Wesley So Beats Anish Giri in Round 8 Bilbao Masters Final 2016

The defending champion of the tournament, GM Wesley So, finally bags home his first win in this event over his nemesis, Anish Giri, in the eighth round of Bilbao Masters Final 2016.

The game opened with the classic Giuoco Piano. Eventually, they found themselves maneuvering the game with four-knights play leading towards the endgame, until strategic play led Wesley So to be up by a clear pawn by move 46. Anish Giri found himself trapped in a mating net and resigned after white’s 57th move. See diagram of the game below:

Black to move after 57. Kf4

Black to move after 57. Kf4

And thus, here, Giri cannot stop the mate by the next move in either 58. Rg7+ or 58. Nh4+.[replay]

Because of that win, Wesley So is now number 8 in the live ratings ranking, overtaking Anand and Karjakin:

Live Ratings Top Ten Ranking as of July 22, 2016

Meanwhile, Sergey Karjakin failed to even his score against the World Champion Magnus Carlsen in their last two games leading to the World Championship in November, after they drew their Round 8 game. Carlsen won against Karjakin in Round 3 of this event.[replay]

Hikaru Nakamura stays unbeaten in this tournament as he drew his 8th round game against Wei Yi.[replay]

At the end of Round 8, Wesley So is tied at 3rd place with Wei Yi.

Bilbao Masters Final 2016 Ranking after Round 8

#NameElo123456Pts.TB
1Magnus Carlsen2851xxx0+13+13+113
2Hikaru Nakamura27873+1xxx1+11+110
3Wei Yi26940+11+1xxx1+3933.5
4Wesley So27751+1xxx1+11+3930.5
5Sergey Karjakin27790+11+1xxx1+17
6Anish Giri27901+01+01+1xxx6
Crosstable and standings after 8 rounds of play.

Replay the Bilbao Masters Final 2016 all games.

Photo credit: Bilbao Chess.

37 Comments

← Previous Page 3 of 4 Next →

Leave a Reply