Monaco: World Champion Viswanathan Anand
defeated his nearest rival Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the
blindfold game to go one up in the ninth-round mini-match of
the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament here.
Trailing heavily before the start of this round, Anand
came up with some absorbing maneuvers to get an early lead
against Carlsen, the youngest ever world number one according
to FIDE charts.
The victory in blindfold meant a lot to Anand as he could
now be in a chance to be nearer to Armenian Levon Aronian who
held a three point lead against the Indian ace with just three
rounds to come in the unique event that features one blindfold
and one rapid game in each round.
Aronian defeated Vladimir Kramnik of Russia to let the
status quo remain as far as the distance in lead with Anand is
concerned.
Aronian remained in sole lead in combined standings on
12.5 following his victory against Kramnik. After losing to
Anand, Carlsen fell behind Aronian.
As things stand with just five games remaining, Aronian
is 1.5 points clear of Carlsen and two points ahead of Anand
in the combined standings, something that might be enough for
the Armenian to win the title here.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, March 23, 2011, 09:37