Vladimir Kramnik didn't exactly keep up his blazing hot start, but drawing his final four games was enough after winning the first two, and he finished clear first in the Bilbao Masters. Viswanathan Anand finished 2nd, with a win and five draws, which under the 3-1-0 scoring system put him two points back (10 for Kramnik, 8 for Anand). Magnus Carlsen recovered somewhat late in the event to take 3rd with 6 points, while Alexei Shirov failed to find a win during the event, and finished last with 4 points.
Carlsen also struggled at the Olympiad earlier in the month, and the combination of the two poor results has temporarily knocked Carlsen out of first place on the unofficial live ratings list. Anand is currently on top again at 2803, while Carlsen's rating rounds to "only" 2802. It will be interesting to see if this is just a minor speed bump for the young Carlsen, or if these struggles are the beginning of a longer slump. My money is on the former -- everything about his play suggests that he'll be back on track in no time.
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