Anand wins one, loses one to Gelfand in Amber chess
March 27th, 2008 - 1:39 pm ICT by admin
Nice, March 27 (IANS) Viswanathan Anand lost yet another game, this time a rapid to Boris Gelfand, as his chances of winning the 17th Melody Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess ended totally. Anand, who was more or less out of the race even after nine rounds, won the blindfold game but lost the rapid to Gelfand.
Anand now has 11 points and 3.5 points behind Levon Aronian, who can afford to lose both games in the 11th and final round and still win the title.
In Round 10, Aronian drew both the blindfold and the rapid game against Vladimir Kramnik to keep a 2.5-point lead over his closest pursuers with only two games to go. On the eve of the final round four, players share the second place in the overall standings: Carlsen, Kramnik, Leko and Topalov.
Anand has 10 points and lying tied sixth with Ivanchuk and Morozevich.
The blindfold game between Gelfand and Anand was another example of the extraordinary depth of preparation on the highest level. As he revealed after the game, Anand had prepared the amazing bishop manoeuvre to a1 on move 20 for last year’s Amber tournament.
Funnily, he came to the right assessment of the position thanks to a mouse slip. When he looked at the position after 21.e5 he touched his mouse by mistake and inadvertently pushed his c-pawn to c5.
And before he could correct his mistake the engine he was running indicated that this move was bull’s eye! The machine’s verdict was correct, as Gelfand had to discover in the remainder of the game.
Gelfand had his revenge in the rapid game. Anand’s 16.Na2 was a blunder and after Black’s reply 16… Ne4 he was in trouble. Within a couple of moves Gelfand won a pawn and the rest was, to simplify matters, plain sailing.
Results of 10th round: Ivanchuk lost to Mamedyarov; Van Wely drew with Topalov; Gelfand lost to Anand; Karjakin drew with Morozevich; Aronian drew with Kramnik; Carlsen drew with Leko.
Rapid: Mamedyarov drew with Ivanchuk; Topalov beat Van Wely; Anand lost to Gelfand; Morozevich beat Karjakin; Kramnik drew with Aronian; Leko drew with Carlsen
Standings after Round 10:
1. Aronian 13.5 points
2. Kramnik, Topalov, Leko, Carlsen 11.0
6. Anand, Ivanchuk and Morozevich 10.0
9. Karjakin 8.5
10. Gelfand, Mamedyarov and Van Wely 8.0
- Anand draws with Carlsen in sixth round; drops to second - Nov 12, 2009
- Anand finishes sixth, Aronian wins Melody Amber title - Mar 28, 2008
- Anand loses last round, falls to fourth - Nov 15, 2009
- Anand held by Morozevic, placed joint second in Moscow meet - Nov 13, 2009
- Anand beats Leko, joins Kramnik in lead at Tal Memorial chess - Nov 11, 2009
- Anand loses to Aronian, falls to fourth place - Mar 24, 2008
- Anand's 1-1 result against keeps him in second place - Mar 23, 2008
- Anand wins one, loses one, lies second at Amber chess - Mar 21, 2008
- Anand loses to Ivanchuk, slips to seventh spot - Mar 26, 2008
- Chance for Anand to move up in Amber Chess - Mar 25, 2008
- Anand wins rapid game again, stays in joint lead - Mar 17, 2008
- Anand loses rapid game, drops out of lead - Mar 19, 2008
- Anand starts with a win over Kramnik in Amber chess - Mar 16, 2008
- Anand cashes in on luck and class, lies sole second - Mar 22, 2008
- Anand faces Moro in fifth round at Amber chess - Mar 20, 2008
Tags: amber blindfold, amber tournament, blunder, boris gelfand, chess, e5, ivanchuk, karjakin, kramnik leko, levon aronian, na2, pawn, position thanks, rapid chess, rapid game, sailing results, topalov, two games, van wely, vladimir kramnik