Norway Chess: Viswanathan Anand beats world champion Magnus Carlsen in blitz event

Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand defeated world champion Magnus Carlsen in the seventh round of the blitz event of Norway Chess on Tuesday, earning a fourth-place finish.

A loss to Anish Giri in the fifth round and to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France in the ninth round meant Anand finished off at fourth position with five points in the event At the top is American Grandmaster Wesley So, who has 6.5 points, one clear of Carlsen. Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri takes third place.

Viswanathan Anand started off with a win over Norway's Aryan Tari, before drawing with Wesley So in the second and winning against Bulgaria's Veselin Topalov in the third round. In the fourth round, he shared points with Azerbaijan's Teimur Radjabov. A loss to Giri in the fifth was followed by a draw against China's Hao Wang in the sixth round and finally a win over Carlsen in the seventh.

However, a tie with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and a loss to Vachier-Lagrave in the next two rounds put an end to his chances of a top finish.

After winning in the blitz event, So earned the right to pick his starting number for the classical event which will feature 10 players.

Anand begins his journey in the Classical event against Vachier-Lagrave.

Published on: Tuesday, May 31, 2022, 01:31 PM IST