Anand Leading In Amber
After 8 rounds of the hugely strong and entertaining blindfold/rapid Amber Chess Tournament in Nice, world champion Vishy Anand is leading the overall standings by just half a point from Lev Aronian and Magnus Carlsen.
Anand took the lead in the 8th round by convincingly beating Kramnik in their blindfold game and easily drawing their rapid encounter later in the day.
Monday 23rd March is a rest day, so the final three rounds take place from 24th-26th March, to decide the fate of the €216,000 prize fund. The games are still providing a mix of the sublime and the ridiculous, as one would expect from blind/rapid games. Don't forget that the blind games are also rapid (25 mins plus 20 sec/move!) Selected games are shown below.
The standings after round 8:
| Blind | Rapid | Overall | |||||
| Carlsen, Magnus | 6½ | Anand, Viswanathan | 5 | Anand, Viswanathan | 10½ | ||
| Anand, Viswanathan | 5½ | Kamsky, Gata | 5 | Aronian, Levon | 10 | ||
| Leko, Peter | 5 | Aronian, Levon | 5 | Carlsen, Magnus | 10 | ||
| Aronian, Levon | 5 | Kramnik, Vladimir | 4½ | Kramnik, Vladimir | 9½ | ||
| Kramnik, Vladimir | 5 | Karjakin, Sergey | 4½ | Leko, Peter | 8½ | ||
| Morozevich, Alexander | 4 | Topalov, Veselin | 4 | Kamsky, Gata | 7½ | ||
| Topalov, Veselin | 3½ | Leko, Peter | 3½ | Topalov, Veselin | 7½ | ||
| Radjabov, Teimour | 3½ | Ivanchuk, Vassily | 3½ | Morozevich, Alexander | 7½ | ||
| Ivanchuk, Vassily | 3 | Carlsen, Magnus | 3½ | Ivanchuk, Vassily | 6½ | ||
| Kamsky, Gata | 2½ | Morozevich, Alexander | 3½ | Karjakin, Sergey | 6½ | ||
| Wang Yue | 2½ | Radjabov, Teimour | 3 | Radjabov, Teimour | 6½ | ||
| Karjakin, Sergey | 2 | Wang Yue | 3 | Wang Yue | 5½ |
