Double win puts Anand back in contention

Viswanathan Anand bounced back in the Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess tournament to share lead after two smashing victories over Grandmaster Loek van Wely of Holland in the fifth round here.

Viswanathan Anand bounced back in the Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess tournament to share lead after two smashing victories over Grandmaster Loek van Wely of Holland in the fifth round here.

It turned out to be an excellent turnaround for Anand in terms of points. The Indian ace was two and half points behind overnight leader Vladimir Kramnik of Russia before the start of the 5th round but now is just a point away from the leaders8217; pack.

Vladimir Kramnik8217;s juggernaut was effectively halted by Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine, who drew the blindfold and won the rapid game against the tournament leader.

As things stand, Kramnik, Ivanchuk and Levon Aronian of Armenia, who played out two draws with Russian Peter Svidler, share the lead on seven points while Svidler and Anand were in joint fourth spot on 6 points in the combined standings.

In the remaining rounds, the battle for supremacy should be between these five players unless Alexander Morozevich currently tottering on 8th position with just 4.5 points gets back to his winning ways.

The victory in the rapid also helped Anand to jump into shared lead in this section along side Aronian on 4 points out of a possible five. In the blindfold, Kramnik is still the leader on 4.5 points while Anand shares the second spot on just 2 points.

Anand was a class act in the blindfold game. Playing the white side of an English attack, Anand humbled van Wely with a series of attack manoeuvres on the kingside spelling doom for the Dutchman. The middle game was a treat for the spectators as Anand uncorked a rook sacrifice and queen sacrifice to force matters in just 25 moves.

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Van Wely had a reasonable position to boast of in the return rapid game from a Queen8217;s Indian defense but he overestimated his chances in the middle game and went haywire while trying to find a weakness in Anand8217;s camp.

Anand won a piece and then knocked down all pawns compensating Van Wely who threw in the towel after 53 moves.