Anand outplays Mamedyarov; jumps to 2nd spot
By Our Chess Correspondent – PTI News
Shamkir (Azerbaijan) Apr 25 (PTI) Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand found his way back to the 2800 rating club and jumped to second spot in world rankings after beating local hero Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the eighth and penultimate round of Vugar Gashimov memorial here.
With his second victory on the trot in the strongest tournament of the year, Anand made sure of at least a second place finish as the Indian ace took his tally to 5.5 points out of a possible eight.
World champion Magnus Carlsen of remained in front after settling for a draw with erstwhile leader Wesley So of United States. The Norwegian took his tally to six points out of a possible eight and remains a half point ahead of Anand with just one round remaining.
Carlsen, however, has a clear edge to win the title as he is set to play with lowest seed Rauf Mamedov of Azerbaijan in his final round game while Anand will have to tackle second seed Fabiano Caruana of Italy in the last round.
It turned out to be another exciting day as last-placed Michael Adams of England made some amends for himself and defeated Anish Giri of Holland.
In another decisive game, lowly placed Vladimir Kramnik of Russia improved his tournament standing at the expense of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France. The other game of the day between Mamedov and Caruana also ended in a draw.
With Carlsen leading and Anand on his toes, Caruana and So share the third spot on 4.5 points each and the Italian is likely to go all out against Anand which might give the Indian an extra chance to catch up with Carlsen in the event of the Norwegian drawing his game.
Full article here.