Anand's recent rating drop

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3rd London Chess Classic 2011 (Ratings)

IM Malcolm Pein - Monday 19th December 2011

Viswanathan Anand has lost rating points in Bilbao, Moscow and London and has dropped to number 4 in the world. Malcolm Pein also looks a recent win from the Bundesliga from Nisipeanu.

World Champion Anand. Photo © Ray Morris-Hill.

World Champion Anand. Photo © Ray Morris-Hill. | http://www.rmhphoto.eu

The 3^rd London Chess Classic determined the final ratings of the world's top 4 players who, going into the event, were all over 2800, a level only they, Veselin Topalov and Garry Kasparov have reached. As can be seen from the table below, Vishy Anand was the big loser and he described his recent results as a "disaster". Anand's rating has plummeted and he is now below 2800, hardly ideal preparation for his title defence in May against Boris Gelfand. It is apparent that Anand has been focussed on his battle with Gelfand for some time, to the detriment of his tournament results.

Current ratings of the top four.

1 Carlsen 2834.8 +8.8

2 Aronian 2808.8 +6.8

3 Kramnik 2800.6 +0.6

4 Anand 2798.6 âˆ’12.4

A quick win from the Bundesliga. White gambits a pawn to gain time and Black would have been better advised to decline.

LD Nisipeanu - O Heinzel

Scandinavian Defence

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.Nc4 Qc7 8.Qf3 Nb6 9.Bf4 Qd7 10.Be5 Qg4 11.Qe3 Nbd5 12.Qd2 Ne4

(12...Nxc3 13.Qxc3 Nd5 14.Qd2 Bf5 looks sounder)

13.Nxe4 Qxe4+ 14.Be2! (14.

Ne3 was quite good but this is sharper)