Stavanger (Norway): Viswanathan Anand’s hunt for an elusive win continued as he was held to yet another draw by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan in the sixth round of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament here, Monday. Meanwhile American Wesley So threw the tournament open by scoring a crushing victory over Magnus Carlsen of Norway.
With his sixth draw in as many games, Anand took his tally to 2.5 points in all. The Indian ace still has three more games to play, and technically he has the chance to catch up or overtake Carlsen.
This was not only Wesley’s first victory over Carlsen, it was also the first loss that the Norwegian suffered this year after a streak of 37 undefeated classical games.
For Anand, it was a day that did not start well. Mamedyarov’s fianchetto variation in the Ruy Lopez was something the Indian probably did not expect and after a sedate opening, the Azerbaijani thought he had a decent position. However, Anand neutralised Mamedyarov’s advantage with some astute handling of pieces and both players agreed to sign peace after 42 moves.
Wesley went for the exchange variation in the Slav defense and found that Carlsen was not quite prepared to tackle the fine prints. The middle game had some advantage for Wesley that he nurtured after sacrificing a pawn temporarily on the Queen side. The American then won two pawns in tandem before launching a decisive attack on the King side.
“This was not fun. Well played by Wesley. Credit goes to him, because he played a great game,” was how Carlsen summed up the game.