Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand failed to capitalise on his chances and went down to Levon Aronian of Armenia in the ninth and final round Armageddon game to finish joint seventh in the Altibox Norway chess tournament here.
Anand, who will soon be 50, has had a mixed year so far and the trend continues here with a mediocre finish in the 10-player round-robin tournament.
The ‘novelty’ of having decisive games in every round might have gone well with the chess buffs but for Anand it turned out to be four wins, and five losses in all including a loss in the Classical game against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan early in the event.
Magnus Carlsen won with 13.5 points and took home €75000.
The results: Round nine: V. Anand (Ind, 8) lost to Levon Aronian (Arm, 10.5); Fabiano Caruana (USA, 10) bt Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 13.5); Yu Yangyi (Chn, 10.5) bt Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 5.5).
Ding Liren (Chn, 8.5) lost to Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 5.5); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 8.5) lost to Wesely So (USA, 10).