Candidates Chess : Anand suffers defeat to slip up from lead
Viswanathan Anand, who was the joint-leader yesterday, lost to Fabiano Caruana to give up the lead to his rival at the Candidates chess tournament in Moscow. Anand lost the battle of preparations as he was overwhelmed by Caruana's precise plan that won the American the match even before it began.
Vishwanathan Anand had no response to Caruana'a first move of 12.Qc2. The move left Anand backtracking from the start and posed extremely difficult problems for the Indian.
As the game progressed it was visible that Anand found it impossible to counter Caruana on the board. The American started with the white advantage and made the most of it.
After making the 17.Qe2, Caruana made extremely dangerous attacking chances and found openings in Anand’s defence.
Anand tried to fight back and even unsurped a couple of attacks but never really found an endgame. In trying to counter-punch, Anand went for the 22...Ne4 move, and the Indian knew it was a mistake the moment he released the piece.
That happened to be the last straw as Caruana finished the game off in the blink of an eye after just 33 moves in all.
The round 10 defeat leaves Anand in third place in the Candidates tournament, behind Russian Sergey Karjakin(2nd place) and American Fabiano Caruana(1st).
Anand will take on Karjakin in round 11.
