2012

Magnus Carlsen wins txapela in the 5th Final Masters

The Grand Slam Chess Masters Final was held in Sao Paulo and Bilbao on September 24-29 and October 8-13 as a six-player double round-robin event.

After all three games of the last 10th round ended in draws, the last year winner Magnus Carlsen and Italian star Fabiano Caruana shared the first place with 17 points each (3 points for a win, 1 for a draw).

The two proceeded to play a two-game blitz tie-break to determine the champion. Carlsen won 2-0 and claimed the trophy, a Basque txapela, for the second year in a row.

Bilbao Final Masters 2012 - Magnus Carlsen winner

Magnus Carlsen with the trophies

Bilbao Final Masters 2012 Carlsen Caruana

Carlsen and Caruana ready for the blitz tie-break

Replay the games with computer analysis

Spanish player Paco Vallejo announced after the penultimate round that he will retire from competitive chess. He was very upset after the painful loss against Karjakin. We sincerely hope that the talented player and great person will reconsider once again and return to the chess arena.

Final standings:
1-2. Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana – 17 points
3. Levon Aronian – 11
4. Sergei Karjakin – 10
5. Viswanathan Anand – 9
6. Francisco Vallejo – 6

Official website

Bilbao Final Masters 2012 Group photo

Bilbao Final Masters 2012 - Group Photo

Bilbao Final Masters 2012 blitz tiebreak

Blitz tiebreak in progress

Bilbao Final Masters 2012 audience

Audience gathered around the glass cube

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