Bilbao Master 2008 Round 6 : Carlsen beat Aronian !

Magnus Carlsen is unofficially no. 1 in the Live rating

World no.6 but unofficially no. 1 in Live Rating is leading the Bilbao Master 2008 after beating Levon Aronian in round 6. Magnus has now score 2-0 against Aronian in this tournament. He beat the same player in the first round. Anand and Ivanchuk saw a boring draw whereas Topalov - Radjabov was a fighting draw.

Magnus Carlsen (2775) vs Levon Aronian (2737)
Bilbao Master , Round 6, 9.9. 2008

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3 Bb7 9. a3 b4 10. Ne4 Nxe4 11. Bxe4 bxa3 12. O-O Nf6 13. Bd3 axb2 14. Bxb2 a5 15. d5 Nxd5 16. Ne5 Nf6 17. Qa4 Bb4 18. Nxc6 Bxc6 19. Qxc6+ Ke7 20. Rfd1 Rc8 21. Qf3 Qb6 22. Bd4 Qb8 23. Ba6 Rcd8 24. Bb7 h5 25. h3 h4 26. Rab1 e5 27. Rxb4

27...axb4 ?? Aronian choose to grab material but this is actually a blunder. He
should have played 27... exd4 28. Rbxd4 Qc7 When the position is balance
. White have the initiative whereas black can hope his passed pawn on a
file will give him something to play. 28. Bc5+ Ke6 29. Ra1 ! White is threa
tenning 30. Ra8 or 30.Ra6+ !This is the in between moves that Aronian probably
missed. He must be hoping for 29. Qc6+ and hide his king with Kf5 29... Rd6 30. Bxd6 Kxd6 31. Qc6+ Ke7 32. Ra8 Qd6 33. Qxd6+ Kxd6 34. Rxh8 b3 35. Ba6 Nd7 36. Rxh4 Nc5 1-0

photo by Fred Lucas