Tata Steel Chess: Anand faces Hou Yifan; Vidit in clash of leaders

Reeling off the success of defeating Gawain Jones, Viswanathan Anand will be eager to extend his winning run when he takes on Hou Yifan in the 11th round of the Tata Steel chess tournament on Friday.

Published : Jan 25, 2018 19:52 IST

Viswanathan Anand will face last-placed Chinese Hou Yifan in the 11th round of the Tata Steel chess tournament on Friday.

On a high after beating Gawain Jones, Viswanathan Anand can be expected to go all out for a win against Hou Yifan in the 11th round of the Tata Steel chess tournament here on Friday.

Thursday was the last rest day for the players before the three-round home-stretch of this gruelling event. Placed fifth, Anand plays white against the last-placed Chinese girl in the 14-player field. READ: Anand back to winning ways, dumps Gawain Jones

The round will also see a clash involving two of the three leaders. Magnus Carlsen, who punished defending champion Wesley So for a late blunder on Wednesday, will face Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Anish Giri, the other leader, will take on second seed Fabiano Caruana. B. Adhiban will be up against Chinese Wei Yi. In the Challengers section, too, two leaders – Vidit Gujrathi and Anton Korobov – face-off on Friday. Dronavalli Harika will take on local Jorden van Foreest.  

11th round pairings (Indians unless stated): Masters : Viswanathan Anand (6) vs Hou Yifan (Chn, 2); B. Adhiban (3) vs Wei Yi (Chn, 4); Fabiano Caruana (USA, 4) vs Anish Giri (Ned, 7); Wesley So (USA, 5.5) vs Gawain Jones (Eng, 4); Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 7) vs Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 7); Maxim Matlakov (Rus, 4) vs Peter Svidler (Rus, 4.5); Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 5.5) vs Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 6.5); Challengers : Vidit Gujrathi (7) vs Anton Korobov (Ukr, 7); D. Harika (4) vs Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 5.5); Bassem Amin (Egy, 5.5) vs Aryan Tari (Nor, 4.5); Dmitry Gordievsky (Rus, 5.5) vs Matthias Bluebaum (Ger, 5.5); Erwin L’Ami (Ned, 4.5) vs Olga Girya (Rus, 3); Lucas van Foreest (Ned, 4) vs Jeffery Xiong (USA, 5); Michal Krasenkow (Pol, 4.5) vs Benjamin Bok (Ned, 4.5).