Press Trust of India
St. Louis (USA), August 24: Five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand suffered a surprising first round loss at the hands of Hikaru Nakamura of United States in the Sinquefield Cup here Sunday.
Starting the tournament with a double black, Anand defended pretty well for a long time before Nakamura crashed through after persistent pressure.
Anand, however, was a little unlucky to lose from an equal position against Nakamura out of a Catalan opening where the Indian played black.
Getting out of the opening unscathed, Anand had to defend patiently as Nakamura continued to hunt for an advantage and it was only after some errors by the former that the American picked up a pawn on move 40.
Anand resigned after three more moves rather prematurely in opinion of some masters but the pressure was immense in addition to the material deficit.
The tournament has a total prize fund of USD 300000 in addition to the 150000 prize fund at stake for the top three finishers of the grand chess tour that started with the Norway tournament and will end with the London Chess Classic in December this year.
There are eight rounds still remaining in one of the strongest ever tournament that has eight of the top 10 in world rankings participating.
