Viswanathan Anand had mixed luck, losing yet another blindfold game, but then crushed Lev Aronian in the rapid game to extend his lead to a full point in the section after nine rounds of the Melody Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess tournament.
Anand is now a clear leader in Rapid, but is sharing the overall second position with Vassily Ivanchuk. The overall leader continues to be Vladimir Kramnik, who is also the leader in blindfold section.
Levon Aronian won an important game against Anand. As is often the case in the Armenian's games, it looked as if he won effortlessly, but that certainly was not the case.
Aronian explained that Black's 19 Rdf8 should have been replaced by 19 Rad8. He felt the error that black knight's going to b4.
Instead he felt that Anand should have exchanged the knight against its white counterpart on f3.
Now Aronian developed a strong attack and the united force of the white queen and rook were too much for Black's defences.
Anand hit back in the rapid game, where he first won the opening battle and then a highly promising endgame.
In a Marshall Gambit of the Ruy Lopez, Aronian believed that he was fine after 21 Nd5.
Anand begged to differ. He had studied the line as well and had stopped after 25.Bxg5 with the conclusion that White was much better.
Perhaps Aronian could have defended better in the opposite-coloured bishops endgame, but as it Anand coolly collected the point after 57 moves.
Interestingly Aronian is one of the very few players to equal a career score against Anand. The two have now two wins each and two draws in only six games they have played against each other.
Magnus Carlsen and Kramnik drew their blindfold game when the board was still filled with pieces.
Actually, the number of pieces that were still in play was an important reason for Kramnik to offer a draw.
After the game he confessed that at that point he was starting to 'lose pieces' in his memory and not knowing exactly where your pieces are is not a good thing in blindfold chess. The opening was a Ruy Lopez.
The rapid game saw Kramnik dominate the young Norwegian in a Botvinnik Slav.
Peter Leko faced an unappealing task in his blindfold game against Vasily Ivanchuk.
The Hungarian has not been well for the past days and it was obvious to anyone that he appeared at the table in poor physical condition.
Leko's game collapsed in the middle game. Soon the black pieces invaded his ranks looking for the vulnerable white king.
The rapid game was a prolonged Exchange Variation. From time to time Ivanchuk and Leko exchanged some pieces and after 30 moves the players called it a day.
Results of Round 9: Blindfold: Carlsen drew with Kramnik; Svidler drew with Van Wely; Vallejo drew with Morozevich; Aronian beat Anand; Leko lost to Ivanchuk; Gelfand beat Radjabov
Results of Round 9: Rapid: Kramnik beat Carlsen; Van Wely beat Svidler; Morozevich beat Vallejo; Anand beat Aronian; Ivanchuk drew with Leko; Radjabov drew with Gelfand
Results of Round 9: Blindfold: 1. Kramnik 8.0; 2. Ivanchuk, Svidler and Gelfand 6.0; 5. Morozevich and Aronian 5.0; 7. Anand 4.0; 8. Carlsen and Radjabov 3.5; 10. Leko 3.0; 11. Van Wely and Vallejo Pons 2.0
Results of Round 9: Rapid: 1. Anand 7.5; 2. Kramnik, Aronian and Ivanchuk 5.5; 5. Leko 5.0; 6. Carlsen and Morozevich 4.5; 8. Svidler 4.0; 9. Gelfand 3.5; 10. Radjabov and Van Wely 3.0; 12. Vallejo Pons 2.5;
Results of Round 9: Combined: 1. Kramnik 13.5; 2. Ivanchuk and Anand 11.5; 4. Aronian 10.5; 5. Svidler 10.0; 6. Morozevich and Gelfand 9.5; 8. Carlsen and Leko 8.0; 10. Radjabov 6.5; 11. Van Wely 5.0; 12. Vallejo Pons 4.5
