Thaindian News

Nice (France), March 21 (IANS) Viswanathan Anand had mixed luck with one win and one loss against the unpredictable Alexander Morozevich in the fifth round of the Amber chess tournament here Thursday, and is now in tied second place, a full point behind leader Lev Aronian. The big ‘winner’ of the day was Aronian who moved into the sole lead in the overall standings with 6.5 points from 10, one point ahead of a pack of no fewer than six players.

Morozevich scored a superb win over Anand in their blindfold game. Anand resigned after 29 moves, which made it a rare second successive loss for the world champion who lost against Leko in the previous rapid game in the fourth round.

The game against Moro was a Meran Defence that became very sharp after Moro sacrificed a pawn. Moro, as usual, was very aggressive and creative and his 25th and 26th move ended Anand’s challenge and he resigned on 29th.

Anand had his revenge in the rapid game, but the easy win he scored there could not entirely take away the bitter taste of the earlier defeat.

In a French Defence Anand gradually got the better play after the queens had been exchanged. Black had to give up his a6 pawn, but it looked as if Anand would still have to work to convert his advantage. This was no longer so after Morozevich made a mistake that saw his knight trapped on 26th. Moro played on for eight more moves, but the game was over.

The heavyweight bout between Veselin Topalov and Vladimir Kramnik started with a Petroff Defence in the blindfold game and they started the match without a handshake. White got a slight advantage, but after the game Topalov felt he had not played accurately enough and the game ended with a threefold repetition, which saved the players the trouble of thinking how to leave the board. They both looked at the arbiter, all three nodded their heads, and that was it.

In the rapid game Kramnik scored a fine win that gave him satisfaction both from a sporting and a creative point of view. Topalov defended himself with a King’s Indian, but didn’t get the play he may have been hoping for.

The blindfold game between Vasily Ivanchuk and Lev Aronian, a Marshall Attack, ended in a draw after 27 moves but the rapid was a fine win for Aronian that gave him the sole lead.

Results of the fifth round:

Blind: Topalov drew with Kramnik; Leko beat Mamedyarov; Morozevich beat Anand; Carlsen beat Gelfand; Ivanchuk drew with Aronian; Van Wely drew with Karjakin

Rapid:

Kramnik beat Topalov; Mamedyarov drew with Leko; Anand beat Morozevich; Gelfand drew with Carlsen; Aronian beat Ivanchuk; Karjakin beat Van Wely

Standings after five rounds: 1. Aronian 6.5; 2. Kramnik, Topalov, Anand, Ivanchuk, Leko and Carlsen 5.5; 8. Karjakin 5; 9. Mamedyarov, Morozevich and Van Wely 4; 12. Gelfand 3.5