Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand could only manage 7.5 points out of a possible 11 on the opening day of the two-day world blitz chess championship as he won seven games, lost three and drew one, here.
World champion Magnus Carlsen seems on course to be the first ever world champion in all three formats at the same time as he took an early lead on nine points from his first 11 games. Carlsenwent on the rampage winning the first five games and then a momentary halt that came with a loss against Lu Shanglei of China did not dampen his spirit.
Anand got off to a very slow start in the blitz, losing two games in the first three rounds itself. He lost to Yuriy Kryvoruchko of Ukraine in the opening round and to Vladimir Fedoseev in the third round. He, however, recovered to post three victories on the trot in the last three games of the day to remain joint eighth with 10 rounds still to come.
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Sandipan Chanda and Surya Shekhar Ganguly could muster five points on the opening day while Sriram Jha has half-a-point less post the half-way mark. Debashish Das is on four and M. Shyam Sundar has 3.5 points.