Viswanathan Anand Loses Two More; Needs a Miracle in World Rapid Chess

Finishing day one on 2.5 points out of a possible five, Anand yet again started with two smashing victories at the expense of Vladimir Belov of Russia and Andrei Volokitin of Ukraine but his comeback was seriously dented when he lost to Mamedov in the eighth round.

With just five rounds remaining in the championship, Anand has only 5.5 points.

Former world champion Viswanathan Anand suffered two more losses at the hands of Rauf Mamedov of Azerbaijan and Denis Khismatullin of Russia and will now need a miracle for a turnaround in fortune at the World rapid championship here.

Finishing day one on 2.5 points out of a possible five, Anand yet again started with two smashing victories at the expense of Vladimir Belov of Russia and Andrei Volokitin of Ukraine but his comeback was seriously dented when he lost to Mamedov in the eighth round. In the ninth round Anand bounced back beating Viktor Bologan of Moldova but lost to Khismatullin again in the next game.

With just five rounds remaining in the championship, Anand, on 5.5 points, needs to score massively on the last remaining day to stake his claim for a podium finish. The Indian ace still has a theoretical chance provided he doesn't suffer any more losses in the championship.

Defending champion in the faster format, Magnus Carlsen of Norway shot his way to joint lead along with Sergei Zhigalko of Belarus on eight points from ten rounds. Carlsen yet again gave away just two draw and won the remaining three games to find himself at the top of the tables.

Leader after day one, Sergey Karjakin of Russia suffered heavily on second day when he could muster just two points from five games. Karjakin is on 6.5 points.

After stealing the thunder on day one when he scored four points and was tied second, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi added just 1.5 points more to his overnight tally to match Anand on points. B Adhiban is the best placed Indian on points having six points to his credit.

Anand's second in three world championships, Surya Shekhar Ganguly was on 5/8 but lost steam as he went down to Ernesto Inarkiev of Russia and Zoltan Almasi of Hungary in the ninth and tenth round respectively.

The Kolkata based player, however, had the satisfaction of beating former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine in the eighth round.

Among other Indians in the fray, Krishnan Sasikiran scored three in the day as well to move up to 5.5 points while SP Sethuraman continued his hunt to find form, ending the tenth round with just 3.5 points.