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 here. Anand, who had dropped just one point in his first 12 games here easily drew the blindfold game against tailender 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. (PTI)
Anand suffers defeat to Bareev
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