Anand loses to Hikaru Nakamura of US in London Classic

It was not the best of birthdays for five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand as he went down to Hikaru Nakamura of United States in the third round of London Chess Classic chess tournament here on Monday.

Just two days before Nakamura had lost to compatriot Wesley So on his birthday and on Monday the American increased his lead over Anand to 8-2 in personal encounters apart from 13 draws in Classical games. The loss proved costly for Anand as he slipped back to 50 per cent score while Nakamura reached the same score with his first victory in the tournament.

With six rounds still remaining in the super tournament, Wesley So continued to lead the tables on 2.5 points after escaping with a draw against Levon Aronian of Armenia.

Aronian, Russian Vladimir Kramnik and Fabiano Caruana of United States share the second spot now on two points each while Anand, Nakamura and Anish Giri of Holland share the fifth spot on 1.5 points, a half point ahead of French Grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. 

Michael Adams of England and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria share the ninth spot having a half point each.