Anand only winner in Round 8

Former World champion Viswanathan Anand was the only winner in the eighth round and he is in third place with 4.5 points. Since this year’s tour offers three qualifying spots for next year, the players are not taking as many chances in the last rounds, not wanting to risk their qualification. Once again, Anand showed off his world class preparation when he played yet another novelty, surprising Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and complicating the position. For the already out of form Topalov, this was certainly an unpleasant situation to be in and he soon found himself in a much worse position. Anand missed a winning shot, allowing his opponent to come back into the game. 

Unfortunately, it was clear that nothing could go right for Topalov in this event, and as he put it himself, his brain was not working. Yet again, he blundered in a difficult position, losing his sixth game in the event. Nkamura needed the point to catch the tournament leader So and Aronian needed to finish in top three to qualify for the 2017 Grand Chess Tour. Ironically, the game was the first to finish after only an hour of play in a very uneventful manner when all the pieces were exchanged.