Aronian Wins Melody Amber
Lev Aronian (pictured) of Armenia successfully defended his Melody Amber title in an exciting final round, drawing both his games against Veselin Topalov.
It wasn't all plain sailing for Aronian in the blindfold game, where Topalov held a clear advantage and should have won. Even the final position is won for Topalov, but his recall of the position was inaccurate and so he missed the win. This narrow escape allowed Aronian to finish half a point clear of Kramnik and Anand in the overall standings.
Kramnik earned his share of second place by whitewashing Leko 2-0, while Anand beat tailender Wang Yue 1.5-0.5. Anand reached a theoretically won, but incredibly difficult position in the blind game against Yue, with king and 2 knights versus king and pawn. Converting the advantage would have been a huge challenge in a sighted game, and blindfold it was far too much to ask.
Carlsen blew his chances by getting his queen trapped in the blindfold game against Radjabov. He recovered to win their rapid game, but it wasn't enough to catch the leaders.
Radjabov and Carlsen play 'blindfold' in the final round (picture courtesy of the Association Max Euwe)
In the other last round mini-matches Karjakin ended on a high note, beating his countryman Ivanchuk 2-0, and Morozevich beat Kamsky in their blindfold game to win 1.5-0.5.
Splitting the results into blindfold and rapid games, Kamsky had the most lop-sided scores, coming joint first in the rapids, but dead last in the blind games.
| Blind | |||||||||||||
| Kramnik, Vladimir | * | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 7 |
| Carlsen, Magnus | 0 | * | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Aronian, Levon | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Anand, Viswanathan | 1 | 0 | ½ | * | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 6½ |
| Morozevich, Alexander | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | * | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6½ |
| Leko, Peter | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | * | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 5½ |
| Topalov, Veselin | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5½ |
| Ivanchuk, Vassily | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | * | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 5 |
| Radjabov, Teimour | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | * | 1 | ½ | 1 | 5 |
| Karjakin, Sergey | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | * | ½ | ½ | 4½ |
| Wang Yue | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | 3½ |
| Kamsky, Gata | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | 3 |
| Rapid | |||||||||||||
| Anand, Viswanathan | * | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Kamsky, Gata | 0 | * | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 7 |
| Aronian, Levon | ½ | 0 | * | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 7 |
| Kramnik, Vladimir | ½ | ½ | 1 | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 6½ |
| Karjakin, Sergey | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | * | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 6 |
| Carlsen, Magnus | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Topalov, Veselin | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 5 |
| Morozevich, Alexander | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | * | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4½ |
| Leko, Peter | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | * | 0 | ½ | ½ | 4½ |
| Ivanchuk, Vassily | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | * | ½ | ½ | 4½ |
| Radjabov, Teimour | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | 0 | 4 |
| Wang Yue | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | * | 4 |
| Overall | ||
| 1 |
Aronian, Levon | 14.0 |
| 2 |
Kramnik, Vladimir | 13.5 |
| 3 |
Anand, Viswanathan | 13.5 |
| 4 |
Carlsen, Magnus | 13.0 |
| 5 |
Morozevich, Alexander | 11.0 |
| 6 |
Topalov, Veselin | 10.5 |
| 7 |
Karjakin, Sergey | 10.5 |
| 8 |
Kamsky, Gata | 10.0 |
| 9 |
Leko, Peter | 10.0 |
| 10 |
Ivanchuk, Vassily | 9.5 |
| 11 |
Radjabov, Teimour | 9.0 |
| 12 |
Wang Yue | 7.5 |
