Magnus Carlsen at the opening ceremony of Grand Slam 2011
Sao Paulo Grand Slam Final Masters round 1 matches, as well as the full parings of the event are now known. At the opening ceremony last night in Sao Paulo, the drawing of lots was conducted giving as starting numbers 1. Nakamura 2. Anand 3. Aronian 4. Vallejo 5. Carlsen and 6. Ivanchuk.
This will give the chess fans as first round encounters Anand – Carlsen, Nakamura – Ivanchuk, and Aronian – Vallejo. The games start at 20:00 CET (15:00 local time) and will have live coverage here with GM commentary by Arkadij Naiditsch and the Chess Evolution team.
More coverage: Grand Slam (espanol)/ Bilbao – Sao Paulo information / Official webpage / Live games
Pairings Final Masters
| Round 1, Sao Paulo 26/9 | ||||
| # | White | Res | Black | |
| 1 | Hikaru Nakamura | Vasili Ivanchuk | ||
| 2 | Viswanathan Anand | Magnus Carlsen | ||
| 3 | Levon Aronian | Francisco Vallejo | ||
| Round 2, Sao Paulo 27/9 | ||||
| # | White | Res | Black | |
| 1 | Vasili Ivanchuk | Francisco Vallejo | ||
| 2 | Magnus Carlsen | Levon Aronian | ||
| 3 | Hikaru Nakamura | Viswanathan Anand | ||
| Round 3, Sao Paulo 28/9 | ||||
| # | White | Res | Black | |
| 1 | Viswanathan Anand | Vasili Ivanchuk | ||
| 2 | Levon Aronian | Hikaru Nakamura | ||
| 3 | Francisco Vallejo | Magnus Carlsen | ||
| Round 4, Sao Paulo 30/9 (*) | ||||
| # | White | Res | Black | |
| 1 | Levon Aronian | Vasili Ivanchuk | ||
| 2 | Francisco Vallejo | Viswanathan Anand | ||
| 3 | Magnus Carlsen | Hikaru Nakamura | ||
| Round 5, Sao Paulo 1/10 (*) | ||||
| # | White | Res | Black | |
| 1 | Vasili Ivanchuk | Magnus Carlsen | ||
| 2 | Hikaru Nakamura | Francisco Vallejo | ||
| 3 | Viswanathan Anand | Levon Aronian | ||
