Anand at joint second with 1 win and 1 loss in 5th round

Nice, France (UNI) World Champion Viswanathan Anand suffered a shock defeat from Russia's Alexander Morozevich in the fifth round and is at tied second spot in the Amber blindfold and Rapid chess tournament here.

The Indian ace slipped after Morozevich sacrificed a pawn in a strategic move that saw the Indian getting in to a Meran Defence yesterday.

Anand was well prepared but Morozevich was even stronger and slowly capitalised as the Indian resigned in the 29th move.

This was Anand's second successive loss in two rounds after Hungary's Peter Leko defeated him in the fourth round of rapid game.

The day however, belonged to Lev Aronian who is leading the overall standings with 6.5 points and is a full point ahead of Anand.

UNI XC RAR BD1445