Aronian takes early lead at Amber Chess 2009

Leko wins the rapid against Anand, Radjabov holds Topalov twice

In the first day of Amber Chess 2009 the players were getting used to the different format, something usual for the traditional competition. As a result many blundered in their games and precision was far from what it is expected to get later on, but still the chess fans could enjoy the unpredictable nature of the rapid and blindfold controls.

GM Aronian emerged as the early leader of the event winning both the rapid and the blindfold games against Ivanchuk. The Ukrainian GM would hope this is not a result of his recent downward trend and will be looking for a quick recovery in the next rounds.

The World Champion Viswanathan Anand, who is also a rapid world champion, was surprisingly defeated in the rapid game by GM Leko. However, Anand was stable in the blindfold and leveled the result. At the same time the World Chess Championship 2010 challenger GM Veselin Topalov settled for two draws with GM Teimour Radjabov.

All other matches finished equal as well, with players exchanging wins in the rapid and blindfold games, and draws were made only by Karjakin and Wang Yue.

Amber Chess 2009 results (blindfold / rapid)

Kramnik - Morozevich 1-0 / Morozevich - Kramnik 1-0
Radjabov - Topalov ½-½ / Topalov - Radjabov ½-½
Karjakin - Wang Yue ½-½ / Wang Yue - Karjakin ½-½
Carlsen - Kamsky 1-0 / Kamsky - Carlsen 1-0
Aronian - Ivanchuk 1-0 / Ivanchuk - Aronian 0-1
Anand - Leko 1-0 / Leko - Anand 1-0