Struggling for form, Viswanathan Anand crashed to three successive defeats in rapid chess — once considered his forte — and finished last in the six-player competition shortened time-format on the concluding day of the Zurich Chess Challenge in Zurich on Tuesday.
The points scored in the rapid contest were considered for the double-leg premier tournament played under two different time formats.
The points earned from the five rounds played on classical time format were doubled and added to the rapid tally of each player.
Carlsen’s aggregate of eight points from classical games had given him a two-point advantage over the field before the rapid rounds. This proved crucial since the Norwegian could only add two points from five rapid games but still managed to emerge champion with a combined tally of 10 points.
Caruana, who defeated Aronian in the final classical round on Monday, topped the rapid contests with four points. In fact, Caruana and Aronian shared the second spot, ahead of USA’s Hikaru Nakamura.
Anand, who lost to Aronian, Nakamura and Caruana in the first three rounds of rapid-play, drew with Gelfand and Carlsen to retain his fifth position. Gelfand, fifth in the rapid, was placed last.
The results:
Rapid games: Fifth round: Magnus Carlsen (Nor) drew with Viswanathan Anand; Boris Gelfand (Isr) lost to Hikaru Nakamura (USA); Levon Aronian (Arm) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Ita). Fourth round: Anand drew with Gelfand; Caruana bt Carlsen; Nakamura bt Aronian. Third round: Anand lost to Caruana; Gelfand drew with Aronian; Carlsen drew with Nakamura. Second round: Nakamura bt Anand; Aronian bt Carlsen; Caruana drew with Gelfand.
First round: Anand lost to Aronian; Gelfand lost to Carlsen; Caruana bt Nakamura.
Final points tally (read as Classical — double the normal points — plus Rapid): 1. Carlsen (8+2) 10 points; 2-3. Aronian (6+3), Caruana (5+4) 9; 4. Nakamura (4+3.5) 7; 5. Anand (4+1) 5; 6. Gelfand (3+1.5) 4.5.
