# Bilbao Chess Masters Final

The Bilbao Chess Masters Final (previously called the Grand Slam Chess Final) was an annual chess tournament which between 2008 and 2012 brought together the strongest players from the previous year's "Grand Slam" events. Series organisers Grand Slam Chess Association (GSCA) became defunct in 2012 due to the demise of the Grand Slam hosts and scheduling problems but the Bilbao Masters continued as an annual invitational event until 2016.

## Grand Slam Chess Association

Negotiations between the organisers of major tournaments M-Tel Masters, Tata Steel Chess Tournament (under the name Corus) and Linares began in March 2006, seeking to create a cycle of tournaments to raise the popularity of chess and attract increased sponsorship for major events. Several rounds of talks took place over the next 14 months.
The GSCA was established on 17 January 2007 and the first edition of the series for 2008 announced in May, with Mexico City added to the list and Bilbao confirmed as Masters Final hosts. Due to problems raising funding for the tournament, it was announced on 16 May 2008 that Mexico City was cancelled.
On 16 March 2009, the members of the GSCA Presidential Board was published, confirming the addition of Pearl Spring in Nanjing, China as Grand Slam hosts as well as interest from San Luis, Argentina and London. The M-Tel Masters was held for the last time during this series.
During the 2010 series, marking the last edition of Linares due to financial problems and the cancellation of M-Tel Masters due to the World Chess Championship, held in Sofia that year, it was agreed that Kings Tournament held in Medias, Romania would join the 2011 edition.
At the end of the 2012 edition of Tata Steel the rest of the 2012 series was confirmed and announced that the 2011 winners of Tal Memorial and London Chess Classic qualified for the 2012 Bilbao Final. This would be the last Grand Slam cycle, later editions composed of invitees by the Bilbao Masters organising committee.
An ongoing problem was conflicting schedules between Grand Slam hosts and FIDE. For the 2013 series, invitees Carlsen and Anand declined spots in the Bilbao final due to their preparations for the World Championship.

## Format and venue

The tournament is a double round robin featuring four to six players. The tournament regulations use the Sofia Chess Rules, which forbids agreed draws before 30 moves, and the "Bilbao" scoring system of 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss (though for ratings purposes the traditional scoring method is used).
The venue for the tournament has traditionally been the city of Bilbao in Spain. In year 2011 and 2012 a second venue was added as São Paulo in Brazil with one of the round-robins in each city. A soundproofed and air-conditioned glass "cube" was constructed to house the tournament, allowing spectators to watch closely the players inside.

## Winners

    #YearWinner 12008 Veselin Topalov 22009 Levon Aronian 32010 Vladimir Kramnik 42011 Magnus Carlsen 52012 Magnus Carlsen 62013 Levon Aronian 72014 Viswanathan Anand 82015 Wesley So 92016 Magnus Carlsen

## Tournaments
### 1st Grand Slam Masters Final (2008)

The inaugural Final was composed of Tata Steel joint winners Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian, Linares winner Viswanathan Anand, M-Tel Masters winner Vassily Ivanchuk, M-Tel runner up Veselin Topalov and third placed Teimour Radjabov.
Topalov convincingly won the tournament with 17 points, Carlsen beating Aronian to second place. Had Topalov lost to Ivanchuk and Carlsen defeated Anand in the last round, there would have been a tiebreak rapid match. Anand finished in last place ahead of his World Championship defence against Vladimir Kramnik.
    I Grand Slam Final, 2–13 September 2008, Bilbao, Spain, Category XXI (2769) PlayerRating123456PointsSScrH2HTPR 1 Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)27773 31 01 31 13 1172877 2 Magnus Carlsen (Norway)27750 0Does not appear3 31 03 11 113522767 3 Levon Aronian (Armenia)27371 30 0Does not appear3 11 01 313502775 4 Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)27811 01 30 1Does not appear1 31 1122766 5 Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan)27441 10 11 31 0Does not appear1 1102737 6 Viswanathan Anand (India)27980 11 11 01 11 1Does not appear82690

### 2nd Grand Slam Masters Final (2009)

The second Final consisted of Sergey Karjakin, the winner of 2009 Corus, Alexander Grischuk, winner of Linares, Alexei Shirov, winner in M-Tel Masters, and Aronian, second place at Pearl Spring, replacing Topalov who declined the invitation.
Aronian emerged as the clear winner, winning the event with one round to spare.
    II Grand Slam Masters Final, 6–12 September 2009, Bilbao, Cat. XX (2740) PlayerRating1234PointsTPR 1 Levon Aronian (Armenia)27730 33 13 3132921 2 Alexander Grischuk (Russia)27333 0Does not appear0 13 182741 3 Sergey Karjakin (Ukraine)27220 13 1Does not appear1 172745 4 Alexei Shirov (Spain)27300 00 11 1Does not appear32549

### 3rd Grand Slam Masters Final (2010)

The third edition featured four players and took place in the Alhóndiga Bilbao. It was a category 22 tournament, the highest rated tournament in history. Qualifiers for the Final were Carlsen (winner of Corus, Bazna Kings and Pearl Springs events) and Anand who was seeded through due to the cancellation of M-Tel Masters that year. Topalov had qualified as winner of Linares 2010 but withdrew from the Final.
A tournament was held in Shanghai, China consisting of Kramnik, Aronian, Shirov and Wang Hao in order to fill the two spots. Alexei Shirov and Vladimir Kramnik - by defeating Aronian in an armageddon tie-break game - qualified. Kramnik then went on to win the Masters Final.
    Shanghai Masters 2010, 3–8 September 2010, Shanghai, China, Cat. XXI (2759) PlayerRating1234PointsTBTPR 1 Alexei Shirov (Spain)2749Does not appear1 31 13 3122955 2 Vladimir Kramnik (Russia)27801 0Does not appear1 31 171+A2752 3 Levon Aronian (Armenia)27831 11 0Does not appear3 1712751 4 Wang Hao (China)27240 01 10 1Does not appear32578
    Second place tiebreak, 8 September 2010, Shanghai, China PlayerRatingBlitzArmageddonPlace  Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) 2780 1 0 1 2  Levon Aronian (Armenia) 2783 0 1 0 3
    III Grand Slam Masters Final, 9–15 October 2010, Bilbao, Cat. XXII (2789) PlayerRating1234PointsTPR 1 Vladimir Kramnik (Russia)27801 13 13 1102917 2 Viswanathan Anand (India)28001 1Does not appear3 11 182842 3 Magnus Carlsen (Norway)28260 10 1Does not appear1 362719 4 Alexei Shirov (Spain)27490 11 11 0Does not appear42677

### 4th Grand Slam Masters Final (2011)

In contrast to Grand Slam Masters Finals in the last years, the organizers decided to return to a six-player double round robin without a special qualification tournament. The first half of the fourth edition was played in São Paulo from September 25 to October 1, and the second in Bilbao from October 5 to October 11.
The players invited to the Grand Slam Masters Final 2011 were Anand as second-place at Pearl Spring and the Tata Steel, Carlsen, as winner of Bazna and Pearl Spring, Hikaru Nakamura as winner of Tata Steel and Aronian as highest rated player not qualified, third in the FIDE ratings. Kramnik, the winner of the 2010 Final, and Karjakin, second at Bazna - declined to play and were replaced by Ivanchuk and local player Francisco Vallejo Pons.
Carlsen dominated the Bilbao half of the 4th Final Masters and finished level with Ivanchuk who played so well in the first half. Carlsen won the event after defeating Ivanchuk in a blitz playoff 1.5-0.5.
    IV Final Masters, 26 September – 11 October 2011, São Paulo—Bilbao, Category XXII (2780) PlayerRating123456PointsTBSScrH2HTPR 1 Magnus Carlsen (Norway)28233 31 11 11 10 3151½2843 2 Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)27650 0Does not appear1 33 13 13 015½2819 3 Hikaru Nakamura (United States)27531 11 0Does not appear1 31 13 01252½2785 4 Levon Aronian (Armenia)28071 10 11 0Does not appear1 33 112522774 5 Viswanathan Anand (India)28171 10 11 11 0Does not appear3 31251½2772 6 Francisco Vallejo Pons (Spain)27163 00 30 30 10 0Does not appear102683
    First place tiebreak, 11 October 2011, Bilbao PlayerRatingBlitzPlace  Magnus Carlsen (Norway)2823 ½ 1 1  Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)2765 ½ 0 2

### 5th Grand Slam Masters Final (2012)

The format was a six-player double round robin. The first half of the fifth edition was played in São Paulo from September 24 to September 29, and the second in Bilbao from October 8 to October 13.
After Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana tied for first place a tiebreak match took place, which Carlsen won 2–0.
    V Final Masters, 24 September – 13 October 2012, São Paulo—Bilbao, Cat. XXII (2781) PlayerRating123456PointsTBTPR 1 Magnus Carlsen (Norway)28430 31 11 11 33 31722878 2 Fabiano Caruana (Italy)27733 0Does not appear1 33 11 13 11702892 3 Levon Aronian (Armenia)28161 11 0Does not appear3 11 11 1112774 4 Sergey Karjakin (Russia)27781 10 10 1Does not appear1 11 3102745 5 Viswanathan Anand (India)27801 01 11 11 1Does not appear1 192745 6 Francisco Vallejo Pons (Spain)26970 00 11 11 01 1Does not appear62649
    First place tiebreak, 13 October 2012, Bilbao PlayerBlitz ratingBlitzPlace  Magnus Carlsen (Norway)2856 1 1 1  Fabiano Caruana (Italy)2718 0 0 2

### 6th Grand Slam Masters Final (2013)

The sixth Grand Slam Chess Masters final was held on 7–12 October in Bilbao as a double round robin with four players.
    VI Bilbao Masters Final, 7–12 October 2013, Bilbao, Spain, Category XXI (2762) PlayerRating1234PointsSScrTPR 1 Levon Aronian (Armenia)27951 31 11 3102876 2 Michael Adams (England)27531 0Does not appear1 13 392822 3 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan)27591 11 1Does not appear0 152½2706 4 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)27421 00 03 1Does not appear522644

### 7th Grand Slam Masters Final (2014)

The seventh Grand Slam Chess Masters was held from 14 to 20 September in Bilbao as a double round robin with four players. Viswanathan Anand emerged as the winner.
    VII Grand Slam Masters Final, 12–20 September 2014, Bilbao, Spain, Category XXI (2755) PlayerRating1234PointsSScrH2HKoyaSBTPR 1 Viswanathan Anand (India)27851 03 13 3112869 2 Levon Aronian (Armenia)28041 3Does not appear3 11 1102863 3-4 Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine)27170 10 1Does not appear3 052116.002642 3-4 Francisco Vallejo Pons (Spain)27120 01 10 3Does not appear52116.002643

### 8th Grand Slam Masters Final (2015)

The eighth Masters tournament was held from 26 October to 1 November in Bilbao as a double round robin with four players. Wesley So won the tournament after beating Anish Giri in a tiebreak match (blitz playoff).
    VIII Grand Slam Masters Final, 26 October – 1 November 2015, Bilbao, Spain, Category XXII (2786) PlayerRating1234PointsTBSScrH2HKoyaSBTPR 1 Wesley So (United States)27601 11 13 181½2851 2 Anish Giri (Netherlands)27981 1Does not appear1 31 18½2838 3-4 Viswanathan Anand (India)28031 11 0Does not appear1 152½11½7.752723 3-4 Ding Liren (China)27820 11 11 1Does not appear52½11½7.752730
    First place tiebreak, 1 November 2015, Bilbao PlayerBlitz ratingBlitzPlace  Wesley So (United States) 2726 1 ½ 1  Anish Giri (Netherlands) 2793 0 ½ 2

### 9th Grand Slam Masters Final (2016)

The ninth Bilbao Masters Final was held on 13–23 July as a six-player double round-robin with Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Anish Giri, Sergey Karjakin, Wesley So and Wei Yi taking part. As in previous Bilbao Masters tournaments, the scoring was 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss.
The games between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin were highly anticipated, as they would face off at the World Championship match in November; because Norway and Russia were not paired with each other in the 2016 Chess Olympiad, this was the last time the two played each other prior to the World Championship match. Hikaru Nakamura defeated Magnus Carlsen for the first time in standard time controls in the first round and Magnus Carlsen defeated Anish Giri for the first time in standard time controls in the penultimate round.
    IX Bilbao Masters Final, 13–23 July 2016, Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain, Category XXII (2778) PlayerRating123456PointsSScrH2HKoyaSBTPR 1 Magnus Carlsen (Norway)28550 13 13 13 11 3172872 2 Hikaru Nakamura (United States)27873 1Does not appear1 11 11 11 1122811 3-4 Wesley So (United States)27700 11 1Does not appear1 11 11 31152151.002779 3-4 Wei Yi (China)26960 11 11 1Does not appear1 11 31152151.002794 5 Sergey Karjakin (Russia)27730 11 11 11 1Does not appear1 192742 6 Anish Giri (Netherlands)27851 01 11 01 01 1Does not appear72666