Anand stunned by Aronian, slips to tied 2nd at Morelia

Morelia, Mexico, Feb 23 (UNI) Viswanathan Anand succumbed to his first loss in the Morelia/Linares Super GM tournament going down to Armenian GM Levon Aronian to slip to the tied second spot after the fifth round here.

The Indian ace, who was in sole lead after winning his previous two games in a row, now has three points from a possible five and he shares the second position with Aronian.

In a tense struggle, Anand -- playing with black pieces in a Queen's Gambit -- resigned in 48 moves for his first loss ever against the Armenian.

Anand had earlier beaten Aronian in the Melody Amber blindfold game last year. Four other games between the two have been drawn.

In next two rounds, Anand plays Vassily Ivanchuk and Peter Leko.

Meanwhile, 16-year-old Magnus Carlsen, who lost to Anand in third round, scored an upset win over Bulgarian Veselin Topalov to take sole lead at 3.5 points after five rounds.

In other games, Russian Alexander Morozevich drew with Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine, while another Russian Peter Svidler also split points with Hungary's Peter Leko.

After two more rounds, the action will shift to Linares.

Results of Round 5: Levon Aronian beat Viswanathan Anand Peter Svidler drew with Peter Leko Alexander Morozevich drew with Vassily Ivanchuk Magnus Carlsen beat Veselin Topalov Round 5 Standings: 1. Magnus Carlsen 3.5 2. Levon Aronian and Viswanathan Anand 3.0 4. Peter Svidler, Peter Leko and Vassily Ivanchuk 2.5 7. Veselin Topalov and Alexander Morozevich 1.5 Pairings Round 6: Magnus Carlsen vs Peter Leko Alex. Morozevich vs Peter Svidler Levon Aronian vs Veselin Topalov Vishy Anand vs Vassily Ivanchuk UNI XC PM AY ND1410