Monaco: Viswanathan Anand showed that he is the unparalleled master of the moves when it comes to rapid games and the defending champion bounced back with a 1.5-.5 win against Peter Heine Nielsen to join Alexander Morozevich in the lead after nine rounds of the 15th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament here.
With four more rounds to go, Anand and Morozevich share the top spot on combined table with 12 points each.
Russian Morozevich is the sole leader in blindfold with 7.5 points while Anand is joint third with five. The Indian chess wizard, however, tops the rapid table with seven points, a full 3.5 clear of Morozevich.
Morozevich won his ninth round blindfold game against Peter Leko but lost in rapid, which helped Anand's cause.
Anand and Nielsen followed the opening from Boris Gelfand-Loek Van Wely match in the seventh round.
Playing with white, Nielsen was better placed, thanks to his pair of bishops but the Danish Grandmaster looked cagey at times and was more concerned about counter-attacks from his illustrious opponent.
A number of exchanges hardly helped his game and both the players agreed for a draw after 20 moves.
Anand showed his superiority in the rapid game and in the classical Queen’s Gambit, the Indian got an upper hand when his queen and rook penetrated to the seventh rank. Nielsen was too slow for any incisive counter-attack and he himself blocked the pawn that could have rescued him.
Anand was quick to grab the opportunity and forced a win from a match that could have ended with both the players splitting point.
Comments
0 comment