Viswanathan Anand beats Magnus Carlsen, but finishes 4th

Stavanger (Norway), May 31

India’s Viswanathan Anand finished fourth even as he defeated world champion Magnus Carlsen in Round 7 of the blitz event of the Norway Chess in the wee hours on Tuesday.

However, former world champion Anand suffered defeats to Anish Giri (the Netherlands) and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) in the fourth and ninth rounds, respectively, to finish with 5 points in the 10-player blitz event.

The Indian GM started with a win over Aryan Tari (Norway) before drawing with Wesley So (America) in Round 2. He posted a victory over veteran Veselin Topalov in the third round before sharing a point with Teimour Radjabov.

After a loss to Giri and a draw with Hao Wang (China), Anand scored a win over Carlsen. However, the draw against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) followed by the loss to Vachier-Lagrave put paid to his chances of a top finish after he had started with 2.5 points from the first three rounds.

Anand’s win over Carlsen comes close on the heels of teen sensation R Praggnanandhaa’s stirring win over the Norwegian in an online tournament recently.

American So finished on the top of the standings with 6.5 points, one clear of Carlsen, while Giri took the third spot.