Viswanathan Anand and Vassily Ivanchuk traded one win each in the third round of the Melody Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess tournament in one of the most exciting and swift performances from both sides.
While Ivanchuk dealt Anand the blow in the first blindfold game, NIIT-sponsored Anand quickly repaid back that with a ruthless win in rapid. The win in Rapid kept Anand in second place in rapid section and he was fourth overall. Anand has 3.5 points.
No player managed to win both games in third round and Vladimir Kramnik kept his nose ahead in overall standings, as he totalled five points from three rounds and six games so far. Lev Aronian, who has a spotless record in rapid and leads it, is second overall while Ivanchuk is third with four points. Anand is half a point behind.
A year ago at the 2006 Amber clashes Anand won the blindfold game and drew the rapid. And this year in Linares- Morelia, Anand and Ivanchuk drew both their games.
In the blindfold this time, Ivanchuk concentrated heavily against Anand, probably after the chances he missed against Morozevich in the previous round.
Ivanchuk played fast and in all took juts 10 minutes for his entire game against Anand. The game was in Nimzo-Indian Classical and Ivanchuk ran away with a full point in just 23 moves.
Probably Anand was affected by this speed, and soon ended up in a precarious position. His 18th move was not precise and then he losing his 21st move added to the discomfort as he was losing a piece, and he resigned soon after.
The rapid clash was in Ruy Lopez and Anand dominated it. Anand struck back hard in the rapid game, blitzing out his moves and only slowing down after he had pocketed Ivanchuk's queen.
Again the white player spent little more than ten minutes on the clock. As Anand walked into the analysis room, an amused Peter Leko asked him, 'Vishy, why the hurry?' As if he didn't know.
Anand explained that he didn't believe that Black's 20 cxd3 was such a good move, although he only found out as the game continued.
'I though I'd have some compensation after 21.Nxh4 dxc2, but I had no idea that Black's position would go downhill so quickly.' It was a modest assessment of a ruthless act of destruction in 46 quick moves.
It is still early stages in the tournament. Vladimir Kramnik has been dominating the blindfold with three wins in three games, while Levon Aronian has been dominating the rapid with a similar score.
In the overall standings Kramnik is leading with five out of six points, which is half a point ahead of Aronian. Last year's winners Vishy Anand and Alexander Morozevich have some catching up to do. Anand is trailing the leader by one and a half points. Morozevich is two points behind.
The 16th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament will be held at the Fairmont Monte Carlo Hotel in Monaco.
The tournament that is organized by the Association Max Euwe has a total prize fund of 216,000. Every day there is one round consisting of four sessions; two blindfold sessions (three encounters each) and next two rapid sessions. There are two rest days on March 21 and March 26 and the final is on March 29.
Results: Round 3: Blindfold: Leko beat Vallejo; Gelfand beat Aronian; Carlsen drew with Svidler; Van Wely lost to Radjabov; Morozevich lost to Kramnik; Ivanchuk beat Anand.
Results: Round 3: Rapid: Vallejo drew with Leko; Aronian beat Gelfand; Svidler drew with Carlsen; Radjabov lost to Van Wely; Kramnik drew with Morozevich; Anand beat Ivanchuk.
Round 3 Standings: Blindfold: Kramnik 3.0; 2. Ivanchuk 2.5; 3. Svidler and Gelfand 2.0; 5. Morozevich, Aronian and Leko 1.5; 8. Carlsen, Vallejo Pons, Anand and Radjabov 1.0; 12. Van Wely, Loek g NED 2683 0.0;
Round 3 Standings: Rapid: 1. Aronian 3.0; 2. Anand 2.5; 3. Kramnik 2.0; 4. Morozevich, Ivanchuk, Carlsen and Leko 1.5; 8. Vallejo Pons, Gelfand, Svidler and Van Wely 1.0; 12. Radjabov 0.5.
Combined: 1. Kramnik 5.0; 2. Aronian 4.5; 3. Ivanchuk 4.0; 4. Anand 3.5; 5. Morozevich, Gelfand, Svidler and Leko 3.0; 9. Carlsen 2.5; 10. Vallejo Pons 2.0; 11. Radjabov 1.5; 12. Van Wely 1.0;
