World Rapid chess champion Viswanathan Anand suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Russia's Evgeny Bareev, going down 0.5-1.5 in a seventh round rapid game at the Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess tournament in Monaco.
Anand, who had dropped just one point in his first 12 games in the tournament easily drew the blindfold game against tail-ender Bareev with black pieces.
In the rapid, however, which is considered his forte, Anand missed chances and lost a long-drawn battle.
The defeat did not affect Anand's sole lead in the event but dented the Indian's otherwise flawless performance thus far.
Incidentally, this was Anand's third loss this year, all of which have come with white pieces.
Anand first tasted defeat this year at the hands of Peter Leko at the Corus Chess tournament at Wijk Aan Zee in the Netherlands and at the Linares Super Grandmasters tournament in Spain, he succumbed to Briton Michael Adams.
However, the tournament did not see any great reversal in the fortunes of other hopefuls as Anand was decidedly helped by some favourable results on other boards.
The difference between him and his nearest rivals was 2.5 points, a huge gap with just four rounds to go in this Euros 193250 prize money event.
There were identical 1-1 results in all the remaining matches of the day.
As things stand, Anand with 10.5 points is followed by Hungarian Peter Leko, Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk and the Russian duo of Peter Svidler and Alexander Morozevich, who all have 8 points apiece.
Russian Vladimir Kramnik is next with 7.5 points.
The blindfold game for Anand went on as expected as he just got equality right after the theoretical manoeuvres of Nimzo Indian defence. Bareev, in his bid to exert some pressure on Anand, tried to make a foray in to the queen side but found blacks standing guard till the end of the 26-mover match.
In the return game, Anand was sitting pretty in the middle game arising out of a Caro Kann defence but a risky trading of pieces saw Bareev end up with a good bargain.
After the complexities subsided, Anand had a queen and two pawns for two rooks and a minor piece and once Bareev was able to coordinate his forces, it was all over for Anand.
In the end, Anand was forced to give the queen back for rooks and the resulting position was completely lost with a piece less.
Bareev won in 64 moves.
In other matches, Dutchman Loek Van Wely, who had been struggling so far, put it across Vassily Ivanchuk in the blindfold game but the latter struck back in rapid to level scores.
It was a similar story in the mini-match between Morozevich and Bulgarian Veselin Topalov while the remaining games of the day witnessed draws after intense battles.
Results round 7 (Blindfold): Loek Van Wely (Ned) beat Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr); Peter Svidler (Rus) drew with Alexei Shirov (Esp); Boris Gelfand (Isr) drew with Francisco Pons Vallejo (Esp); Alexander Morozevich (Rus) lost to Veselin Topalov (Bul); Evgeny Bareev (Rus) drew with Viswanathan Anand (Ind); Peter Leko (Hun) drew with Vladimir Kramnik.
Rapid: Ivanchuk beat Van Wely; Shirov drew with Svidler; Vallejo drew with Gelfand; Topalov lost to Morozevich; Anand lost to Bareev; Kramnik drew with Leko.
Blindfold standings: 1. Anand 5.5; 2. Kramnik 4.5; 3. Svidler 4; 4-8. Vallejo, Ivanchuk, Morozevich, Gelfand, Leko, 3.5 each; 9-11. Topalov, Shirov, Van Wely 3 each; 12. Bareev 1.5.
Rapid standings: 1. Anand 5; 2-4. Leko, Morozevich, Ivanchuk 4.5 each; 5. Svidler 4; 6-8. Gelfand, Shirov, Bareev 3.5 each; 9. Kramnik 3; 10. Vallejo 2.5; 11. Topalov 2; 12. Van Wely 1.5.
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