Altibox Norway Chess | Viswanathan Anand’s winning streak ends against Yu Yangyi of China
Getty
India’s Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand’s three-match winning streak came to a halt as he lost to China’s Yu Yangyi in the tie-break game in the sixth round of Altibox Norway chess tournament. In other game, Magnus Carlsen won from the jaws of defeat capitalizing on Ding Liren’s blunder.
After not getting much in the Classical game, owing to Yu Yangyi’s opening preparation that saw Anand failing to put any dent whatsoever in Petroff defence, the match went into the Armageddon game. The Indian was seen deviating as early as in the second move as he went for the Bishop’s opening.
Yangyi started shakily as he went for the main line before his position worsened in the middle game at the face of Anand’s experience. But, the Chinese cleverly gave away with a pawn to get some play on the king side and Anand missed his chance there. The match was finished in as little as 48 moves.
In other games, USA’s Wesley So was seen allowing a checkmate in one, while Ding Liren of China blundered by dropping a whole rook as Russia’s Alexander Grischuk left his Bishop in front of his opponent’s Bishop.
The big match between Carlsen and Liren in a pawn less rook and opposite coloured Bishops endgame saw the World No.1 making mistakes with a rook in checks to waste his chances. The Norwegian stayed 1.5 points ahead of Yangyi with 9.5 points and two spots ahead of Levon Aronian of Armenia who is on third with 7.5 points.
