Bilbao Blood-Bath in Round 8

The Grand Slam Final in Bilbao is more than living up to expectations with Round 8 providing all-decisive results for the second time in the tournament.

Lev Aronian and Vassily Ivanchuk (pictured) both won for the second game in a row to close in on the top of the leaderboard - a leaderboard which is now headed by Veselin Topalov after he defeated Magnus Carlsen today.

Calrsen tried the Dragon yet again, but this time it was his opponent who had the last laugh.  Carslen drops back to to joint 3rd/4th place in this tight contest.

Vishy Anand lost his second game of the tournament, this time to Lev Aronian.  Is Anand just taking it easy before his world title contest with Vladimir Kramnik, hiding his preparation, or is he really experiencing a dip in form?  He has been very poor so far by his high standards.

Teimour Radjabov has shown more fight than Anand, but has no better return from his games so far, losing for a second time today - against a resurgent Vassily Ivanchuk.

Phew!  With 2 rounds to go it's to close to call.  This one could go all the way!  Another rest day tomorrow, so round 9 is on Friday.