, Anand, Carlsen 5.5
   Leading Rapid Standings after Round 10:
   1. Aronian 7.5
   2-5. Ivanchuk, Carlsen, Leko, Topalov 5.5
   Overall Standings:
   1. Aronian 13.5
   2-5. Kramnik, Topalov, Leko, Carlsen 11
   6-8. Anand, Ivanchuk, Morozevich 10
   9. Karjakin 8.5
   10-12. Gelfand, Mamedyarov, van Wely 8
   Final Round Pairings:
   Kramnik - Karjakin
   Leko - Aronian
   Morozevich - Carlsen
   Topalov - Ivanchuk
   Anand - van Wely
   Mamedyarov - Gelfand
   (These are the colors for the blindfold games; flip it around for the
   rapid games.)
   All the games can be found on the [1]tournament site; I'll have a
   selection of games from rounds 9 and 10 in a subsequent post.

References

   1. http://www.amberchess2008.com/