CHENNAI: Viswanathan Anand turned back the clock to finish joint second in the Sinquefield Cup, which concluded in St Louis, USA, on Friday. French No 1 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave played the tournament of his life to win the third leg of Grand Chess Tour ahead of World champion Magnus Carlsen, whose classical title drought continued in 2017. Anand was in contention for the top spot going into the ninth and final round along with Vachier-Lagrave and Levon Aronian.
Anand could manage only a draw against last year’s winner Wesley So, while Vachier-Lagrave outwitted former Russian champion Ian Nepomniachtchi to seal the title. On the other hand, Aronian’s hopes were dashed by a determined Carlsen.
Playing confidently, Anand achieved one of his best results in recent times. His victory over Fabiano Caruana in the fifth round, which involved a long sequence of an accurate move, culminating in a stunning queen sacrifice, earned the appreciation of the whole chess world. He followed it up with another victory over Nepomniachtchi in the seventh round to have a share of lead.
A victory in the penultimate round over Vachier-Lagrave would have improved Anand’s chances of winning the tournament but the Frenchman defended well to force a draw. It was a satisfying tournament for Anand, who gained 10.7 rating points, besides jumping to world No 7 on the live rating.
Lauding Anand’s performance, Harikrishna had this to say: “Anand played very well in St Louis. His game against Caruana was a pleasure to watch. Qd4 is a move, which you don’t get to play often.”Vachier-Lagrave has had a fair share of success, winning the closed tournaments in Biel (four times) and Dortmund (once). However, he is winning a tournament of such scale for the first time. One can understand the significance of his victor when one looks up at the line-up comprising seven of the world’s top 10 players.
Remaining undefeated, Vachier-Lagrave delivered when it mattered the most, winning the last-round game in a pressure-cooker situation. His victory over Carlsen in a topsy-turvy game spurred him to achieve his best-ever result. Gaining 14.9 points from the event, Vachier-Lagrave leapfrogged to No 2 on the live rating.
“This is his biggest title so far. He dominated the field and played good chess throughout the event,” hailed Harikrishna on Vachier-Lagrave’s title triumph in St Louis. It was the fourth time Carlsen has failed to win a tournament this year, which is a rarity because of his dominance in the last five years. However, Carlsen made amends for his poor showing in Norway Chess, ending the tournament with a +2 score.
The Norwegian could have even won the tournament if he had converted his winning positions against Vachier-Lagrave and Hikaru Nakamura.Final Placings: 1. M Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) 6, 2-3: V Anand (Ind), M Carlsen (Nor) 5.5, 4-5: L Aronian (Arm), S Karjakin (Rus), 6. P Svidler (Rus) 4.5, 7. F Caruana (USA) 4, 8. H Nakamura (USA) 3.5, 9-10: I Nepomniachtchi (Rus), W So (USA) 3.
12: Viswanathan Anand gained nine points in the Sinquefield Cup to jump to joint fourth spot (12 points) along with Levon Aronian in the Grand Chess Tour standings.
Bad start in St Louis
Anand failed to change gears and suffered two losses on the opening day of St. Louis Rapid and Blitz chess tournament. The highlight of the day was Russian Garry Kasparov’s comeback to competitive fold after a gap of 12 years. Anand was pegged back by an opening round loss against Hikaru Nakamura of United States and then suffered another debacle against Levon Aronian of Armenia in the third round.
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