Tata Steel Chess: Anand finishes joint third after loss

World champion Viswanathan Anand suffered a shocking last-round defeat against Wang Hao of China and had to be content with a joint third finish at the 75th Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands.

Having done decently so far, Anand ran out of steam in the last round and was outplayed by Wang Hao. Anand remained at sixth spot in the world rankings and stands to gain seven rating points from his efforts.

Magnus Carlsen of Norway completed the formalities of winning the crown after surviving a scare against Anish Giri of Holland. Carlsen was pushed to the wall but salvaged a half point to match Garry Kasparov's best ever 10 points out of a possible 13 in this tournament.

Levon Aronian of Armenia ended second on 8.5 points after a draw with out-of-sort Fabiano Caruana of Italy. Anand with eight points in all tied for the third spot with the other winner of the day -- Sergey Karjakin of Russia.

After a spate of draws in the last round, Peter Leko of Hungary finished fifth on 7.5 points, half a point more than Hikaru Nakamura of United States who played out a draw with P Harikrishna in his final round game.

Harikrishna finished seventh on 6.5 points in the 14-player round-robin event and is set to become the third Indian after Anand and K Sasikiran to enter the 2700 rating club post his performance at this tournament.

For the record, Anish Giri, compatriot Loek Van Wely and Wang Hao tied for the eighth spot on six points while Chinese girl Yifan Hao ended 11th with 5.5 points in all.

Caruana, on five points, ended 12th while the Dutch duo of Erwin L'Ami and Ivan Sokolov finishing in the last two spots with four and three points respectively.

Anand faced the Scotch four Knights opening by Wang Hao widely known to give black a level position. However, it was a bad day in office for Anand when nothing went right.

After the trading of queens in the middle game, the Indian was saddled with a slightly inferior position and Wang Hao used his queen side pawn majority to perfection to score one of the biggest victories in his career.

Harikrishna yet again stood better. The Hyderabadi has proved that he belongs to the big league and his performance in this tournament is likely to reap in more invitation to strong tournaments.

Playing black against Nakamura's irregular opening, Harikrishna won a pawn with some imaginative display but a momentary lapse in concentration saw the American climb back in the game.

The ensuing knight and pawns endgame was just a draw after Harikrishna gave his knight and pocketed the last remaining pawn of white.

Results final round: Wang Hao (Chn, 6) beat V Anand (Ind, 8); Anish Giri (Ned, 6) drew with Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 10); Fabiano Caruana (Ita, 5) drew with Levon Aronian (arm, 8.5); Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 7) drew with P Harikrishna (Ind, 6.5); Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 8) beat Loek Van Wely (Ned, 6); Erwin L'Ami (Ned, 4) drew with Ivan Sokolov (Ned, 3); Yifan Hou (Chn, 5.5) drew with Peter Leko (Hun, 7.5).

Final standings: 1. Carlsen 10 pts; 2. Aronian 8.5; 3-4. Anand, Karjakin (8 each; 5. Leko 7.5; 6. Nakamura 7; 7. Harikrishna 6.5; 8-10; Giri, Hao, Van Wely 6 each; 11. Hou 5.5; 12. Caruana 5; 13. L'Ami 4; 14. Sokolov 3.

The moves: Anand – Wang

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 O-O 8. O-O d5 9. exd5 cxd5 10. h3 c6 11. Qf3 Bd6 12. Re1 h6 13. Bf4 Bxf4 14. Qxf4 Be6 15. Ne2 Qb8 16. b3 Qxf4 17. Nxf4 Rfe8 18. Nxe6 fxe6 19. Bg6 Re7 20. c4 Nd7 21. Rac1 Nf8 22. Bd3 Kf7 23. cxd5 cxd5 24. b4 Nd7 25. Rc6 Nf6 26. a4 e5 27. f3 Rd8 28. Kf2 e4 29. fxe4 dxe4 30. Bc4+ Kg6 31. Ke3 Kh7 32. Rc5 Red7 33. a5 Rd2 34. Re2 Rd1 35. a6 Nd7 36. Rc7 Ne5 37. Be6 Kg6 38. Rxa7 R1d6 39. Ba2 Nc6 40. Rb7 Rd3+ 41. Kf2 Nd4 42. Bf7+ Kf5 43. Re1 Rd2+ 44. Kg1 Kf4 45. Bc4 g6 46. a7 Kg3 47. Bf1 Nf3+ 48. gxf3 exf3 49. Rf7 black resigned.