Viswanathan Anand suffered a painful defeat after failing to put the finishing touches to a masterpiece he created against Vladimir Kramnik in the first game of the third round chess24 Legends of Chess on Thursday.
In a clash involving former World champions, Anand missed a winning continuation a move before resigning. All credit to the now-retired Kramnik for finding the defensive moves and coming out stronger in 63 moves.
The other decisive game of the round also followed a similar course with Anish Giri losing his way after attaining a winning position against Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Late on Wednesday, Anand cracked in the fourth game, Gelfand and Svidler won while Ding Liren lost again. Anand, after proving equal to Carlsen in the first three games, overlooked a trick from the World champion while enjoying a clear positional advantage and resigned.
Unlike the blunder committed against Svidler almost 24 hours before that, Anand fought on but lack of time on the clock made matters worse for him.
Third round (Game 1): Viswanathan Anand lost to Vladimir Kramnik (Rus); Peter Leko (Hun) drew with Magnus Carlsen (Nor); Boris Gelfand (Isr) drew with Peter Svidler (Rus); Anish Giri (Ned) lost to Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus); Ding Liren (Chn) drew with Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr).
Second round: Nepomniachtchi bt Ding 2.5-0.5; Carlsen bt Anand 2.5-1.5; Svidler bt Leko 2.5-1.5; Giri bt Kramnik 2-5-1.5; Gelfand bt Ivanchuk 2.5-1.5.
