Fireworks In Round 2 At São Paulo
What a difference a day makes! After an underwhelming start to the Grand Slam Final Masters on the first day, day two exploded into life with three thrilling games.
Hikaru Nakamura and Vishy Anand clashed swords in a razor-sharp theoretical line, which ended in a draw after 38 pulsating moves.
Vassily Ivanchuk outplayed poor Vallejo Pons, leaving the Spaniard with no points to show for his first two games with the black pieces.
In the last game to finish, Magnus Carlsen pushed Lev Aronian to the brink in a fierce struggle but the Armenian held on for a vital draw.
So the scores after two rounds (using the 3-1-0 system) are:
| Aronian, Levon | ARM | 2807 | 4 |
| Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2765 | 4 |
| Anand, Viswanathan | IND | 2817 | 2 |
| Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2823 | 2 |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2753 | 2 |
| Vallejo Pons, Francisco | ESP | 2716 | 0 |
The games in the São Paulo leg of the tournament start at 15:00 local time (18:00 UTC). Games in the second leg in Bilbao are expected to start at 17:00 local time in Bilbao (15:00 UTC), apart from the last round which starts an hour earlier.
The "Sofia-Rules" are in operation, meaning that players can only reach a draw by mutual agreement with the permission of the arbiter. The 3-1-0 soccer-style scoring system is also in operation. The time control is 40 moves in 90 minutes followed by 60 minutes to a finish, with a 10 second increment after move 40.
If there is a tie for first place, there will be a pair of blitz games, followed by a sudden death game if needed, to produce a winner. Ties for lower places will be decided by mathematical tie-breaks, starting with scores under the traditional 1-½-0 system.
The official website with more information is here.
