Chess: Anand suffers second straight defeat in Sinquefield Cup
Aug 25, 2015 13:37 IST
St. Louis: Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand suffered his second defeat in as many games losing to Alexander Grischuk of Russia in the second round of Sinquefield Cup, a part of the Grand Chess tour.
After a loss against Hikaru Nakamura of United States in the opening round, Anand was in for another shock as Grischuk was better prepared for his first victory against the Indian ace in classical chess.
The day produced some more fascinating battles and drama after all decisive games in the first round. World champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway was lucky to get a full point against American Fabiano Caruana while Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria continued with his winning ways, crushing Nakamura in what was certainly the game of the day.
The other two games in this ten-player round-robin event ended in draws with Dutchman Anish Giri settling for the half with Filipino-turned-American Wesley So and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave signing peace with Levon Aronian of Armenia.
With seven rounds still to come, Topalov emerged as the sole leader on two points and he is now followed by Aronian, Vachier-Lagrave and Giri a half point behind. Carlsen, Nakamura and Grischuk share the fifth spot with one point each and they are a half point adrift of Weslet So. Caruana and Anand are at the bottom of the tables now as both are yet to open their account.
It turned out be another bad day in the office for Anand who simply hasn’t got in to the groove here thus far. The Indian ace came here with high expectations with a string of fine performances but is struggling with his form.
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