Legends of Chess: Viswanathan Anand loses to Vasyl Ivanchuk, finishes campaign with eighth defeat

Indian chess ace Viswanathan Anand’s signed off second from bottom after his disappointing campaign at the Legends of Chess online tournament ended with a loss to long-time rival Vasyl Ivanchuk in the ninth and final round.

It was Anand’s eighth loss in the USD 150,000 tournament. The 50-year-old ended in ninth position behind GM Peter Leko who finished last.

After all the four games ended in draws, the Anand-Ivanchuk contest went into the Armageddon (a tie-breaker), which also ended in a stalemate.The Ukrainian emerged victorious as he played black in the decider late on Wednesday.

Anand started the match with a 57-move draw and the tie progressed in a similar vein with the players opting for quiet draws.

The Armageddon game was a 59-move affair before the former world champion signed peace with Ivanchuk.

The 50-year old Indian finished ninth in the standings with 7 match points and a solitary win (over Boris Gelfand) on his debut in the Magnus Carlsen Tour.

In other matches, world No.1 Magnus Carlsen beat Vladimir Kramnik 3-1 to finish with an all-win record after nine matches in the preliminary stage.

The Norwegian will now play Russia’s Peter Svidler in the semi-finals, while Anish Giri (Hungary) takes on Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) in a repeat of their Chessable Masters semi-final.

Legends of Chess is an event in which Carlsen, Liren, Nepomniachtchi and Giri, semifinalists at the Chessable Masters (part of the Magnus Carlsen Tour), received an automatic invite and are up against six legends aged 40-52, who have been at the top of world chess at various points in their career.

The tournament is part of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. The winner of this event qualifies for the USD 300,000 Grand Final scheduled from 9 to 20 August.

Results of Round 9: Vasyl Ivanchuk (Ukraine) beat Viswanathan Anand (India) 2.5-2.5 (Ivanchuk wins by playing black after Armageddon is drawn); Magnus Carlsen (Norway) beat Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) 3-1; Boris Gelfand (Israel) beat Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) 3-2; Anish Giri (The Netherlands) beat Peter Svidler (Russia) 2.5-1.5; Ding Liren (China) beat Peter Leko (Hungary) 2.5-1.5.

Final standings: 1. Carlsen 25 match points, 2. Nepomniachtchi 20, 3. Giri 18, 4. Svidler 14, 5. Ivanchuk 13, 6. Kramnik 12, 7. Gelfand 11, 8. Liren 7, 9. Anand 7, 10. Leko 6.

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