Anand loses to Hao Wang; finishes joint fourth

Stavanger (Norway): World champion Viswanathan Anand suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Hao Wang of China for the second time this year to sign off joint fourth in the Norway Chess 2013 super tournament that concluded here.

In with a chance to finish first in a major tournament, Anand could not control the proceedings and was on the defensive early against Hao Wang who seems to be in great touch against stalwarts in the past few months.

Meanwhile, Sergey Karjakin of Russian emerged as the sole winner of the tournament and all the speculation was put to rest after he drew a hugely advantageous position against Bulgarian Veselin Topalov.

Karjakin ended the tournament on six points in all and his success is attributed to the fact that he started with four wins in a row here.

World number one Magnus Carlsen of Norway was the other player in with a chance to catch up with Karjakin but his game as black against Armenian Levon Aronian was a tame affair ending in draw early in the day.

With Karjakin finishing first, Carlsen`s draw fetched him a joint second place alongside Hikaru Nakamura of United States who scored a regulation victory over lowest ranked Jon Ludvig Hammer of Norway to match Carlsen on 5.5 points.

Anand tied for the fourth spot with Peter Svidler of Russia and Aronian on five points and the biggest point to take home ahead of the next World Championship match against Carlsen will be the vulnerability of the Norwegian in difficult circumstances.

It turned out to be a bad day for Anand as he looked for complications almost out of nothing. The middle game arising out of a symmetrical English promises little for the black player and Anand`s attempts for a risky continuation were dealt with precision by the Chinese star.

Anand lost his queen for two minor pieces and had no chance thereafter.

Karjakin was seen trying for a victory but was under pressure against Topalov who miscalculated and found himself in a worse situation. By then Carlsen had long finished his game so a draw was enough to give the Russian another major title.

Hao Wang turned out to be the tormentor of the tournament beating both Anand and Carlsen in last two rounds. The Chinese has every reason to feel proud as the two will contest for the World Championship crown later this year at Chennai.

Results final round: Hao Wang (Chn, 4.5) beat V Anand (Ind, 5); Levon Aronian (Arm, 5) drew with Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 5.5); Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 6) drew with Veselin Topalov (Bul, 4); Jon Ludvig Hammer (Nor, 1.5) lost to Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 5.5); Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 3) drew with Petger Svidler (Rus, 5).

PTI ------------------------ ZEENEWS.com