Bilbao Chess Masters Final

Bilbao Chess Masters Final
Genre	Double round robin chess tournament
Frequency	Annual
Location(s)	Bilbao, Spain
Inaugurated	2008
Most recent	2016
Website
http://www.bilbaomastersfinal.com/en

Bilbao Chess Masters Final 2008. Glass-enclosed playing venue on the Plaza Nueva, Bilbao

The Bilbao Chess Masters Final (previously called the Grand Slam Chess Final) is an annual chess tournament which between 2008-12 brought together the strongest players from the previous year's "Grand Slam" events. Series organisers Grand Slam Chess Association (GSCA) became defunct in 2012 due to the demise of the Grand Slam hosts and scheduling problems but the Bilbao Masters has continued as an annual invitational event.

Grand Slam Chess Association

Negotiations between the organisers of major tournaments M-Tel Masters, Tata Steel Chess Tournament (under the name Corus) and Linares began in March 2006, seeking to create a cycle of tournaments to raise the popularity of chess and attract increased sponsorship for major events.^[1] Several rounds of talks took place over the next 14 months.

The GSCA was established on 17 January 2007 and the first edition of the series for 2008 announced in May, with Mexico City added to the list and Bilbao confirmed as Masters Final hosts.^[2] Due to problems raising funding for the tournament, it was announced on 16 May 2008 that Mexico City was cancelled.^[3]

On 16 March 2009, the members of the GSCA Presidential Board was published, confirming the addition of Pearl Spring in Nanjing, China as Grand Slam hosts as well as interest from San Luis, Argentina and London.^[4] The M-Tel Masters was held for the last time during this series.

During the 2010 series, marking the last edition of Linares due to financial problems and the cancellation of M-Tel Masters due to the World Chess Championship, held in Sofia that year, it was agreed that Kings Tournament held in Medias, Romania would join the 2011 edition.^[5]

At the end of the 2012 edition of Tata Steel the rest of the 2012 series was confirmed and announced that the 2011 winners of Tal Memorial and London Chess Classic qualified for the 2012 Bilbao Final.^[6] This would be the last Grand Slam cycle, later editions composed of invitees by the Bilbao Masters organising committee.

An ongoing problem was conflicting schedules between Grand Slam hosts and FIDE. For the 2013 series, invitees Carlsen and Anand declined spots in the Bilbao final due to their preparations for the World Championship.^[7]

Format and venue

The tournament is a double round robin featuring four to six players. The tournament regulations use the Sofia Chess Rules, which forbids agreed draws before 30 moves, and the "Bilbao" scoring system of 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss (though for ratings purposes the traditional scoring method is used).

The venue for the tournament has traditionally been the city of Bilbao in Spain. In year 2011 and 2012 a second venue was added as Sao Paulo in Brazil with one of the round-robins in each city. A soundproofed and air-conditioned glass "cube" was constructed to house the tournament, allowing spectators to watch closely the players inside.

Winners

2008 (1st) – Veselin Topalov
2009 (2nd) – Levon Aronian
2010 (3rd) – Vladimir Kramnik
2011 (4th) – Magnus Carlsen
2012 (5th) – Magnus Carlsen
2013 (6th) – Levon Aronian
2014 (7th) – Viswanathan Anand
2015 (8th) – Wesley So
2016 (9th) – Magnus Carlsen

Tournaments

Carlsen playing Anand, Bilbao 2008

First Grand Slam Masters Final (2008)

The inaugural Final was composed of Tata Steel joint winners Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian, Linares winner Viswanathan Anand, M-Tel Masters winner Vassily Ivanchuk, M-Tel runner up Veselin Topalov and third placed Teimour Radjabov.^[8]

Topalov convincingly won the tournament with 17 points, Carlsen beating Aronian to second place. Had Topalov lost to Ivanchuk and Carlsen defeated Anand in the last round, there would have been a tiebreak rapid match.^[9] Anand finished in last place ahead of his World Championship defence against Vladimir Kramnik.

1st Grand Slam Masters Final, 1–13 September 2008
	Player	FIDE Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	Points
1	Veselin Topalov (BUL)	2777	* *	1 1	½ 0	½ 1	½ ½	1 ½	17
2	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	2775	0 0	* *	1 1	½ 0	1 ½	½ ½	13
3	Levon Aronian (ARM)	2737	½ 1	0 0	* *	1 ½	½ 0	½ 1	13
4	Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR)	2781	½ 0	½ 1	0 ½	* *	½ 1	½ ½	12
5	Teimour Radjabov (AZE)	2744	½ ½	0 ½	½ 1	½ 0	* *	½ ½	10
6	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	2798	0 ½	½ ½	½ 0	½ ½	½ ½	* *	8

Second Grand Slam Masters Final (2009)

The second Final consisted of Sergey Karjakin, the winner of 2009 Corus, Alexander Grischuk, winner of Linares, Alexei Shirov, winner in M-Tel Masters, and Aronian, second place at Pearl Spring, replacing Topalov who declined the invitation..

Aronian emerged as the clear winner, winning the event with one round to spare.^[10]

2nd Grand Slam Masters Final (2009)
	Player	FIDE Rating	1	2	3	4	Points
1	Levon Aronian (ARM)	2773	* *	0 1	1 ½	1 1	13
2	Alexander Grischuk (RUS)	2733	1 0	* *	0 ½	1 ½	8
3	Sergey Karjakin (UKR)	2722	0 ½	1 ½	* *	½ ½	7
4	Alexei Shirov (ESP)	2730	0 0	0 ½	½ ½	* *	3

Third Grand Slam Masters Final (2010)

The third edition^[11] featured four players and took place in the Alhóndiga Bilbao. It was a category 22 tournament, the highest rated tournament in history.^[12] Qualifiers for the Final were Carlsen (winner of Corus, Bazna Kings and Pearl Springs events) and Anand who was seeded through due to the cancellation of M-Tel Masters that year. Topalov had qualified as winner of Linares 2010 but withdrew from the Final.

A tournament was held in Shanghai, China consisting of Kramnik, Aronian, Shirov and Wang Hao in order to fill the two spots. Alexei Shirov and Vladimir Kramnik - by defeating Aronian in an armageddon tie-break game - qualified. Kramnik then went on to win the Masters Final.

3rd Grand Slam Masters Final (2010)
	Player	FIDE Rating	1	2	3	4	Points
1	Vladimir Kramnik (RUS)	2780	* *	½ ½	1 ½	1 ½	10
2	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	2800	½ ½	* *	1 ½	½ ½	8
3	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	2826	0 ½	0 ½	* *	½ 1	6
4	Alexei Shirov (ESP)	2749	0 ½	½ ½	½ 0	* *	4

Playoff Grand Slam of Shanghai (2010)
	Player	FIDE Rating	B1	B2	A	Points
1	Vladimir Kramnik (RUS)	2780	1	0	1	2
2	Levon Aronian (ARM)	2783	0	1	0	1

Grand Slam of Shanghai (2010)
	Player	FIDE Rating	1	2	3	4	Points
1	Alexei Shirov (ESP)	2749	* *	½ 1	½ ½	1 1	12
2	Vladimir Kramnik (RUS)	2780	½ 0	* *	½ 1	½ ½	7
3	Levon Aronian (ARM)	2783	½ ½	½ 0	* *	1 ½	7
4	Wang Hao (CHN)	2724	0 0	½ ½	0 ½	* *	3

Fourth Grand Slam Masters Final (2011)

In contrast to Grand Slam Masters Finals in the last years, the organizers decided to return to a six-player double round robin without a special qualification tournament. The first half of the fourth edition was played in São Paulo from September 25 to October 1, and the second in Bilbao from October 5 to October 11.

The players invited to the Grand Slam Masters Final 2011 were Anand as second-place at Pearl Spring and the Tata Steel, Carlsen, as winner of Bazna and Pearl Spring, Hikaru Nakamura as winner of Tata Steel and Aronian as highest rated player not qualified, third in the FIDE ratings. Kramnik, the winner of the 2010 Final, and Karjakin, second at Bazna - declined to play and were replaced by Ivanchuk and local player Francisco Vallejo Pons.^[13]

Carlsen dominated the Bilbao half of the 4th Final Masters and finished level with Ivanchuk who played so well in the first half. Carlsen won the event after defeating Ivanchuk in a blitz playoff 1.5-0.5.

4th Grand Slam Masters Final (2011)
	Player	FIDE Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	Points
1	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	2823	* *	1 1	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	0 1	15
2	Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR)	2785	0 0	* *	½ 1	1 ½	1 ½	1 0	15
3	Hikaru Nakamura (USA)	2753	½ ½	½ 0	* *	½ 1	½ ½	1 0	12
4	Levon Aronian (ARM)	2809	½ ½	0 ½	½ 0	* *	½ 1	1 ½	12
5	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	2817	½ ½	0 ½	½ ½	½ 0	* *	1 1	12
6	Francisco Vallejo Pons (ESP)	2716	1 0	0 1	0 1	0 ½	0 0	* *	10

Fifth Grand Slam Masters Final (2012)

The format was a six-player double round robin. The first half of the fifth edition was played in São Paulo from September 24 to September 29, and the second in Bilbao from October 8 to October 13.

After Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana tied for first place a tiebreak match took place, Carlsen winning 2-0

5th Grand Slam Masters Final (2012)
	Player	FIDE Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	Points
1	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	2843	* *	0 3	1 1	1 1	1 3	3 3	17
2	Fabiano Caruana (ITA)	2773	3 0	* *	1 3	3 1	1 1	3 1	17
3	Levon Aronian (ARM)	2816	1 1	1 0	* *	3 1	1 1	1 1	11
4	Sergey Karjakin (RUS)	2778	1 1	0 1	0 1	* *	1 1	1 3	10
5	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	2780	1 0	1 1	1 1	1 1	* *	1 1	9
6	Francisco Vallejo Pons (ESP)	2697	0 0	0 1	1 1	1 0	1 1	* *	6

Tiebreak
	Player	FIDE Rating	1	2	Points
1	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	2856	1	1	2
2	Fabiano Caruana (ITA)	2718	0	0	0

Sixth Grand Slam Masters Final (2013)

The sixth Grand Slam Chess Masters final was held on 7–12 October in Bilbao as a double round robin with four players.^[14]^[15]

6th Grand Slam Masters Final (2013)
	Player	FIDE Rating	1	2	3	4	Points
1	Levon Aronian (ARM)	2795	* *	½ 1	½ 1	½ ½	10
2	Michael Adams (ENG)	2753	½ 0	* *	1 1	½ ½	9
3	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2742	½ 0	0 0	* *	1 ½	5
4	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)	2759	½ ½	½ ½	0 ½	* *	5

Seventh Grand Slam Masters Final (2014)

The seventh Grand Slam Chess Masters was held from 14–20 September in Bilbao as a double round robin with four players. Viswanathan Anand emerged as the winner.^[16]

7th Grand Slam Masters Final (2014)
	Player	FIDE Rating	1	2	3	4	Points
1	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	2785	* *	½ 0	1 1	1 ½	11
2	Levon Aronian (ARM)	2804	½ 1	* *	½ ½	1 ½	10
3	Francisco Vallejo Pons (ESP)	2712	0 0	½ ½	* *	0 1	5
4	Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR)	2717	0 ½	0 ½	1 0	* *	5

Eighth Grand Slam Masters Final (2015)

The eighth Masters tournament was held from 26 October to 1 November in Bilbao as a double round robin with four players. Wesley So won the tournament after beating Anish Giri in tiebreaks.

8th Grand Slam Masters Final (2015)
	Player	FIDE Rating	1	2	3	4	Points
1	Wesley So (USA)	2760	½ ½	* *	½ ½	1 ½	8
2	Anish Giri (NED)	2798	* *	½ ½	½ 1	½ ½	8
3	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	2803	½ ½	½ 0	* *	½ ½	5
4	Ding Liren (CHN)	2782	0 ½	½ ½	½ ½	* *	5

Tiebreak
	Player	FIDE Rating	1	2	Points
1	Wesley So (USA)	2760	1	½	4
2	Anish Giri (NED)	2798	0	½	1

Ninth Grand Slam Masters Final (2016)

The ninth Bilbao Masters Final was held on 13–23 July as a six-player double round-robin with Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Anish Giri, Sergey Karjakin, Wesley So and Wei Yi taking part.^[17] As in previous Bilbao Masters tournaments, the scoring was 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss.

The games between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin was highly anticipated, as they will face off at the World Championship match in November; because Norway and Russia were not paired with each other in the 2016 Chess Olympiad, this was the last time the two played each other prior to the World Championship match. Hikaru Nakamura defeated Magnus Carlsen for the first time in standard time controls in the first round and Magnus Carlsen defeated Anish Giri for the first time in standard time controls in the penultimate round.

9th Grand Slam Masters Final (2016)
	Player	FIDE Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	Points
1	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	2855	* *	0 1	3 1	3 1	3 1	1 3	17
2	Hikaru Nakamura (USA)	2773	3 1	* *	1 1	1 1	1 1	1 1	12
3	Wesley So (USA)	2816	0 1	1 1	* *	1 1	1 1	1 3	11
4	Wei Yi (CHN)	2778	0 1	1 1	1 1	* *	1 1	1 3	11
5	Sergey Karjakin (RUS)	2780	0 1	1 1	1 1	1 1	* *	1 1	9
6	Anish Giri (NED)	2697	1 0	1 1	1 0	1 0	1 1	* *	7

References

↑ "Grand Slam Chronology - Chessdom". grandslam.chessdom.com. Retrieved 2016-04-01.
↑ "Mexico City will be the 5th tournament of theChess Grand Slam - Chessdom". grandslam.chessdom.com. Retrieved 2016-04-01.
↑ "Mexico City open letter - Chessdom". grandslam.chessdom.com. Retrieved 2016-04-01.
↑ "Grand Slam Chess Association – Press Release - Chessdom". grandslam.chessdom.com. Retrieved 2016-04-01.
↑ AM. "Kings Tournament 5th edition". www.fide.com. Retrieved 2016-04-01.
↑ "Grand Slam Chess Association confirms Linares 2012, sets dates for Masters Final - ChessVibes". www.chessvibes.com. Retrieved 2016-04-02.
↑ "Kings Tournament & Bilbao are on, but (slightly) weakened - ChessVibes". www.chessvibes.com. Retrieved 2016-04-02.
↑ "Grand Slam Chess Final Masters Bilbao". Chess News. 2008-07-01. Retrieved 2016-04-01.
↑ "Topalov Takes All in Bilbao - The Daily Dirt Chess News Blog". www.chessninja.com. Retrieved 2016-04-02.
↑ "2nd Grand Slam Masters Bilbao Final (2009)". Chessgames.com. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
↑ "Bilbao Masters (2010)". Chessgames.com. 2010-10-16. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
↑ 2010 Bilbao Masters preview, Chessbase News, 8 October 2010
↑ "Anand, Carlsen, Aronian, Nakamura, Ivanchuk and Vallejo will contest the Masters Final | Bilbao Chess Masters Final 2011". Bilbaofinalmasters.com. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
↑ "Bilbao Final Aronian is the victor". ChessBase. 2013-10-12. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
↑ Final Standings
↑ "Final standings".
↑ "Carlsen and Karjakin to clash in Bilbao". chess24.com. Retrieved 2016-06-16.

External links

Grand Slam Chess Association

Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee Linares M-Tel Masters Sofia Pearl Spring Nanjing Grand Slam Masters Final

Major recurring international chess tournaments

Major present	Bilbao Chess Masters Final Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting London Chess Classic Norway Chess Shamkir Chess Sinquefield Cup Tal Memorial Tata Steel Chess Tournament Zurich Chess Challenge

Other present	Aeroflot Open Australasian Masters Biel Chess Festival Canadian Open Chess Championship Capablanca Memorial Cappelle-la-Grande Open Carlos Torre Repetto Memorial Chigorin Memorial Doeberl Cup Gibraltar Chess Festival Hastings International Chess Congress Lublin Grandmaster Tournament Millionaire Chess Paul Keres Memorial Tournament Qatar Masters Open Reykjavik Open Rubinstein Memorial South African Open U.S. Open Chess Championship Vidmar Memorial Vlissingen chess tournament World Open Xtracon Chess Open Zurich Christmas Open

Recently cancelled	Alekhine Memorial Acropolis International chess tournament Aerosvit chess tournament Amber chess tournament Howard Staunton Memorial Tournament Linares International Chess Tournament Pearl Spring chess tournament Reggio Emilia chess tournament

Major past	American Chess Congress Carl Schlechter Memorial Tournament DSB Congress General Government chess tournament Grenke Chess Classic IBM international chess tournament Konex chess tournament Leopold Trebitsch Memorial Tournament Lone Pine International M-Tel Masters Mar del Plata chess tournament Max Euwe Memorial Tournament Monte Carlo chess tournament Netanya chess tournament Phillips & Drew Kings Piatigorsky Cup San Sebastián chess tournament Silesian Chess Congress Tilburg chess tournament Triberg chess tournament

List of strong chess tournaments List of mini chess tournaments List of round-robin chess tournaments Chess national championships

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