Anand beats Carslen in Norway chess blitz event

India's Viswanathan Anand defeated world champion Magnus Carlsen in the seventh round of the Norway chess blitz event.

File Photo of Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carslen

Continuing his fine run in the shorter time-format, Viswanathan Anand stunned Magnus Carlsen on way to the tied third spot in the 10th Norway Chess 2022 Blitz at Stavanger on Monday. Wesley So won the event by scoring 6.5 points from nine rounds. Carlsen was second at 5.5 followed by Anish Giri, Anand and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov tied at 5 points.

Anand’s 43-move victory over Carlsen was his first since 2017. The five-time World champion started with a win over Norway’s Aryan Tari, drew with So and defeated Veselin Topalov, drew with Temour Radjabov, lost to Anish, drew with Wang Hao, then came the big win over Carlsen, drew with Mamedyarov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. This event was the prelude to the classical time format event comprising the same players, beginning on Tuesday night, India time.