Ivanchuk On A Roll In Sao Paulo
Vassily Ivanchuk won his third game in a row in the Grand Slam Final Masters to claim a huge 5-point lead in the event.
Ivanchuk achieved a winning game against Aronian with the black pieces, but fell into desperate time-trouble. In the ensuing melee Ivanchuk erred and lost the advantage, but Aronian returned the favour while playing quickly to try to rush his opponent.
After a tumultuous game, Ivanchuk claimed victory and rides high at the top of the standings.
In the other fourth round games, Anand defeated Vallejo with the black pieces and Nakamura comfortably held Carlsen to a draw.
In round five Ivanchuk will have the white pieces against Carlsen. Can he beat three 2800+ GMs in a row?
The standings after four rounds:
| Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2765 | 10 |
| Anand, Viswanathan | IND | 2817 | 5 |
| Aronian, Levon | ARM | 2807 | 5 |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2753 | 4 |
| Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2823 | 3 |
| Vallejo Pons, Francisco | ESP | 2716 | 3 |
André Gordon, founder of Brazilian investment management firm GTI
makes the ceremonial first move between Vallejo and Anand
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 so-called "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.
