Anand struggles

Anand.

Viswanathan Anand failed to shrug off his indifferent form from the rapid event, slipping to the last place with 9.5 points after the ninth round of the St. Louis blitz chess tournament here on Tuesday.

Azerbaijan’s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Hikaru Nakamura of the United States shared the lead with 17 points each.

The standings (nine rounds, blitz): 1-2. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze) & Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 17; 3. Fabiano Caruna (USA) 15.5; 4. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) 15; 5. Levon Aronian (Arm) 14; 6. Sergey Karjakin (Rus) 12.5; 7. Leinier Dominguez (Cub) 12; 8. Alexander Grischuk (Rus) 11.5; 9. Wesley So (USA) 11 and 10. Viswanathan Anand (Ind) 9.5.