Bilbao Chess Masters Final: Carlsen Wins on Tiebreak; Vallejo Announces Retirement

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen has taken the Bilbao Chess Masters Final trophy by beating Fabiano Caruana in two straight games of the tiebreak. This is the second time Carlsen has won the tournament. He was the defending champion.

Meanwhile, Spanish GM Francisco Valleko has announced his
retirement “indefinitely”, claiming fatigue and disappointed by his
performance in the tournament.

Final standings:
• Magnus Carlsen: 17 points (champion)
• Fabiano Caruana: 17 points.
• Levon Aronian: 11 points.
• Sergei Karjakin: 10 points
• Viswanathan Anand: 9 points.
• Francisco Vallejo: 6 points.

The final round saw three draws: Vallejo and Caruana, Aronian and Carlsen and Anand-Karjakin. 

Either of Carlsen or Caruana would have won the title without the tiebreak if any one of them had won the Round 10 match! But, that was not to be. Like last year, the tournament went into the tiebreak. Though, last there had been four players vying for the tiebreak win.

Before leaving chess, Vallejo, from Mallorca will fullfil the professional liabilities to which he has already committed. “In order

to play chess you must have hope, and I have lost it.” he said. “I have been 20 years out of my hometown, since I was 10, and it is time to go back and rest. I don´t want to say that I will not play more, because other champions have retired
and then they have come back some years after with excellent results. However, I need a break from chess and to start over some other vital projects. After that, we will see.” 

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