GCT Superbet: Anand stretches lead, tops blitz section

Viswanathan Anand ensured the title with a round to spare after his nearest challenger Richard Rapport lost to Wesley So in the eighth and penultimate round.

File Photo: During the day, Anand defeated Duda and Kirill Shevchenko.

Viswanathan Anand came up with another fine day’s work in the Grand Chess Tour Superbet chess tournament when he topped the blitz section to hold a lead of 1.5 points over local favourite Jan-Krzysztof Duda at Warsaw, Poland, on Sunday. Anand, winner of the rapid section by a one-point margin on Saturday, scored half-point more than the rest of the field on Sunday after nine rounds of blitz games. Nine more rounds are scheduled on Monday. Aggregate points from rapid and blitz are considered to decide the overall champion.

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During the day, Anand defeated Duda and Kirill Shevchenko. Wesley So lost to David Gavrislescu, Fabiano Caruana and drew with Anoton Korobov, Levon Aronian, Richard Rapport and Radoslaw Wojtaszek.

Combined standings (after rapid and nine rounds of blitz): 1. Viswanathan Anand (19/27), 2. Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Pol, 17.5). 3-4. Fabiano Caruana (USA, 17), Levon Aronian (USA, 17), 5. Richard Rapport (Hun, 16.5), 6. Wesley So (USA, 16), 7. Radosław Wojtaszek (Pol, 11), 8. Kirill Shevchenko (Ukr, 9.5), 9. Anton Korobov (Ukr, 6). 10. David Gavrilescu (Rom, 5.5).