Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, June 10: Viswanathan Anand’s campaign in the Norway Chess tournament was derailed with a ninth-round loss to Azerbaijan’s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, while Norwegian star Magnus Carlsen took sole possession of the lead with a win over Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
Anand continued his strong run by defeating Carlsen in the fifth round to take the lead in the standings, but was outplayed by Mamedyarov in the Classical encounter in a Petroff Millenium Attack game late on Thursday.
Following a recovery day on Wednesday, the 37-year-old Azerbaijani player took advantage of an error by the Indian veteran to earn three full points.
After seven rounds, Anand, who had been in second place behind world No. 1 Carlsen, has dropped to third place with 13 points at the end of the eighth and last round.
Meanwhile, after a protracted 79-move tie in the normal classical game, Carlsen defeated Vachier-Lagrave via the Armageddon. The sudden death tie-break was as lengthy, as the Norwegian superstar needed 54 plays to defeat his opponent.
With 15 points, Carlsen is the only player in the lead, followed by Mamedyarov on 14.5. In fourth place, Vachier-Lagrave is a half-point behind Anand.
In other matches of the day, American Wesley So, who won the Blitz event that preceded the Classical tournament, lost in the Armageddon against Bulgarian Veselin Topalov, and Teimour Radjabov defeated Hao Wang (China) in a sudden death tiebreak.
In the classical match, Anish Giri, a stuttering Dutch player, outlasted Norway’s Aryan Tari in 61 moves to win three points.
On Friday night, the ninth and last round will be played. In the Norway Chess competition, if the classical match ends in a draw, the competitors participate in an Armageddon (sudden death).
