Carlsen Wins Tie-Break Finale In Bilbao

There was a thrilling end to the 2011 Grand Slam Final Masters, with a blitz tie-break needed to decide the winner.
Magnus Carlsen and Vassily Ivanchuk drew their final round games against Hikaru Nakamura and Lev Aronian respectively to both finish on 15 points.
So blitz tie-breaks were needed and it was Magnus Carlsen who emerged the winner 1½-½ to deny Ivanchuk the victory that had looked all but inevitable a few rounds ago.
In the last regular time-control game to finish, Vishy Anand salvaged some dignity by beating Vallejo Pons to avoid last place.
The final standings:

Carlsen, Magnus	NOR	2823	15
Ivanchuk, Vassily	UKR	2765	15
Nakamura, Hikaru	USA	2753	12
Aronian, Levon	ARM	2807	12
Anand, Viswanathan	IND	2817	12
Vallejo Pons, Francisco	ESP	2716	10

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Kasparov Beats Short In Blitz Match

Garry Kasparov beat his old adversary Nigel Short in an 8-game blitz match today in Leuven, Belgium.
It was a very closely fought contest (previewed here), going right down to the last game which Kasparov won to make the final score 4½-3½ in his favour.
The event was streamed live on the Internet via www.exqisport.be and Genna Sosonko, the former Soviet grandmaster and Dutch international, provided live commentary.
The match is part of "Your Next Move’s" 5th anniversary celebrations.
Games were played at a rate of 5 minutes plus a 2 second per move increment. The results:

Garry Kasparov	½	½	½	1	1	0	0	1	4½
Nigel Short	½	½	½	0	0	1	1	0	3½

Despite his absence from the professional chess circuit for many years, Garry Kasparov still seems to be sharp enough to compete with the strongest players in the world.  Perhaps one day he will return to competitive chess - we can but hope!

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