More Fighting Chess At Bilbao

Round three of the Bilbao Final Masters pitted Anand against Kramnik and Shirov against Carlsen.

Anand tried the Catalan against Kramnik, but ran up against the Russian's deep preparation in this popular opening.  Kramnik rattled off his moves quickly and confidently, leaving Anand to toil away seeking an advantage.

It was all to no avail, as the fascinating game ended in a draw after 34 moves, with Kramnik still having more than an hour left on his clock!

Carlsen was determined to stop the rot after two consecutive losses, and his game against Shirov was a memorable encounter which resulted in a rare and difficult endgame.  Carlsen had three minor pieces for Shirov's queen!

Carlsen searched in vain for a win for a buttock-numbing 175 moves before a draw was reached by the 50-move rule. As a little joke, when Shirov made his last move to claim the draw, he left a knight fork for Carlsen which he couldn't play since the game was over! [EDIT: It now seems that Shirov didn't get to play the move - shame!]

Truly a Herculean effort by both players, who will be very pleased that tomorrow is a rest day!

The scoretable at the halfway point: