Anand Survives defeat, recovers to beat Radjabov in Chess Classic

Mainz, Germany, Aug 20 (UNI) Eight-time champion Viswanathan Anand went down in another shocking loss to Azerbaijan's Teimour Radjabov in the fifth game but recovered to beat the youngster in the next game on the third day of the Grenkeleasing Rapid World Chess Championship here.

Playing with white in the fifth game, Anand and Radjabov -- after some exchanges -- played the match on the Sicilian lines. However, Anand failed to take the correct line and somehow missed the vital points in Radjabov's tricky moves. An aggressive Radjabov continued to attack Anand and unable to defend himself the Indian accepted defeat on the 46th move.

In the sixth game, Anand had his favourite black pieces and both the players moved quickly and fought bitterly on the Queens Gambit Declined pattern.

Forgetting that he lost a game just a few minutes ago, Anand fortified his pieces capturing all the important squares. In the end game, both the players were materially equal, however Anand had an edge and Radjabov was left with no other alternative but to resign.

This was Anand's second victory with black pieces while he lost the two games with white pieces.

''I played quite Lousy in the first game. Barely two moves after the theory I am already struggling. In the second game it was hard to believe that the black would win but somewhere it suddenly became favourable,'' Anand told UNI after the games.

Score After six games: Viswanathan Anand: 3 Teimour Radjabov: 3 UNI XC PM HT1257