London Chess Classic | Anand wins round 8 against Topalov, Wesley So confirms the title

London Chess Classic | Anand wins round 8 against Topalov, Wesley So confirms the title

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Viswanath Anand won his round 8 match against Bulgaria's Veselin Topalov on Saturday and moved to fourth in the standings of London Chess Classic. However, Anand's chances of winning the championship were extinguished as Wesley So officially won it by drawing his game against Fabiano Caruana.

From Chessbase.com by Johannes Fischer:

After playing four straight draws in the week and trailing leader Wesley So by 1.5 points by the end of seventh round, Viswanathan Anand chances of winning the London Chess Classic ended despite his win in the penultimate eighth-round match against Veselin Topalov. Wesley So's draw on the day against second-placed Fabiano Caruana ended any title hopes the rest of the pack had maintained.

Back to Anand's match, Veselin Topalov is in a terrible shape in London and everything seems to go wrong for him. Anand surprised him with a novelty in a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined with Bf4, an opening line Anand had discussed with Magnus Carlsen during their World Championship match in Sochi 2014. 

After this novelty, Topalov defended well and managed to find his way through the complications - but then made two careless moves and threw the game away.

Read full report here.

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