Anand loses to Aronian, falls to fourth place
March 24th, 2008 - 12:38 pm ICT by admin
Nice (France), March 24 (IANS) Lev Aronian stunned Viswanathan Anand in an entertaining blindfold game and then drew his rapid game against the Indian in the eighth round to keep clear of the field with just three more rounds to go in the 17th Amber Melody Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess tournament here Sunday. Aronian’s 1.5-0.5 win over Anand took the Armenian’s tally to 10.5, a full point ahead of Magnus Carlsen who scored a rare 2-0 win over Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.
Carlsen lies second with 9.5 points, while Peter Leko after his 1.5-0.5 win over Loek van Wely is now third at nine points. Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Vesselin Topalov and Alexnader Morozevich are tied fourth with 8.5 points each.
The battle between leader Aronian and then-second-placed Anand started with a spectacular clash in the blindfold game. Aronian admitted that he wouldn’t play this riskily in a classical game, but because this is Amber and the players want to entertain the spectators he tried to play sharply. The root of Anand’s problems was the 14th move f6 that left a big hole on e6 that Aronian effectively aimed his play at.
The Armenian’s exploitation of his advantage was certainly not flawless. However, after Anand missed his chance of salvaging a draw, Aronian won the g4 pawn and reached a winning ending in which he was an exchange up.
The rapid game was a relatively short affair. Aronian chose the Marshall Attack against Anand’s Ruy Lopez and made a rather easy draw.
Carlsen dominated Mamedyarov in their blindfold game and then again won the rapid.
Results of the Eighth round:
Blind
Aronian beat Anand; Carlsen beat Mamedyarov; Karjakin drew with Topalov; Van Wely lost to Leko; Gelfand drew with Morozevich; Ivanchuk drew with Kramnik;
Rapid
Anand drew with Aronian; Mamedyarov lost to Carlsen; Topalov beat Karjakin; Leko drew with Van Wely; Morozevich beat Gelfand; Kramnik drew with Ivanchuk
Standings after round 8
1. Aronian 10.5
2. Carlsen 9.5
3. Leko 9.0
4. Topalov, Anand, Kramnik and Morozevich 8.5
8. Ivanchuk 8.0
9. Karjakin 7.0
10. Gelfand, Mamedyarov and Van Wely 6.0
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- Anand loses last round, falls to fourth - Nov 15, 2009
- Chance for Anand to move up in Amber Chess - Mar 25, 2008
- Anand's 1-1 result against keeps him in second place - Mar 23, 2008
- Anand loses rapid game, drops out of lead - Mar 19, 2008
- Anand wins rapid game again, stays in joint lead - Mar 17, 2008
- Anand wins one, loses one to Gelfand in Amber chess - Mar 27, 2008
- Anand loses to Ivanchuk, slips to seventh spot - Mar 26, 2008
- Anand beats Leko, joins Kramnik in lead at Tal Memorial chess - Nov 11, 2009
- Anand starts with a win over Kramnik in Amber chess - Mar 16, 2008
- Anand wins one, loses one, lies second at Amber chess - Mar 21, 2008
- Anand cashes in on luck and class, lies sole second - Mar 22, 2008
- Anand moves into sole lead at Melody Amber - Mar 18, 2008
Tags: amber blindfold, classical game, e6, f6, france march, gelfand, ivanchuk, karjakin, loek van wely, magnus carlsen, morozevich, nice france, pawn, peter leko, rapid chess tournament, rapid game, rapid results, ruy lopez, vesselin topalov, vladimir kramnik