Ivanchuk Extends Lead In Grand Slam Final
There's just no stopping Vassily Ivanchuk at the moment. Not even a robbery at gunpoint could prevent the Ukrainian maestro from continuing on his winning ways in the Grand Slam Final.
Ivanchuk played a vigorous attacking game against Hikaru Nakamura which was settled in a crazy time scramble. Nakamura's offer to delay today's game to allow Ivanchuk more time to acclimatise was clearly not necessary!
The organisers also confirmed the worst kept secret of the past few days - Hikaru Nakamura is working with Garry Kasparov. It seems that they have been working together for some time!
In the other games, Vishy Anand defended accurately against Magnus Carlsen to secure a draw, while birthday boy Lev Aronian diced with danger against Vallejo Pons, but the clever 12...Ng6 eventually secured a draw for him as well.
The players at the opening ceremony yesterday in Bilbao...minus the delayed Ivanchuk
The standings after round six:
| Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2765 | 13 |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2753 | 7 |
| Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2823 | 7 |
| Anand, Viswanathan | IND | 2817 | 7 |
| Aronian, Levon | ARM | 2807 | 7 |
| Vallejo Pons, Francisco | ESP | 2716 | 4 |
The games in Bilbao start at 17:00 local time in Bilbao (15:00 UTC), apart from the last round which will start an hour earlier.
Sofia-Rules are in operation, meaning that players can only reach a draw by mutual agreement if they have the permission of the arbiter. The 3-1-0 soccer-style scoring system is also being used. 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.
Picture from the official website.
