Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X
For Quick Alerts
ALLOW NOTIFICATIONS  
For Daily Alerts

Anand loses 10th game, still half point away from world title

By Staff

Bonn, Oct 28 (UNI) Defending Champion Viswanathan Anand suffered a setback as he was beaten in the 10th game of the 12-game World Chess final here, where challenger Vladimir Kramnik, playing with white pieces fought his way back into the match with a 29-move win and narrowed the gap down to 6-4.

The NIIT Mind Champion, Anand, who led 6-3 after nine games, faltered as the Russian finally seemed to have found his form.

Anand still needs only a draw in one of the two remaining games to emerge champion once again.

Kramnik, on the other hand, needs to win both the 11th and 12th games to force a tie-breaker in the title match.

Russian Kramnik stayed alive in the match as he struck back by cracking through Anand's defence in 29 moves from a Nimzo Indian defence. It was, however, Kramnik's first win after three losses and six draws in the previous nine games.

In the 10th game, in which Anand needed just a draw to emerge champion, Kramnik adopted an aggressive posture in the Nimzo Indian defence from the Indian. The game went into the three knights defence, which Garry Kasparov has used effectively in the past against Anand.

But Anand on that occasion had salvaged a draw, but here Kramnik went off that line and ensured a lease of life for him in a match that seemed to spell doom for him after three losses in four games from the third to the sixth games.

Kramnik worked his way into a slight advantage midway through the game and even as Anand continued to have his chances to draw, the Russian forced his way through and took charge of the c4 square and from thereon, built the pressure, which forced the Indian to resign after 29 moves.

The 12-game final carries a purse of 1.5 million euros with both getting equal amounts, regardless of the result.

UNI XC PY SBC HT1210

Story first published: Thursday, August 24, 2017, 16:33 [IST]
Other articles published on Aug 24, 2017