Anand and Topalov win in last round Nanjing

In the last round of the Pearl Spring tournament in Nanjing Viswanathan Anand outplayed Etienne Bacrot in a Nimzo-Indian to clinch second place. Wang Yue started strongly and got a winning position against Veselin Topalov, but then the Chinese blew it completely and even lost. For long Magnus Carlsen tried to beat Vugar Gashimov but had to agree to a draw on move 71.

General info

The third Kanion Cup Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess Tournament takes place October 21-30 in Nanjing, China. Viswanathan Anand, Magnus Carlsen, Veselin Topalov, Wang Yue, Vugar Gashimov and Etienne Bacrot play a double round-robin with one rest day halfway. More info here.

Videos

Round 10 report

Perhaps a bit unexpectedly, the last round of Pearl Spring 2010 turned out to be one of the more interesting rounds of the tournament. Despite the early starting time (10AM) and the fact that the tournament was already decided, all three games were interesting today.



Viswanathan Anand had enough reason to be satisfied with his last-round game against Etienne Bacrot. Using a middlegame plan he and his team had prepared for the World Championship match, the Indian developed a strong initiative on the queenside. Black's manoeuvres had been less to the point, and so his counterplay on the kingside arrived much too late. Some tactical punches by Anand then decided a very smooth game.



Wang Yue and Veselin Topalov fought out the "battle for last place", and perhaps that's why the game wasn't of the highest standards. Throughout the tournament the Bulgarian hadn't been very stable and in this game he got into trouble right after the opening. Wang Yue, on the other hand, played the first half of this game very well, until he got a winning position. As soon as Topalov started to complicate matters, as a last chance to stay in the game, the Chinese GM started to get into timetrouble and then several mistakes even led to defeat. After resigning, a disillusioned Wang Yue walked to his second Li Chao, shaking his head in disbelief. Topalov did just about the same, as he approached his second Ivan Salgado Lopez, as he wasn't sure he had deserved so much luck.



As so often, Magnus Carlsen tried to squeeze something out of nothing in his game against Vugar Gashimov, who played the Petroff. The tournament leader winner went for the Spanish Four Knights, and managed to win a pawn in the middlegame, but the presence of opposite-coloured bishops was quite important this time. The pawn wasn't worth much, and Gashimov even said he never really felt in danger of losing.



A few hours after the round, at 18.30, the opening ceremony took place in the playing hall. All players gave a short speech after receiving their prize, all of them expressing words of gratitude to the organizers. Everyone agreed on one thing: that despite its young age, the Pearl Spring has manifested itself among the very best tournaments in the calendar, and in organizational terms it may be the best already.

After the ceremony there was an official and chic banquet with organizers and sponsors, all sitting on two sides along a long table. Following the Chinese tradition, many gave toasts to their neighbours or others - Chinese don't give a toast to the whole table. After the banquet a small group went to the center of Nanjing, where there players met with (the same) officials again, while the more lucky seconds and journalists were taken on a boat trip through the beautiful Old Town of Nanjing by night, with views of the Confucius temple. Then, back at the hotel, everyone said goodbye.

Macauley and yours truly will try to get the last video up soon. Hopefully I will find the time to publish some more photos of Nanjing and the park around the hotel in the coming days, but before flying to Moscow for the Tal Memorial we'll be tourists in Shanghai for a few days - just like the World Champ, by the way. So if it's suddenly a bit more quiet on the site for a while, you'll understand why. CU in Moscow. ;-)

Games round 10

Game viewer by ChessTempo


Pearl Spring (Nanjing) 2010 | All results


Pearl Spring (Nanjing) 2010 | Round 10 (final) standings

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN via TWIC