Tata Steel Chess: Anand beats Firouzja, jumps to joint sixth

Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand gave a fine endgame lesson to young Alireza Firouzja, jumping to joint sixth position at the end of 11th round of Tata Steel Masters here.

With his second victory, Anand clawed his way back to a fifty percent score and will now hope to end the tournament on a high. At just 16 years, Firouzja is less than one third of Anand's age, and the Indian ace showed that the Iranian still has a lot to learn.

Anand started with the Nimzo Indian and faced the Samisch setup by the Iranian.

The middle game was double edged but Anand made most of it. Converting to a rook and opposite coloured Bishops endgame, Anand capitalised on his better pieces to tie down white's forces and in the end forcibly won a pawn.

For Firouzja, this was the third straight loss in the tournament after a brilliant start that saw him on the leaderboard around the half way mark.

"I was not very optimistic before the round," Anand said after the game, adding, "I felt that after the rest day he will get back in some sort of control, but he is very dangerous and aggressive."