Lev Aronian Wins 2011 Amber
Lev Aronian has won the 2011 Amber tournament by a clear point from his nearest rival Magnus Carlsen. It completes a hat-trick of wins for the Armenian at Amber (previous wins in 2008 and 2009) in what is the last ever Amber tournament.
Splitting the results into separate blindfold and rapid scores, Aronian won the blindfold section and Magnus Carlsen won the rapid.
Gelfand's win over Carlsen in their blindfold game took the game of the day prize and decided the destination of the overall title. But Carlsen took revenge in the rapid game, where he has been exceptionally strong throughout the tournament.
The champion! Lev Aronian takes the final Amber title under the watchful eye of Magnus Carlsen
Vishy Anand sealed third place overall by whitewashing Giri 2-0 to push the young pup down into last place.
Kramnik managed a blindfold checkmate against Nakamura, before the American recovered in the rapid game to equal the scores.
Topalov ended on a high by beating Ivanchuk in their rapid game, but perhaps the most remarkable encounter of the day was between Grischuk and Gashimov. In the final round of this tiring tournament they played two games lasting a combined total of 279 moves! They had to be moved to another room to let the rest of the games take place!
Congratulations to all the players for their sterling efforts, and especially to Mr. Joop van Oosterom who has sponsored this wonderful event for 20 long years.
The results in the final round:
| Blind | Ivanchuk-Topalov | ½-½ |
| Gashimov-Grischuk | ½-½ | |
| Giri-Anand | 0-1 | |
| Blind | Carlsen-Gelfand | 0-1 |
| Nakamura-Kramnik | 0-1 | |
| Aronian-Karjakin | ½-½ | |
| Rapid | Topalov-Ivanchuk | 1-0 |
| Grischuk-Gashimov | ½-½ | |
| Anand-Giri | 1-0 | |
| Rapid | Gelfand-Carlsen | 0-1 |
| Kramnik-Nakamura | 0-1 | |
| Karjakin-Aronian | ½-½ |
The final standings at Amber 2011:
| Blind | Rapid | Total | |||
| Aronian, Levon | ARM | 2808 | 8½ | 7 | 15½ |
| Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2815 | 5 | 9½ | 14½ |
| Anand, Viswanathan | IND | 2817 | 7 | 6 | 13 |
| Grischuk, Alexander | RUS | 2747 | 6 | 5 | 11 |
| Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2779 | 5 | 6 | 11 |
| Gashimov, Vugar | AZE | 2746 | 6 | 4½ | 10½ |
| Gelfand, Boris | ISR | 2733 | 6 | 4½ | 10½ |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2774 | 5 | 5½ | 10½ |
| Topalov, Veselin | BUL | 2775 | 4½ | 6 | 10½ |
| Karjakin, Sergey | RUS | 2776 | 5½ | 4½ | 10 |
| Kramnik, Vladimir | RUS | 2785 | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| Giri, Anish | NED | 2690 | 3½ | 3½ | 7 |
Two draws on the final day proved enough for Aronian
Anand finished on a high, claiming third place by beating Giri 2-0
An unexceptional tournament for Nakamura, but an exceptionally bad one for Kramnik
Close, but no cigar...Magnus takes second place behind Aronian
Ivanchuk's uneven tournament ended with defeat to Topalov
Grischuk and Gashimov played a 140-move blindfold game and a 139-move rapid game!
