Bilbao Round 5, finally a victory!
I won today! Had nearly forgotten how good it feels. My opponent was Shirov and after the surprising home preparation Nb5
in the opening he went into a long think.
The trapped knight escaped to a7 and continued to harass the black queenside forces. The computers may not give white much
of an advantage, but after Nbd4 and b3 I certainly liked my position. In gradual time trouble he lost his way and we got another
highly unusual material imbalance; queen, triple pawn and single pawn against a rook, a knight and a passed pawn. It required
some work but was obviously winning for me.
Kramnik ? Anand was another somwhat uneventful draw, and they are now the only candidates to win the tournament with one round
to go. I´m in third place and look forward to an exciting game as black against Anand tomorrow where both players obviously
have enough for play for.
Magnus Carlsen, Bilbao, October 14th, 2010