Legends of Chess: Anand goes down to Svidler in opening round

Viswanathan Anand drew the first three games of the best-of-four contest before losing the final game to Peter Svidler in the Legends of Chess tournament on Tuesday.

Viswanathan Anand went down 1.5-2.5 to Russia’s Peter Svidler in the opening round of the Legends of Chess tournament (File Photo).

In mutual time-trouble, Viswanathan Anand's one-move blunder in a winning position cost him the match against Peter Svidler in the opening round of chess24 Legends of Chess online event on Tuesday.

After the first three games ended in draws, Anand moved into an advantageous position in the fourth but blundered away a bishop soon to resign immediately after Svidler had committed a serious error of judgement with a knight move.

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The fortuitous victory gave Svidler a 2.5-1.5 triumph and made him join Magnus Carlsen, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Boris Gelfand and Peter Leko in the day’s winner’s group.

Among the veterans. Gelfand pulled off the best result by stunning Ding Liren 3-1 despite missing a victory in the third game.

 

Vladimir Kramnik was a draw away from bringing down his young Russian compatriot Ian Nepomniachtchi but lost the last rapid game and the Armageddon game to lose 2-3. Peter Leko overcame a slow start to beat a fighting Vassily Ivanchuk 3-2.

In the day’s most watched game, which eventually turned out to be one-sided, Carlsen won both his games with white pieces to complete a 3-1 thrashing of Anish Giri.  

First-round results: Peter Svidler (Rus) bt Viswanathan Anand 2.5-1.5; Magnus Carlsen (Nor) bt Anish Giri (Ned) 3-1; Boris Gelfand (Isr) bt Ding Liren (Chn) 3-1; Ian Nepomniachtchi bt Vladimir Kramnik (Rus) 3-2; Peter Leko (Hun) bt Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr) 3-2. Detailed results: Round One: Game One: Anand drew with Svidler; Giri drew with Carlsen; Kramnik drew with Nepomniachtchi; Leko drew with Ivanchuk; Gelfand drew with Liren. Game Two: Svidler drew with Anand; Carlsen bt Giri; Nepomniachtchi lost to Kramnik; Ivanchuk lost to Leko; Liren lost to Gelfand. Game Three: Anand drew with Svidler; Carlsen drew with Giri; Kramnik lost to Nepomniachtchi; Leko drew with Ivanchuk; Gelfand drew with Liren. Game Four: Svidler bt Anand; Carlsen bt Giri; Nepomniachtchi drew with Kramnik; Leko lost to Ivanchuk; Liren lost to Gelfand. Armageddon: Kramnik lost to Nepomniachtchi; Ivanchuk lost to Leko. Second-round pairings: Carlsen-Anand; Kramnik-Giri; Nepomniachtchi-Liren; Ivanchuk-Gelfand; Svidler-Leko.