The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Anand loses to Aronian

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 24, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Chess

Anand loses to Aronian

NEW DELHI: Viswanathan Anand failed to handle Levon Aronian's relentless tactical assault and surrendered in 48 moves in the fifth round of the Morelia-Linares Super Grandmaster chess tournament in Morelia, Mexico, on Thursday.

Anand's defeat coupled with 16-year-old Magnus Carlsen's fortuitous victory over World No. 1 Veselin Topalov saw the top two players in the world end up as the losers of the day.

Carlsen, the lowest-ranked in the eight-player field and a surprise leader at 3.5 points, had earlier shocked Russia's Alexander Morozevich and Ukraine's Vassily Ivanchuk. Aronian joined Anand in the second spot at three points. Friday is a day of rest.

Anand, who started the day in sole lead, faced a calculated attack from Aronian in their Queen's Gambit Accepted game. Aronian, the hero of Armenia's gold-winning campaign in the Chess Olympiad last summer, sacrificed a bishop on the 31st move to maintain the threat of promoting his queen-pawn to the last rank.

The results:

Fifth round: Levon Aronian (Arm, 3) bt Viswanathan Anand (3); Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 3.5) bt Veselin Topalov (Bul, 1.5); Alexander Morozevich (Rus, 1.5) drew with Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 2.5); Peter Svidler (Rus, 2.5) drew with Peter Leko (Hun, 2.5).

Saturday's sixth round pairings: Anand-Ivanchuk; Carlsen-Leko; Aronian-Topalov; Morozevich-Svidler.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport