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Anand falters, slips in standings

Vishwanathan Anand blundered away his ninth round blindfold game against Vladimir Kramnik and lost not only the game but also his top position in the blindfold section of the Amber Chess tournament in Monte Carlo.

Though he managed a draw in the rapid section, Anand also slipped down the overall standings to fourth position. Kramnik took over the lead in the blindfold as he dealt the Indian's chances a big blow in the 11-round, 12-player tournament. Kramnik is also third overall.

Alexi Shirov maintained his top position overall with yet another 1.5-0.5 victory for the ninth time in succession. Boris Gelfand was at the receiving end in this encounter against Shirov, who is now close to winning the title. Shirov has 13.5 points from 18 games.

In the blindfold, Kramnik was already better when Anand blundered a pawn. The Indian GM immediately resigned. Kramnik was placed rather well and had a good bishop against Anand's bad one. But there was still chance of salvaging a draw. But then came a blunder and Anand lost a pawn. The Indian resigned instead of prolonging the agony on the 32nd move.

Kramnik was motivated against the world's No. 2, Anand. In the first game, the rapid one, Kramnik took the initiative with 22.. F4, but white was able to hold his position. Kramnik was better but he could not force Anand into any errors and had to be satisfied with a draw.

Kramnik now has scored 3.5 points in his last four games and that has seen him rise rapidly to joint second overall. He is now the new leader in blindfold and is joint fourth in rapid.

Shirov is followed by Veselin Topalov and Kramnik. Topalov lost 0.5-1.5 to Loek Van Wely and that enabled Kramnik to catch up with the Bulgarian. Shirov continues to be the only underfeated player here. He is the likely winner but he has to face Kramnik and Ivanchuk in the last two rounds and Kramnik still has a slim chance of catching up.

Shirov played well in the rapid game against Gelfand in a sharp line of the Sicilian. The Latvia-born Spaniard was in control and finally mated Gelfand in a nice way. In blindfold Shirov, Black, had to fight for equality all game long. He managed that and after 35 moves the game was drawn.

Topalov had a poor day, losing to Loek Van Wely. The Dutch GM played the King's-Indian and won. In the blindfold Van Wely tried his favourite Sicilian Najdorf but Topalov got a superior position and was also much better on the clock. But Topalov was not fully accurate and in the endgame Van Wely won his pawn back. In the end, the game was drawn after 56 moves.

Karpov lost his blindfold game to Ivanchuk after drawing the rapid. Piket and Lautier both won their matches with 1.5-0.5 against Ljubojevic and Nikolic.

Results and standings:

Rapid: Anand drew with Kramnik; Shirov beat Gelfand; Karpov drew with Ivanchuk; Van Wely beat Topalov; Lautier drew with Nikolic; Ljubojevic lost to Piket.

Blindfold: Kramnik beat Anand; Gelfand drew with Shirov; Ivanchuk beat Karpov; Topalov drew with Van Wely; Nikolic lost to Lautier; Piket drew with Ljubojevic.

Standings:

Rapidplay: 1. Shirov 7.5; 2. Ivanchuk 6.5; 3. Topalov 5.5; 4. Van wely, anand, kramnik 5.0 each 7. Gelfand, karpov 4.5 each 9. Piket 3.5 10. Nikolic 3.0 11. Lautier 2.5 12. Ljubojevic 1.5.

Blindfold: 1. Kramnik 6.5; 2. Topalov, Anand, Shirov 6.0 each; 5. Gelfand, Piket, Karpov 4.5; 8. Ivanchuk 4.0; 9. Lautier 3.5; 10. Van Wely, Ljubojevic 3.0; 12. Nikolic 2.5.

Overall: 1. Shirov 13.5; 2. Topalov, Kramnik 11.5; 4. Anand 11.0; 5. Ivanchuk 10.5; 6. Gelfand, Karpov 9.0; 8. Van Wely, Piket 8.0; 10. Lautier 6.0; 11. Nikolic 5.5; 12. Ljubojevic 4.5.

UNI