Grand Slam Final - Round 9

All games in the penultimate round in Bilbao were drawn, leaving Topalov (pictured) as the leader going into the final round.

The nearest we had to a win was the game between Ivanchuk and Aronian.  Ivanchuk looked to have sewn up a victory, but for once his blitz skills failed him in his characteristic time-trouble and he blew it to allow the Armenian to escape with a draw.

The game between Topalov and Anand was pretty much a non-event.  Anand has had a poor tournament and is probably just hanging around for his prize money and thinking of his match with Kramnik.  Topalov, as leader, seemed happy enough to draw.

A brighter game was played between the young 'uns Radjabov and Carlsen.  It looked for a while llike Radjabov might avenge his defeat in the first half of the event, but Carlsen found a way to level the game and a draw was agreed after 53 moves.

So Topalov will have the white pieces against Ivanchuk in the final round, Carlsen will have white against Anand, and Aronian white against Radjabov.  The fight for first place is still on, and there is a big difference in prize money (1st=150.000 €, 2nd=70.000 €).  So will the players play hard until the end?  What do you think?

Standings with one round to go: