Anand shocked, faces early exit

Tbilisi (Georgia): Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand’s shock defeat to Canadian Grandmaster Anton Kovalyov has pushed him on the brink of exit from the World Chess Cup here.

Having struggled in the second game of the first round that he eventually managed to draw, Anand’s dip in form continued against Kovalyov who kept his nerves to win.

Anand adopted a Sicilian Najdorf tactic and after trading queens, the Canadian Grand-master was surprised by a knight sacrifice by the Indian. But he held on to his guard despite his king taking a walk around the centre.

But Anand’s sacrifice was not enough to get any advantage and in the end, Kovalyov’s extra piece had the final say.

Down a point in the two-games mini-match, Anand will now have to win with black pieces in the return game. If Anand wins, tiebreak games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.

Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi made a strong bid for the third round by winning his game as black against Vietnam’s Le Quang Leim. Gujrathi now just needs a draw in the next game, which he will play with white pieces.

In other top matches, world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway outclassed Russia’s Aleksey Dreev.

Another Russian Vladimir Kramnik beat compatriot Anton Demchenko. There were just seven decisive games out of a possible 32 in the first game of the second round.