London: A blunder in a position which was going his way left World Champion and NIIT Mind champion Viswanathan Anand on the losing side against Hikaru Nakamura of USA in the fourth round of the London Chess Classic 2011.
This incidentally is the first time that Nakamura has scored over the World Champion and this victory came with the Black pieces. Anand had drawn his first two encounters and looked heading for victory in this game before disaster struck.
The other high profile game between Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Vladimir Kramnik of Russia ended with the honours shared. Luke McShane continued to show good form and defeated his English compatriot David Howell while Nigel Short opened his account with a victory over out of form Michael Adams. Levon Aronian of Armenia had a rest day and pleased spectators with his witty comments along with the commentators.
The Category 20 event played under Classical time control, has nine players and has three points at stake for a victory while a draw garners just one point
Carlsen and McShane now have emerged joint leaders with 8 points each while Nakamura follows them with 7 points. Kramnik is next with 5 points followed by Aronian with 4. Short is next with 3 points while Anand, Howell and Adams are bunched at the bottom with 2 points each.
Anand once again stuck to the Queen Pawn opening and Nakamura responded with the sharp King’s Indian Attack. However the Indian ace was on top in the Opening and Nakamura appeared to be in deep trouble.
However a wrong knight move on the 29th turn proved disastrous for Anand as suddenly from a positional strength, he was starting at a serious loss.
Nakamura given a respite, suddenly sprang into action and was soon putting pressure on his opponent’s King side. Anand on the 49th turn was gave up the battle in a hopeless position.
Wednesday is a rest day and Anand, a budding amateur astronomer will show some of his prowess to the audience.
Round four
Round 4: Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Magnus Carlsen½-½Vladimir Kramnik
Michael Adams0-1Nigel Short
Vishy Anand0-1Hikaru Nakamura
David Howell0-1Luke McShane
Levon Aronian (bye) – assisting commentary
