[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: Bilbao, Round 6: Carlsen leads!

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
Bilbao, Round 6: Carlsen leads!
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1220927123.shtml


   The youngster is on fire, and is now within a win of breaking the 2800
   barrier. With his victory over Levon Aronian, Magnus Carlsen has taken
   the lead in the [1]Grand Slam Final in Bilbao, as previous leader
   Veselin Topalov only drew against Teimour Radjabov.
   Carlsen played a spectacular novelty against Aronian, offering a
   second pawn in a gambit line of the Semi-Slav. After the initial key
   decisions, Aronian settled in with an inferior but defensible
   position, but after a serious oversight everything fell apart. Because
   of the 3-1-0 scoring system, Carlsen leapfrogged into first place. The
   previous leader, Topalov, had Radjabov under serious pressure for a
   long time with White in an Averbakh KID-turned-Modern Benoni, but
   couldn't seal the deal. Carlsen and Topalov are tied on "real" points,
   but Carlsen's extra win (and loss) outweigh Topalov's draws. Four
   rounds remain, so there's still a long way to go.
   In the other game, Vassily Ivanchuk and Viswanathan Anand played a
   nondescript draw, and continue to languish, winless, in last place
   with Radjabov.
   Standings after Round 6:
   1. Carlsen 11 (normal score: 4)
   2. Topalov 10 (4 - and on one common tiebreak, he'd be leading, having
   defeated Carlsen in their head-to-head matchup)
   3. Aronian 6 (2.5)
   4-6. Ivanchuk, Radjabov, Anand 5 (2.5)
   Games, with my comments, [2]here.

References

   1. http://www.bilbaofinalmasters.com/
   2. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/files/bilbao2008_rd6.htm