Candidates Chess : Anand defeats Karjakin to storm back into lead

Arun S Kaimal

ByArun S Kaimal, SportsCafe Editor

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Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand defeated overnight leader Sergey Karjakin of Russia in the eleventh round of the Candidates chess tournament in Moscow on Thursday. With the win, Anand joined Fabiano Caruana of United States in the lead in the fourteen-round tournament with 6.5/11.

After suffering a defeat against Fabiano Caruana of United States in the tenth round on Wednesday, the Tiger of Madras came out in flying colours on the day of Holi to beat Sergey Karjakin of Russia, who was leading the tournament till yesterday’s match. The Indian, who suffered a defeat against the Russian in the reverse fixture, began his game with the whites using an anti-Berlin Defense system. Although Anand achieved a very small edge against Karjakin with the initial moves, the most likely result between the two seemed a draw with the Russian using a Berlin Defense system.

But, the five-time world champion kept the pressure on Karjakin and forced him into making errors. Eventually, the small errors added up and gave the Indian a significant advantage as the game neared the 40th move. The Russian eventually surrendered quickly giving Anand a win to storm back into the lead with three more rounds remaining in the tournament.

With four wins, five draws and two losses, Anand shares the lead with Fabiano Caruana of United States with 6.5 points. Sergey Karjakin is half a point behind the leaders, while Anish Giri, Peter Svidler and Levon Aronian have 5 points out of 11.

Anand will next face Hikaru Nakamura of United States in the twelfth round on Friday.  

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