Anand wins, shares lead with Carlsen

Wijk Aan Zee (Netherlands), January 21 

Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand scored a crushing victory over Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan in the eighth round to share the lead with Norway’s Magnus Carlsen in the Tata Steel chess tournament. Having outclassed Vladimir Kramnik of Russia with black in the previous round, Anand, a five times winner here, continued his demolition act and grounded Mamedyarov, currently the world No. 3. 

The Indian ace took his tally to 5.5 points out of a possible eight, and is matched only by reigning world champion Carlsen, who played a fine game to beat Hungary’s Richard Rapport.

Wijk Aan Zee has been Anand’s favourite hunting ground for over two decades and he seems to be again hitting his top form as he outwitted Mamedyarov in all departments of the game. Mamedyarov made a slight error on the 12th move, and the Indian was quick to take advantage of it. Eventually, Anand sealed the deal on the 29th move. Carlsen, too, was in his element as he avenged his defeat against Rapport a couple of years back in the same round of the same tournament. Playing with white, the Norwegian was in control right through the game and gradually squeezed out the resources of his opponent. — PTI