Aronian wins Amber with 2 games to spare

Round 10 Blindfold

Ivanchuk-Mamedyarov 0-1
Van Wely-Topalov 1/2-1/2
Gelfand-Anand 0-1
Karjakin-Morozevich 1/2-1/2
Aronian-Kramnik 1/2-1/2
Carlsen-Leko 1/2-1/2

Round 10 Rapid

Mamedyarov-Ivanchuk 1/2-1/2
Topalov-Van Wely 1-0
Anand-Gelfand 0-1
Morozevich-Karjakin 1-0
Kramnik-Aronian 1/2-1/2
Leko-Carlsen 1/2-1/2



Combined scores after 10 rounds

1. Aronian 13½

2-5. Carlsen 11
Kramnik 11
Leko 11
Topalov 11

6-8. Anand 10
Ivanchuk 10
Morozevich 10

9. Karjakin 8½

10-12. Gelfand 8
Mamedyarov 8
Van Wely 8


Here's the highlight matches from the final round.

Ivanchuk,V (2751) - Anand,V (2799) [A29]

Amber Rapid Nice FRA (9), 25.03.2008
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 Bb4 5.Bg2 0-0 6.Nd5 Bc5 7.d3 Nxd5 8.cxd5 Nd4 9.Nd2 d6 10.e3 Nf5 11.Nc4 a5 12.Bd2 a4 13.b4 axb3 14.axb3 Rxa1 15.Qxa1 b5 16.Na5 Ne7 17.0-0

17...Bg4? Overlooking 18.Nb7 which wins White a pawn. 18...Qd7 19.Nxc5 dxc5 20.Qxe5 Qd6 21.d4 Be2 22.Qxd6 cxd6 23.Re1 Bd3 24.dxc5 dxc5 25.Rc1 c4 26.bxc4 bxc4 27.Bb4 Re8 28.Bxe7 Rxe7 29.Bf1 Bxf1 30.Kxf1 Re4 31.Ke2 f5 32.f3 Re5 33.d6 1-0.

The tragedy in this round was suffered by Magnus Carlsen in his blindfold game against Vladimir Kramnik, overstepping the time in a probably winning position.

Kramnik,V (2799) - Carlsen,M (2733) [E17]
Amber Blindfold Nice FRA (9), 25.03.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.Nc3 Ne4 7.Bd2 f5 8.d5 Bf6 9.Qc2 Qe7 10.Rd1 Na6 11.0-0 Nb4 12.Qb3 a5 13.Be3 a4 14.Nxa4 exd5 15.Nd4 dxc4 16.Qxc4 Bxd4 17.Bxd4 Nc6 18.Bxb6 cxb6 19.Nxb6 Rd8 20.Nd5 Ne5 21.Qb5 Bxd5 22.Rxd5 Nf7 23.Rfd1 Nf6 24.R5d2 g6 25.a4 0-0 26.a5 Rb8 27.Bb7 Nd8 28.Bd5+ Ne6 29.Qc4 Rfc8 30.Qa2 Nxd5 31.Rxd5 Rc7 32.a6 Ra7 33.Rd6 Kf8 34.Qa4 Ke8 35.b4 Ng5 36.Qa1 Nf7 37.Qd4 Qxd6 38.Qe3+ Qe6 39.Qxa7 Rxb4 40.Qa8+ Ke7 41.a7 Ra4 42.Qb7 Qc6 43.Qb8

Black has a knight for a pawn and could go on the attack with 43...Ng5. However, with just seconds on his clock Carlsen played 43...d6 44.Rb1 and then overstepped his time. 1-0.