Viswanathan Anand gets past Xiong for first win in Tata Steel Masters
Other Sports | January 17, 2020 20:15 ISTAnand was struggling for form but roared back to notch a win after one loss and three draws.
Anand was struggling for form but roared back to notch a win after one loss and three draws.
Viswanathan Anand won one, lost one and drew one game as Magnus Carlsen extended his lead by three points.
Chess Grandmasters Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen rang the bell to begin the second day of the Day-Night Test.
Anand, the reigning world rapid chess champion, also said the constant zigzagging of the three formats was unhelpful.
The 48-year-old chess icon felt that enough was written about it and it's better not to pile anything more to it.
With 13 points in their kitty now, the Indian men assured themselves of a joint third place with three rounds still to come in the biggest chess event.
For the Indian men, it was a chance to register a big victory against the lower-rated Egyptian team in their quest for a position at the podium but the sailing was not so smooth.
The Indian women came almost close to beating sole leaders United States but eventually had to settle for a draw.
Anand asserted that the team is not aware of the opponents and so a lot of work will have to be done at the Olympiad.
After jumping to joint lead following a crushing victory over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, Anand could not repeat the magic and Caruana deserved all the credit for taking chances.
The Indian ace still has to play Fabiano Caruana of the United States and ultra-solid Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine in the remaining rounds.
Having won two games in a row with white pieces earlier in the tournament, Carlsen could do little against Anand this time and the Norwegian was not quite happy with his play.
With the invincible tag around him these days, Ding Liren did not face any real danger from Anand, who has 1.5 points in all.
The finish in the top half means that Anand will get an extra white five white against four black games in what is known as the strongest tournament of the year.
The Indian Grandmaster Anand defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alexander Grischuk and Daniil Dubov of Russia and Hikaru Nakamura of the United States en route to his final score.
Looking for his sixth record title, Anand took his tally to 4.5 points out of a possible eight and now needs to score at least two wins in the remaining five rounds to be in with a chance to win the title.
The loss proved costly as Anand slipped to joint sixth spot from his overnight joint second position, while, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan stretched his lead to a full point after his third straight victory in the tournament.
The Indian ace had scored an excellent victory over Caruana in the same opening a couple of days back but Wei Yi appeared better prepared.
Anand said there have been very few people who have finished on the podium in both formats, which made the achievement all the more sweet.
After ending the first day of the Blitz category on a disappointing note, Anand was a class act on the final day as he won against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France.
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