| MONACO,
MARCH 18: Viswanathan Anand began with an uncharacteristic
loss in the opening game of the Melody Amber Blindfold and
Rapid chess tournament in Monaco. The Indian Grandmaster,
who will officially become world no. 1 in terms of ratings
for the first time in his career on April 1, lost the blindfold
game, but then drew his rapid game against Alexander Morozevich.
Anand is a five-time champion
at Melody Amber.
Levon Aronian and Vassily Ivanchuk
opened with a perfect win record on the opening day winning
both the blindfold and rapid games.
Morozevich who made a great
recovery in the latter stages of Morelia-Linares tournament,
won the blindfold game against Anand (black) in 48 moves of
Barcza system. It was one of those rare occasions when Anand
has started a tournament with a loss.
However, NIIT-sponsored Anand
did manage a draw with white pieces with a 36-move truce with
Moro in French MacCutcheon. It meant that Anand at least came
out of the first day with half a point of maximum possible
two.
The 16th Amber Blindfold and
Rapid Tournament will be held at the Fairmont Monte Carlo
Hotel in Monaco from March 17 to 29. The tournament organized
by the Association Max Euwe carries a total prize-fund is
€ 216,000.
The participants are Anand,
Vladimir Kramnik, Vasily Ivanchuk, Peter Leko, Levon Aronian,
Alexander Morozevich, Boris Gelfand, Teimour Radjabov, Peter
Svidler, Magnus Carlsen, Loek van Wely and Francisco Vallejo.
Every day there is one round
consisting of four sessions; two blindfold sessions (three
encounters each) and next two rapid sessions. The first session
starts at 15.00 hrs local time. The first round is on March
17, the last on March 29. There are two rest days: March 21
and March 26.
Results: Round 1:
Blindfold: Aronian beat Vallejo
Pons; Leko lost to Svidler; Gelfand drew with Carlsen;
Radjabov lost to Kramnik; Van
Wely lost to Ivanchuk; Morozevich beat Anand
Rapid: Vallejo Pons lost to
Aronian; Svidler lost to Leko; Carlsen drew with Gelfand;
Kramnik drew with Radjabov; Ivanchuk beat Van Wely; Anand
drew with Morozevich
Round 1 Standings:
Blindfold: 1. Aronian, Ivanchuk, Kramnik, Morozevich, Svidler
1.0; 6. Carlsen, Gelfand, 0.5; 8. Anand, Leko, Radjabov, Vallejo
Pons, Van Wely 0.0.
Rapid: 1. Aronian, Ivanchuk
and Leko 1.0; 4. Anand, Carlsen, Gelfand, Kramnik, Morozevich,
Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2729 0.5; 10. Svidler, Vallejo Pons,
Van Wely 0
Combined: 1. Aronian and Ivanchuk
2.0; 3. Kramnik and Morozevich 1.5; 5. Carlsen, Gelfand, Leko,
Svidler 1.0; 9. Anand, and Radjabov 0.5; 11. Vallejo Pons
and Van Wely 0
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