World champion Viswanathan Anand’s third successive loss has put him out of the title race in the Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess tournament as he went down 0.5-1.5 against Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine in the ninth round here.
Anand’s form in the rapid event was found wanting once again as the Indian blundered a pawn for little compensation after earlier drawing the blindfold game.
The loss put Anand decisively out of the reckoning for top honours after Armenian Levon Aronian scored a resounding 2-0 victory over Alexander Morozevich of Russia.
Aided by the fine triumph, Aronian took his tally to 12.5 points in the overall standings and stretched his lead to a whopping 2.5 points over nearest rivals Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, Peter Leko of Hungary and Magnus Carlsen of Ukraine.
Ivanchuk and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria share the fifth spot jointly on 9.5 points each while Anand slipped to seventh spot on 9 points.
With just two rounds remaining, Aronian appears a confirmed bet for the overall title as well as rapid, where he has a two-point lead over over Ivanchuk, Carslen and Leko. Anand stands joint fifth in rapid on 4.5 points. .
Ninth-round results:
Blindfold: Peter Leko (Hun) drew Sergey Karjakin (Ukr); Alexander Morozevich (Rus) lt to Levon Aronian (Arm); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus) bt Magnus Carlsen (Nor); V Anand drew Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr); Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze) lt to Loek van Wely (Ned); Veselin Topalov (Bul) drew Boris Gelfand (Isr).
Rapid: Karjakin drew Leko; Aronian bt Morozevich; Carlsen drew Kramnik; Ivanchuk bt Anand; Van Wely drew Mamedyarov; Gelfand drew Topalov.
Overall standings: 1. Aronian (12.5 pts); 2-4. Kramnik, Leko, Carlsen (10 each); 5-6. Ivanchuk, Topalov (9.5 each); 7. Anand (9); 8. Morozevich (8.5); 9. Karjakin (8); 10. Van Wely (7.5); 11. Gelfand (7); 12. Mamedyarov (6.5).