Viswanathan Anand goes down to Azerbaijan's Rauf Mamedov in in Gashimov Memorial chess opener

Baku: Indian chess ace Viswanathan Anand went down to lower-rated GM Rauf Mamedov in the Armageddon on the opening day of the 7th Vugar Gashimov Memorial chess tournament in Baku on Saturday, after winning one game and losing the other in the Rapid event. The tourney, which also includes a Blitz event, boasts of a strong field that includes Fabiano Caruana, former world championship finalist Sergey Karjakin and Shakriyar Mamedyarov among others. Former world champion Anand defeated Mamedov of Azerbaijan in the first game of the two-game Rapid mini-match but the local star turned the tables on the Indian in the second. After honours were shared by the duo after two games, Mamedov won the Armageddon. Anand won the opening game in 49 moves but the lower-ranked Azerbaijani raised his level of play to upset the Indian legend in the next and also in the Armageddon. (In Armageddon, White will get 5 minutes and Black will get 4 minutes, with 3-second increments starting after move 60. Black will have draw odds. Hungarian GM Richard Rapport was the surprise leader after the first round, beating Karjakin in both the games. Caruana and Mamedyarov won one game and drew the other against Vugar Asadli (Azerbaijan) and David Navara (Czech Republic) respectively. The Gashimov Memorial 2021 will be played as a rapid and blitz chess tournament. After the conclusion of the Rapid event on December 21, the blitz games will be played over two days on December 22 and 23.