Tata Steel Chess: Anand takes on Carlsen, Adhiban faces Caruana

When the action resumes after Monday’s rest day, Anand will sit behind the white pieces against the world champion who caught up with Anish Giri and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the lead after two successive victories.

Viswanathan Anand will clash with Magnus Carlsen in the much-awaited ninth round of Tata Steel chess tournament on Tuesday.

Viswanathan Anand will clash with Magnus Carlsen in the much-awaited ninth round of Tata Steel chess tournament here on Tuesday.

When the action resumes after Monday’s rest day, Anand will sit behind the white pieces against the world champion who caught up with Anish Giri and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the lead after two successive victories with white.

Tata Steel Chess: Anand draws with Svidler, Vidit in joint lead

In the three rounds between the two rest days, Anand’s form slumped as he could collect only two draws on either side of a loss to Vladimir Kramnik. On the other hand, Carlsen scored two wins and a draw. On Sunday, Carlsen was very fortunate to win after blundering away a bishop against England’s Gawain Jones.

With Carlsen riding his luck, and looking to avenge the loss suffered to Anand in the recent World rapid championship, their clash promises to be an exciting one.

Tata Steel chess: Anand draws with Giri, Adhiban lets Mamedyarov off the hook

B. Adhiban plays a struggling second seed Fabiano Caruana. Unlucky to lose from a winning position against joint-leader Shahkhriyar Mamedyarov, Adhiban remarkably regained his composure in the next round to show he was ready to fight.

In the Challengers section, joint-leader Vidit Gujrathi plays white against German Matthias Bluebaum. Interestingly, D. Harika faces the other joint leader Anton Korobov. In fact, Sunday proved an eventful day with a victorious Vidit catching up with Korobov who suffered his first loss.

With five rounds and a rest day to go, the title-race promises plenty of thrills in both sections.

Ninth-round pairings (Indians unless stated):

Masters: Viswanathan Anand (4.5) v Magnus Carslen (Nor, 5.5); Fabiano Caruana (USA, 3) v B. Adhiban (2); Maxim Matlakov (Rus, 4) v Anish Giri (Ned, 5.5); Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 5.5) v Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 5); Wesley So (USA, 5) v Peter Svidler (Rus, 4); Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 4.5) v Wei Yi (Chn, 3); Gawain Jones (Eng, 3.5) v Hou Yifan (Chn, 1).

Challengers: Vidit Gujrathi (6) v Matthias Bluebaum (Ger, 4); D. Harika (3) v Anton Korobov (Ukr, 6); Michal Krasenkow (Pol, 4) v Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 4); Bassem Amin (Egy, 4) v Olga Girya (Rus, 2.5); Erwin L’Ami (Ned, 4) v Jeffery Xiong (USA, 3.5); Lucas van Foreest (Ned, 4) v Dmitry Gordievsky (Rus,3.5); Aryan Tari (Nor, 3.5) v Benjamin Bok (Ned, 4).