Croatia Grand Chess Tour: Viswanathan Anand goes down to Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri in ninth round

Zagreb: Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand went down to Dutch GM Anish Giri in the ninth round of the Rapid event of Croatia Grand Chess Tour on Thursday. Anand had drawn both his seventh and eighth round matches. Giri pulled off a win in 51 moves with white pieces in the ninth round, a result which left Anand on nine points. The former world champion, playing black pieces, was held to a draw by Croatian GM Ivan Saric in 48 moves in a Sicilian Four Knights variation game. Earlier in the seventh round, Anand shared the honours with Polish GM Jan-Kryzstof Duda in a 74-move Ruy Lopez game. Top-seed Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) topped at the end of the Rapid with 11 points followed by Giri, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Duda and Saric on 10 points. Interestingly, all games in rounds seven and eight were draws. Nepomniachtchi, who suffered a defeat at the hands of local star Saric in round six on Thursday, settled for draws against Anish Giri and Jorden Van Foorest, both from the Netherlands. He also shared the honours with Lagrave in the ninth and final round of the Rapid event. Results: 9th round: Viswanathan Anand lost to Anish Giri; Jan-Kryzstof Duda beat Anton Korobov; Alexander Grischuk drew Ivan Saric; Ian Nepomniachtchi drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. 8th round: Viswanathan Anand drew with Ivan Saric; Ian Nepomniachtchi drew with Jorden Van Foreest; Anton Korobov drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave; Shakriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) drew with Anish Giri; Alexander Grischuk (Russia) drew with Jan-Kryzstof Duda. 7th round: Anand drew with Duda; Grischuk drew with Korobov; Saric drew with Mamedyarov; Giri drew with Nepomniachtchi; Van Foreest drew with Vachier-Lagrave.