Viswanathan Anand loses two more; needs a miracle in World Rapid

Berlin: Former world champion Viswanathan Anand suffered two more losses at the hands of Rauf Mamedov of Azerbaijan and Denis Khismatullin of Russia and will now need a miracle for a turnaround in fortune at the World rapid championship in Berlin. After finishing day one on 2.5 points out of a possible five, Anand yet again started with two smashing victories at the expense of Vladimir Belov of Russia and Andrei Volokitin of Ukraine but his comeback was seriously dented when he lost to Mamedov in the eighth round. In the ninth round Anand bounced back beating Viktor Bologan of Moldova but lost to Khismatullin again in the next game. [caption id=“attachment_2306542” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Viswanathan Anand. Reuters[/caption] With just five rounds remaining in the championship, Anand, on 5.5 points, needs to score massively on the last remaining day to stake his claim for a podium finish. The Indian ace still has a theoretical chance provided he doesn’t suffer any more losses in the championship. Defending champion in the faster format, Magnus Carlsen of Norway shot his way to joint lead along with Sergei Zhigalko of Belarus on eight points from ten rounds. Carlsen yet again gave away just two draw and won the remaining three games to find himself at the top of the tables. Leader after day one, Sergey Karjakin of Russia suffered heavily on second day when he could muster just two points from five games. Karjakin is on 6.5 points. After stealing the thunder on day one when he scored four points and was tied second, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi added just 1.5 points more to his overnight tally to match Anand on points. B Adhiban is the best placed Indian on points having six points to his credit. Anand’s second in three world championships, Surya Shekhar Ganguly was on 5/8 but lost steam as he went down to Ernesto Inarkiev of Russia and Zoltan Almasi of Hungary in the ninth and tenth round respectively. The Kolkata based player, however, had the satisfaction of beating former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine in the eighth round. Among other Indians in the fray, Krishnan Sasikiran scored three in the day as well to move up to 5.5 points while S P Sethuraman continued his hunt to find form, ending the tenth round with just 3.5 points. Important and Indian results round 10 (Indians unless stated): Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 8) beat Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 7); Sergei Zhigalko (Blr, 8) beat Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus, 7); Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 7.5) beat Yuriy Kryvoruchko (Ukr, 7); Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 6.5) lost to Igor Kovalenko (Lat, 7.5); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 7.5) beat Alexander Riazantsev (Rus, 6.5); Denis Khismatullin (Rus, 7) beat V Anand (5.5); Surya Shekhar Ganguly (5) lost to Zoltan Almasi (Hun, 6); Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (5.5) drew with Francisco Vallejo Pons (Esp, 5.5);B Adhiban (6) beat Ivan Ivanisevic (Srb, 5); David Anton Guijarro (Esp, 4.5) lost to Krishnan Sasikiran (5.5); Pavel Eljanov (Ukr, 4.5) beat S P Sethuraman (3.5). Round 9 Indian results: Ganguly lost to Ernesto Inarkiev (Rus); Anand beat Viktor Bologan (Mda); Sasikiran lost to Boris Savchenko (Rus); Ivan Ivanisevic (Srb, 5) drew with Gujrathi; Alexander Morozevich (Rus) lost to Adhiban; Sethuraman beat Allan Stig Rasmussen (Den) Round 8: Rauf Mamedov (Aze) beat Anand; Gujrathi lost to Etienne Bacrot (Fra); Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukr) lost to Ganguly; Eduardo Itturizaga (Ven) drew with Sasikiran; Adhiban beat Viktor Mikhailevsky (Isr); Elvira Bernd (Lux) beat Sethuraman. Round 7: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze) beat Gujrathi; Anand beat Andrei Volokitin (Ukr); Almasi beat Adhiban; Sasikiran drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave(Fra); Ganguly beat Kacper Piorun (Pol); Sethuraman lost to David Anton; Round 6: Gujrathi drew with Radoslav Wojtaszek (Pol); Adhiban lost to Vallejo Pons; Alexey Dreev (Rus) beat Ganguly; Vladimir Belov (Rus) lost to Anand; Vitaly Kunin (Ger) lost to Sasikiran; Sethuraman lost to Vladislav Kovalev (Blr). PTI