Anand wins friendly rapid chess match against Kasimdzhanov 3.5-0.5

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011

Hi everyone,

In a friendly, 4-game rapid match held on Sunday, March 27 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan Vishy Anand beat Rustam Kasimdzhanov 3.5-0.5. The first game ended in a draw and then the World Champion won the three remaining games.

The match between the reigning World Champion Viswanathan Anand and his second and former FIDE World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov was held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. It was organized by the Chess Federation of Uzbekistan and the “Forum” Foundation, and held directly after the traditional Georgi Agzamov memorial. The match consisted of four games with the time control of 25 minutes plus 10 seconds increment.

Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Uzbekistan’s number one player, won the knockout FIDE World Championship in 2004 and held the title until 2005. Later he joined Anand’s team to help the World Champion defend his crown, won in Mexico in 2007, in matches against Kramnik in Bonn, 2008, and against Topalov in Sofia, 2010.

Although Anand has been known for decades for his speedy chess, Kasimdzhanov is not a bad rapid player himself. His 2004 title was partly based on excellent play in rapid tiebreaks while most recently, Kasimdzhanov won the Rapid Championship of the 16th Asian Games, held in November in Guangzhou, China.

Rapid Match Tashkent

Name	Ti	NAT	Rtng	1	2	3	4	Total	Perf
Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2817	½	1	1	1	3½	3023
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	g	UZB	2687	½	0	0	0	½	2495

The first game was drawn in a Petroff where Kasimdzhanov might have had a slight advantage in the final position. Then, the Uzbek grandmaster played an excellent game and reached a winning ending in the second game. However, he blundered. In the third game Anand won quickly in another Petroff. In the last game Anand got a tiny edge right out of the opening and used back rank tactics to win.


You can access the official website here.


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