Anand slips to seventh spot in Amber chess tournament

Nice, Mar 26 (UNI) Viswanathan Anand slipped to the seventh spot, losing his rapid game with Ukraine's Vasily Ivanchuk in the ninth round of the 17th Amber Melody Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess tournament here.

Anand, who was previously in joint fourth place, managed to draw with the Ukranian in the blindfold section.

Anand now has nine points while Ivanchuk, who was half a point behind him after the eighth round, is tied for fifth place with 9.5 points.

Ivanchuk outsmarted Anand in the rapid game, as a blunder from the world champion forced him to accept defeat after 33 moves.

In the blindfold game, Anand was surprised by Ivanchuk's opening choice.

The Indian, however, managed to hold on as the game ended in a draw after 16 moves.

Meanwhile, Lev Aronian maintained his lead by winning both the blindfold and rapid games over Alexander Morozevich.

The Armenian now has 12.5 points and has a lead of 2.5 points over Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Leko, who are tied at the second spot with 10 points.

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