Anand buckles after fast start
Indian jointfourth after nine rounds, Nakamura on top on Day One of blitz event
KOLKATA: With three successive wins, it seemed like Viswanathan Anand was getting into his groove. The original “Lightening Kid” finally made his presence felt in the blitz section of the Tata Steel Chess India 2018 on Tuesday. And for some time it looked like Anand was cruising, bruising opponents and squeezing wins from games in which he was in good positions.
However, a couple of draws and a poor game against old nemesis Levon Aronian in the ninth round meant Anand slipped back a bit, but still in contention as he ended the first day of blitz competition joint fourth with compatriot Pentala Harikrishna at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations here.
While Anand bounced back from a poor performance in rapid section, Hikaru Nakamura seems to have picked up from where he ended and held a half-point lead with 6.5 points from nine rounds. His American compatriot Wesley So stood second, having made a brilliant comeback in the second half of the blitz competition.
SURGE CONTINUES
Nakamura surged into lead after the first round itself and at one time had a full point lead over second-placed Anand after the fifth round before he was held to draws in the last four rounds of the competition. Particularly difficult for him to stomach would be the ninth round draw against India’s R Praggnanandhaa, the world’s youngest grandmaster, as the 13-year-old split points from an unfavourable position.
Praggnanandhaa impressed as he defeated Sergey Karjakin and Surya Shekhar Ganguly, the win against Karjakin was most satisfying for him as the Russian holds the record as the youngest grandmaster the game has seen, a mark the Indian youngster missed erasing narrowly.
QUICK BEGINNING
Nakamura had made a brilliant start, winning three of first four rounds besides a draw. He started by crushing local star Ganguly and got the better of Harikrishna and Wesley So in the second and fourth rounds. In between, Aronian briefly halted his victory march by holding him to a draw. He was still the only undefeated player in the blitz section Harikrishna, Mamedyarev and Anand moved to share the second spot with results fluctuating for them from win to crushing defeats. Anand, who started with two draws, lost to Karjakin in the third. However, the 48-year-old Indian maestro struck back immediately by beating Ganguly in the fourth round.
Having tasted his first win in India in many years, Anand defeated compatriot R Praggnanandhaa in a wild game against a player, who was not even born whenhebecameworldchampion for the first time, and Vidit Santosh Gujrathi in successive games as he took clear second spot, one point behind Nakamura (5) with Harikrishna and Mamedyarov trailing a further half-point behind at 3.5 points.
With three successive wins under his belt, Anand seemed to have regained his confidence back when he ran into Nakamura in the seventh round. But both played failed to make much headway in the position they landed after the opening and agreed to sign peace treaty.