In the blitz event of the Norway Chess, Anand defeats Carlsen

On his way to a fourth-place finish at the Norway Chess, India’s Viswanathan Anand defeated world champion Magnus Carlsen in round seven of the blitz event.

However, in the 10-player blitz event on Tuesday, the former World champion lost to Anish Giri (Netherlands) and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) in the fourth and ninth rounds, respectively, to end with five points.

In the blitz, the Indian GM defeated Aryan Tari (Norway), before drawing with Wesley So in round two. In the third round, he defeated veteran Veselin Topalov before sharing the point with Teimur Radjabov.

Anand defeated Carlsen after losing to Giri and drawing with Hao Wang (China). After starting with 2.5 points from the first three rounds, a draw against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov followed by a loss to Vachier-Lagrave put an end to his aspirations of a high finish.

Anand’s victory over Carlsen comes after Rameshbabu Praggnandhaa, a compatriot and teen star, recently defeated the Norwegian World champion in an online blitz event.

American So took first place in the Blitz rankings with 6.5 points, one point ahead of Carlsen, and Giri took third place. As a result, he earned the chance to choose his starting number in the traditional competition.

Starting later on Tuesday, the ten players will compete in a classic event.

Anand begins his Classical campaign with a match against Vachier-Lagrave.