Anand Moves Into Sole Lead
By Arvind Aaron

World No.1 Viswanathan Anand of Chennai wrested sole lead when he defeated Peter Svidler of St Petersburg, Russia in the fifth round of the FIDE World Chess Championship being played at Mexico City on September 18. After sacrificing the pawn in the Marshall attack, Svidler played positionally with black and quickly found himself being outplayed in a positional battle. Anand won two pawns on the king side and Svidler resigned a one sided contest on the 39th turn.

Nine rounds remain to be played. Anand leads by half a point. This was his first win with the white pieces. Anand is on 3.5 points from five games. Three players, Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Grischuk (both Russia) and Boris Gelfand are in second place with three points.

This round saw three decisive games, the highest for any day. Overall seven decisive games out of 20 is also good going. Grischuk played like Morozevich taking chances to defeat the big risk taker Morozevich himself. Gelfand benefited from Aronian's risktaking sacrifices by accepting the pawns and won.

Anand, NIIT's Brand Ambassador faces Leko in the next round with the black pieces. Anand had defeated Leko with the black pieces in the Linares/Morelia Tournament this year with the black pieces and will be looking for more than a draw.


The results (round five): Viswanathan Anand (Ind) 3.5 bt Peter Svidler (Rus) 1.5, Alexander Grischuk (Rus) 3 bt Alexander Morozevich (Rus) 2, Peter Leko (Hun) 2 drew Vladimir Kramnik (Rus) 3, Boris Gelfand (Isr) 3 bt Levon Aronian (Arm) 2.

Pairing for Wednesday's round six: Aronian v Kramnik, Gelfand v Morozevich, Grischuk v Svidler, Leko v Anand.