New Delhi: In the 8th round of Norway Chess 2022, GM Viswanathan Anand faced the Azerbaijani GM Shakhriyar Mamedyrov. Anand, who is in a fabulous form, blundered and lost against Mamedyrov.

Anand had white pieces opened with 1.e4 and Mamedyrov chose to go for the Petrov Defence. Both sides kept solid and focused on development. But, on move number 22, an unusual thing happened. Anand had to find the move Qf5 and the game would have continued in a normal fashion, rather he chose to play Qb5 which was a blunder.

The resignation

Anand played the move and felt uncomfortable as he instantly saw that he has blundered the game. He signed the score sheet and resigned from the game. As Shakhriyar was not at the table at that time, Anand waited for him. When Shakhriyar arrived at the table, Anand extended his hand as a sign of resignation. Mamedyrov was confused at that time as he could not understand why Anand has resigned, which led to a funny moment between them.

The Azerbaijani grandmaster thought that Anand was offering a draw. Anand had to tell him that he is resigning, on which he asked “Why?”. Then Anand was the one who showed him the winning move Qf3.

Vishy Anand blunders with 1.Qb5?? and immediately resigns!
Check out Anand’s reaction when he realises his mistake, and Mamedyarov’s confusion when he returns to the board. #NorwayChess @chess24 pic.twitter.com/hHICTkLlUp

— Norway Chess (@NorwayChess) June 9, 2022

GM Radjabov, who was close to their table when this incident happen, talked about it in the post-match interview. He told that it was a strange conversation between Anand and Mamedyrov as they were like ‘I am resigning’ and ‘Why are you resigning?’ and both were confused.

After round 8, Magnus Carlsen is on top with 15 points followed by Shakhriyar Mamedyrov with 14.5 points and Anand with 13 points. Viswanathan Anand will face GM Aryan Tari in the final round.