Chess: Mixed start for Viswanathan Anand in rapid event at Croatia tournament

Former world champion Viswanathan Anand started with a fluent win over Dutch Grandmaster Jorden van Foreest before faltering against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the second round of rapid event in the Croatia Grand Chess Tour tournament which began in Zagreb on Wednesday.

He drew his third-round match against Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia.

The 51-year old Indian maestro, who is playing his first over-the-board event in over one year, defeated Foreest in 54 moves in a Sicilian Defence game. However, he could not repeat the magic against his French opponent in the second round, going down in 48 moves in a Caro-Kann Defence encounter. Anand drew his third-round match against Russian GM Nepomniachtchi, who will challenge Magnus Carlsen for the World champion title later this year.

The Sicilian Defence game saw Anand and his opponent settle for a draw in 27 moves.

Nepomniachtchi leads the standings after three rounds with two wins and a draw and five points. He beat Anton Korobov (Ukraine) and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) in the first and second round respectively.

Anand has three points (two points for a win and one for a draw) after three rounds. The tourney will see the 10 elite Grandmasters competing over 9 rounds of rapid chess (to be played from July 7…

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