Anand loses in Corus opener

Reigning World champion and India’s Numero Uno player Viswanathan Anand, had a fairly bad start in the New Year as he had to taste defeat from the hands of Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan in the very first round of the 76th Corus chess championship played at the Wijk aan Zee on Saturday.

Apart from Anand, defending champion Veselin Topolov and fourth seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov joined the list of losers on a somewhat astounding opening day of the Corus chess championship. P. Hari Krishna’s was the only player who saved India’s grace on the opening day after playing a draw with Nigel Short in Group ‘B’.

The other Indians also had a disappointing start to the mega-event as K. Humpy lost to Jan Smeets of the Netherlands in Group ‘B’ while Pontus Carlsson of Sweden got the better of India’s youngest Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi in Group ‘C’.

The Indian, who has won five times at Wijk Aan Zee, Anand, was playing his first major competition after winning the World title in September last year, lost the day’s longest game with black pieces in 86 moves.

Last year runners-up Radjabov took the control of the closely contested encounter in the middle of the game. It was a big setback for Anand, who had a 9-4 head-to-head win-loss record against Radjabov. Anand will have to bounce back rapidly as he plays world No.4 Mamedyarov in second round.

Radjabov finished tied for the title with eventual winner Topalov last year. Defending champion Topalov lost to young Aronian in 62 moves. Norway’s wonder-kid Magnus Carlsen triggered the day’s first upset after overpowering Mamedyarov with black pieces in 40 moves.

Earlier, jointly top seeded Russian Vladimir Kramnik settled for a draw in just 25 moves with the lowest rated player in the elite field Leok van Wely. The other four matches of the day were also ended in a draw. Michael Adams came up against Boris Gelfand's Petroff Defence and draw was agreed on move 21, while Peter Leko drew against Pavel Eljanov in 27 moves.

Vassily Ivanchuk too achieved nothing against Judit Polgar and the position was halved on move 24.

RESULTS

First round: Group ‘A’: Teimour Radjabov (Aze) bt Viswanathan Anand; Vladmir Kramnik (Rus) drew with Loek van Wely (Ned); Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze) lost to Magnus Carlsen (Nor); Pavel Eljanov (Ukr) drew with Peter Leko (Hun); Michael Adams (Eng) drew with Boris Gelfand (Isr); Levon Aronian (Arm) bt Veselin Topalov (Bul); Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr) drew with Judit Polgar (Hun).

Group ‘B’: P. Hari Krishna drew with Nigel Short (Eng); Jan Smeets (Ned) bt K. Humpy; Hou Yifan (Chn) lost to Etienne Bacrot (Fra); Daniel Stellwagen (Ned) bt Michal Krasenkow (Pol); Wouter Spoulman (Ned) lost to Ivan Cheparinov (Bul); Sergey Movsesian (Svk) drew with Gabriel Sargissian (Arm); Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus) drew with Erwin L’Ami (Ned).

Group ‘C’: Parimarjan Negi lost to Pontus Carlsson (Swe); Shilong Li (Chn) bt Irina Krush (USA); Anna Ushenina (Ukr) lost to John van der Wiel (Ned); Friso Nijboer (Ned) lost to Arik Braun (Ger); Peng Zhaoqin (Ned) lost to Fabiano Caruana (Ita); Mark van der Werf (Ned) bt Efstratios Grivas (Gre); Dennis Ruijgrok (Ned) lost to Dimitri Reinderman (Ned).

Pairings for Round 2: van Wely v Polgar; Topalov v Ivanchuk; Gelfand v Aronian; Leko v Adams; Carlsen v Eljanov; Anand v Mamedyarov and Kramnik v Radjabov