By IANS
Morelia (Mexico) : After a winning start in first round, India’s Viswanathan Anand has blundered in the second round to lose to Lev Aronian of Armenia in the first leg of the Morelia-Linares Grandmasters chess tournament.
Defending champion and World No. 1 Anand Saturday fell to a terrible blunder on the 30th move in his game against Aronian, the man he termed as favourite before the tournament.
Anand now has one point from two games and is tied for third place, half a point behind joint leaders, Vassily Ivanchuk and Vesselin Topalov.
In other games, Peter Leko also blundered and lost against Vassily Ivanchuk to hand over the full point and Teimour Radjabov spoilt a promising game against Veselin Topalov to a draw, while Alexei Shirov and Magnus Carlsen also shared points.
Aronian, who has been one of the most consistent players on the circuit, chose his favourite Marshall’s attack, getting some compensation for two pawns. Anand’s position was still preferable until he played the incorrect 29.Nd2 and then again blundered on the next move (30.Nf3). The game, essentially, was decided there as it left the Indian’s king vulnerable and resigned soon after on the 34th move.
Ukranian Ivanchuk proved his great strategical understanding as he chose a line which till now was considered innocuous. While many feel that black will gain with the queen exchange for two rooks in mid game, Ivanchuk proved that it was white, which was better off as Leko, with black, was struggling.
Leko added to his problems with an error on the 38th move and lost the game.
Meanwhile, Topalov, with black, decided to change his favourite Sicilian Najdorf defense for the Berlin’s Wall of the Spanish Opening. Just when Radjabov seemed ready to pressurise the black position, he made a big mistake that overlooked Black (Topalov’s) possibilities of winning a pawn. Topalov had a winning chance but Radjabov hung in to get a draw by repetition.
In the third round, Anand will have black pieces against Carlsen.
The tournament is played in two legs with the first leg being held at Morelia, Mexico and the second leg in Linares, Spain.
Results of Round 2:
Anand lost to Aronian
Radjabov drew with Topalov
Ivanchuk beat Leko
Shirov drew with Carlsen
Pairings for Round 3:
Carlsen vs. Anand
Leko vs. Shirov
Topalov vs. Ivanchuk
Aronian vs. Radjabov
Points after Round 2:
1. Ivanchuk and Topalov (1.5 each)
3. Aronian, Carlsen, Anand and Leko (1 each)
7. Radjabov and Shirov (0.5 each).