KOLKATA: Viswanathan Anand’s hopes of qualifying for the Grand Finale of the Grand Chess Tour came crashing down with a string of defeats on Tuesday. He had to finish sole sixth or better to secure the fourth and last spot, but finished seventh. Magnus Carlsen, Ding Liren and Levon Aronian had already made the cut. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave got the place the Indian failed to secure.
Starting the second and last day of blitz at tied-fifth on overall standings, Anand’s hopes ended in the eighth and penultimate round when he suffered his third-straight defeat against Carlsen. In all, his day included four losses, two wins and three draws. Ian Nepomniachtchi, Vidit Gujrathi and Anish Giri were the others who defeated him. Of the 18 blitz games, he won four, lost six and drew eight. In nine rapid games on the first three days, he had two wins, four draws and three defeats.
It was a significant setback for someone known as the Lightning Kid for his ability to make fast moves, which is what these formats are about. There will also be questions if Anand is still the player who other than winning five World Championship titles in the classical format, had also won the rapid crown twice, the last one in 2017. In this leg of the Grand Chess Tour, however, he came under time pressure and also let slip advantageous positions.
“Perhaps the good news for me is that my son has finished second in a dance competition in school,” Anand said on a lighter note before adding that this hurts. “I’d have been okay with it if I had no chance. But here I destroyed myself. This is a new low and this year, in general, has been disappointing. I had decent starts and threw it away. I have to go back and see what’s going wrong and work out a way to come back stronger.”
Anand had a chance when he met Giri in the fifth round and looked like winning. That point would have lifted him to fifth and the 49-year-old himself said he thought he was getting it. “Can’t explain that. I thought there I was, winning and back in the reckoning. But then I forgot about the clock and that was that. I turned out to be my worst enemy. This is a new low.”
After losing his classical title to Carlsen in 2013, Anand had redeemed himself somewhat by winning the World Championships in rapid in 2017 in a tournament where the Norwegian took part. By beating him hands down at his own backyard again in the shorter formats, Carlsen had made a massive statement that he is the player to beat, irrespective of time controls.
Standings (GCT points & prize money): 1: Magnus Carlsen (13, $37,500). 2: Hikaru Nakamura (10, $25,000). Joint 3rd: Anish Giri & Wesley So (7.5, $17,500). 5: Ding Liren (6, $12,500). 6: Ian Nepomniachtchi (5, $10,000). 7: Viswanathan Anand (4, $7,500). Tied 8th: Vidit Gujrathi & Pentala Harikrishna (2.5, $7,500). 10: Levon Aronian (1, $7,500).
Magnus talk
On stardom: The second worst thing for me is a lot of attention. The worst is no attention. It’s a blessing and a curse at the same time. I enjoy what’s going on around myself. As long as I have the energy, I’m happy with it.
On scaling new highs: I’m more concerned about the level of my performance. Milestones are a bonus and not something that I play for. I like rapid and blitz as long as I am doing well. I’d like to be No 1 in all three.