Epress.am News from Armenia
Levon Aronian yesterday was proclaimed the winner of the twentieth and final Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament. Following his earlier wins in 2008 and 2009 this is the third time the Armenian grandmaster has claimed first prize.
With a draw in his blindfold game against Sergey Karjakin (0.5-0.5), tournament leader Levon Aronian decided the fight for first place in his favour, as his last remaining rival, Magnus Carlsen lost his blindfold game to Boris Gelfand (0-1).
After the opening Aronian was optimistic: “I thought it was all in my hands. I didn’t need Boris.” After 26.Nc4 he felt he was close to winning, but he didn’t find the correct follow-up. In the endgame his advantage vanished, but soon he found out that the draw he reached was enough to clinch tournament victory.
Aronian felt that he also had had good winning chances in the rapid game, but again he had to settle for a draw (0.5-0.5). Obviously, he didn’t care too much, as the tournament victory was already his.
The Armenian grandmaster ended with 15.5 combined points (9.5 in rapid and 8.5 in blindfold) in the tournament, one point above Carlsen.