The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Anand back in joint lead

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Sunday, Mar 26, 2006

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Sport - Chess

Anand back in joint lead

Monaco: A resilient Viswanathan Anand crushed Grandmaster Peter Leko in both the blindfold and rapid games to return to the top of the leaderboard after six rounds in the 15th Amber blindfold and rapid chess tournament here.

With an unambiguous 2-0 victory, Anand has joined Alexander Morozevich in the combined lead with 7.5 points, one point clear of the Veselin Topalov-Francisco Vallejo duo.

The Indian also improved his blindfold position to joint fourth with three points. It's a familiar story in the rapid section where the Indian tops the table with 4.5 points, one point ahead of Vallejo.

The sixth-round battle between Anand and Leko was the top draw of the day and the Indian showed who was the boss..

The standings (after sixth rounds):

Combined: 1. Viswanathan Anand, Alexander Morozevich (7.5); 3. Veselin Topalov, Francisco Vallejo (6.5); 5. Levon Aronian, Boris Gelfand, Peter Leko (6); 8. Alexander Grischuk, Peter Heine Nielsen (5.5); 10. Vassily Ivanchuk, Peter Svidler, Loek Van Wely(5).

Blindfold: 1. Morozevich (4.5); 2. Leko, Topalov (3.5); 4. Anand, Aronian, Gelfand, Grischuk, Vallejo (3); 9. Ivanchuk, Nielsen, Svidler (2.5); 12. Van Wely (2).

Rapid: 1. Anand (4.5); 2. Valejo (3.5) 3. Aronian, Gelfand, Morozevich, Nielsen, Topalov, Van Wely (3); 9. Grischuk, Ivanchuk, Leko, Svidler (2.5). — UNI

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