Login

Bilbao Masters Final 2016 - Round 7

IM Christof Sielecki video recap

It looks like Karjakin is not going to reveal any of his preparation for the World Championship match, looking at his rather insipid games. Today he played again a super-solid, risk-free game, drawing easily.
Nakamura tried harder, creating some issues to Wesley So to resolve. Wesley though managed to set up an interesting counter-play plan, forcing the game into a drawish endgame.

Carlsen chose a rather unusual fianchetto opening, probably to avoid heavy-studied theory. The opening transposed into a quasi-classic line of the Grunfeld. Wei played a sold and mature-looking game, preventing Carlsen's initiative. We know Carlsen's prowess at keeping the flame of the game alive, trying to induce his opponent in error. In this game, however, Magnus and Wei reached a very simplified position, which in turn led to a clearly drawn endgame. Magnus tried for a while, as it is in his style, but Wei played precise moves and didn't falter, holding the Norwegian to a draw.

The standings after 7 rounds see Carlsen leading with 12 points, followed by Nakamura with 9 and We with 8. The rest of the pack is way behind with 5 points. With the soccer-like score it's not yet the end of the matter in Bilbao, but from what we've seen so far, it looks hard for everyone to catch the World champion. We'll see. Tomorrow round 8, at 10am EDT -- 16:00 CEDT. Pairings: So-Giri, Karjakin-Carlsen, Wei-Nakamura.

Today we have THREE winners in the GTR contest: arnav311004, Fork and TiredDad. Well done!