Aronian Seals Bilbao Grand Slam Victory
Yet another win by Lev Aronian (pictured) in the Grand Slam Final in Bilbao has sealed victory for the popular Armenian with one round to spare.
His victim in round five was Alexei Shirov, who is now fated to trail in last of the four competitors.
It has been an impressive result for Aronian, who only received his invite when Veselin Topalov declined to play because of either
a) not enough prize money
b) preparing for Anand match
c) both of the above
d) insert your guess here.
In the other game of the penultimate round, Karjakin tortured Grischuk in a rook+bishop versus rook ending until finally having to concede a draw after 99 moves.
Grischuk's hard work to earn the draw is rewarded with second place in the standings with one round to go.
The standings after round five:
| Levon Aronian | 12 |
| Alexander Grischuk | 7 |
| Sergey Karjakin | 6 |
| Alexei Shirov | 2 |
The final round pits Karjakin against Aronian, and Shirov against Grischuk.
