Tal Memorial: Viswanathan Anand bounces back with victory
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After a loss in the previous round, Viwanathan Anand bounced back with a win against Boris Gelfand in the fifth round of the Tal Memorial chess event yesterday. Anand, who had lost to his long-time rival Vladimir Kramnik the day before, had now come back into the top-three with three points.
Viswanathan Anand's Tal Memorial campaign had suffered a major setback on Friday. Placed third on the table, he had faced last-placed Vladimir Kramnik, his long-time rival and World Championsip challenger once. Anand had lost the match to slide down the table.
However, playing with white today against his 2012 world title challenger Boris Gelfand, Anand was in his element against the Israeli.
Anand started with the Rossolimo as he opened with white pieces and handed Gelfand his third loss in four games in an excellent positional game.
After the fifth round, Anand and Li Chao (3 points) share the third spot, behind Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi (3.5 points) and Anish Giri (4 points) of the Netherlands followed by Levon Aronian (Armenia), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) who stand joint fifth on 2.5 points apiece.
