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Bilbao Masters Grand Slam Final

BOTH MATCHES END IN A DRAW AND THE LEADERBOARD REMAINS UNCHANGED Kramnik and Anand keep the top two spots Results of day four of the 3rd Grand Slam Masters Final. Bilbao, Wednesday, October 13th: Anand (India) - Shirov (Spain). 1-1. 38 moves, 2 hours 55 minutos of play. Carlsen (Norway) - Kramnik (Russia). 1-1. 73 moves, 5 hours of play. Day four of the Grand Slam Chess Masters Final taking place in Bilbao has ended once more with both matches drawn. Kramnik stays in the lead with 8 points, followed by Anand with 6. Shirov and Carlsen have 3 and 2 points respectively and are running out of options. In the first match current World Champion, Viswanathan Anand, went up against Alexei Shirov. This time Shirov chose a secondary opening-- the Mat Cucheon variation of the French Defence. Anand accepted the challenge and played a critical game, countering the opening and leaving black on the verge of a collapse. This forced the World Champion to spend much time and effort calculating all possibilities, after which he came up with some interesting alternatives. After commiting a series of errors, he finally found a counterplay that was effective enough against the black king to keep him constantly in check, which sealed the draw. In the other match, Magnus Carlsen, playing as white, faced tournament leader Vladimir Kramnik. The match started off with an English Opening, with Magnus choosing a calm variation, the one known as the inverse Sicilian, where he was hoping to apply constant pressure on the queen's side. Kramnik, a reputed specialist on this variation with both colours, completely froze Carlsen's initiative on the queen's side, leaving him with his hands free in the centre and on the king's side. The match became very simple, but Kramnik knew how to keep the pressure on and transform the position into an endgame of two rooks and a bishop against two rooks and a knight which gave him an advantage. Magnus held on to the board and fought valiantly in a rook endgame to finally achieve a draw.

Standings after R4

N NOMBRE FED FIDE + = - PTS PART 1 Kramnik, Vladimir RUS 2780 2 2 0 8 4 2 Anand, Viswanathan IND 2800 1 3 0 6 4 3 Shirov, Alexei ESP 2749 0 3 1 3 4 4 Carlsen, Magnus NOR 2826 0 2 2 2 4

The points system of the Grand Slam Masters Final is 3 points for each win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss, a system known as the “Bilbao rules”.
The pairings for Thursday 14th on the fifth of the tournament's six days are: Carlsen-Shirov and Kramnik-Anand.
The course of all the matches through the moves made by the players may be consulted on the official website of the Final, www.bilbaofinalmasters.com, as well as commentary on these games by International Master, Bilbao's Santiago González de la Torre.

Press Release from official site