Viswanathan Anand suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Russian Alexander Grischuk in the fifth round of 15th Amber blindfold and rapid chess tournament in Monaco.
The 0.5-1.5 loss proved quite costly for the defending champion yesterday as the Indian not only lost the joint lead in the combined standings but also slid down in his blindfold standings.
It may be recalled here that in the last edition of the traditional event Anand had won all the three titles at stake -- rapid, blindfold and combined -- to emerge as the winner of this event.
While Anand failed to show his real strength against Grischuk whom he had beaten comprehensively in the last Chess Classic match at Mainz in Germany, Russian Alexander Morozevich continued with his rapid strides in especially in the blindfold section of the tournament and downed compatriot Peter Svidler. However, in the return rapid game Svidler came up with a fine performance to level scores.
As things stand, Morozevich is leading the event jointly with Hungarian Grandmaster Peter Leko with both having six points each out of 10 games played so far.
Anand is joint third on 5.5 points along with Spanish Francisco Vallejo Pons. The Indian GM is followed by a pack of four players including Grischuk and World champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria.
Despite struggling intermittently here right from the beginning of the event, Anand took the sole lead on 3.5 points after he drew his return game against Grischuk. However, in rapid chess, which is considered as Anand's forte, there does not seem to be any problem for the Indian ace.
Results Blindfold round 5: Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr) drew with Levon Aronian (Arm); Veselin Topalov (Bul) lost to Peter Leko (Hun); Peter Heine Nielsen (Den) beat Loek Van Wely (Ned); Boris Gelfand (Isr) drew with Francisco Vallejo Pons (Esp); Alexander Grischuk (Rus) beat Viswanathan Anand (Ind); Alexander Morozevich (Rus) beat Peter Svidler (Rus).
Rapid Results: Levon lost to Ivanchuk; Leko drew with Topalov; Van Wely beat Nielsen; Vallejo Pons beat Gelfand; Anand drew with Grischuk; Svidler beat Morozevich
Blindfold Standings Round 5: 1. Morozevich 4; 2. Leko 3.5; 3. Topalov 3; 4-7. Aronian, Grischuk, Ivanchuk, Vallejo Pons, 2.5 each; 8-11. Gelfand, Svidler, Anand, Nielsen 2 each; 12. Van Wely 1.5.
Rapid Standings Round 5: 1. Anand 3.5; 2-4. Van Wely, Nielsen, Vallejo Pons, 3 each; 5-8. Aronian, Leko, Grischuk, Gelfand 2.5 each; 9-11. Morozevich, Ivanchuk, Topalov 2 each; 12. Svidler 1.5.
Combined Standings Round 5: 1-2. Morozevich, Leko 6 each; 3-4. Anand, Vallejo Pons 5.5 each; 5-8. Aronian, Grischuk, Nielsen, Topalov 5 each; 9-11. Van Wely, Ivanchuk, Gelfand 4.5 each; 12. Svidler 3.5.
The moves:
Blindfold (A Grischuk v/s V Anand): 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Ne7 10. h3 Bf5 11. Nd4 Bg6 12. f4 c5 13. Nf3 Bxc2 14. Rf2 Bg6 15. g4 f5 16. Be3 b6 17. Rd1+ Kc8 18. Nh4 Kb7 19. Rfd2 fxg4 20. hxg4 Be8 21. f5 Nc6 22. Nf3 Be7 23. Nd5 Rf8 24. Nxe7 Nxe7 25. Ng5 Nxf5 26. Rf1 Nxe3 27. Rxf8 Bg6 28. Rxa8 Kxa8 29. e6 Nxg4 30. e7 Nf6 31. Ne6 Ne8 32. Nf8 Bf7 33. Nxh7 Nd6 34. Ng5 Bg6 35. Ne6 Kb7 36. Rg2 Be8 37. Nxg7 Bb5 38. Rf2 a5 39. Rf8 c4 40. e8=Q black resigned
V Anand vs A Grischuk: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 Qb6 7. g4 Nc6 8. Nb3 e6 9. Qe2 Qc7 10. Be3 b5 11. O-O-O Nd7 12. Qf2 Rb8 13. Kb1 Nce5 14. Rg1 b4 15. Ne2 Nc4 16. Bc1 Be7 17. Ned4 Ndb6 18. f4 a5 19. Nd2 Qc5 20. Nxc4 Nxc4 21. Bxc4 Qxc4 22. b3 Qc5 23. Be3 Qc3 24. g5 Bb7 25. Ne2 Qc7 26. Ng3 O-O 27. f5 Rfc8 28. h4 a4 29. f6 Bf8 30. h5 d5 31. g6 fxg6 32. hxg6 hxg6 33. Rh1 gxf6 34. Bd4 Bg7 35. Rdg1 dxe4 36. Nh5 e3 37. Nxf6+ Kf7 38. Bxe3 Qxc2+ 39. Qxc2 Rxc2 40. Rh7 axb3 41. axb3 Rc3 42. Bd4 Rh8 43. Rxg7+ Kxg7 44. Nd5+ e5 45. Bxe5+ Kf7 46. Nxc3 Rh5 47. Rf1+ Ke6 48. Bd4 bxc3 49. Rf6+ Ke7 draw agreed.
