Viswanathan Anand outclassed Loek Van Wely of The Netherlands to move to joint second position in the overall standings in the 12th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess tournament in Monte Carlo on Monday.
Playing with white pieces, Anand gave a positional tutorial to the Dutchman in the Blindfold category. Opening the game with the king pawn, he used the Closed Sicilian variation to the fullest to get the better of Wely in 39 moves.
However, Wely fought hard in the Rapid variety, pressing for an advantage in the middle game arising from the Queens Indian defence.
Anand, on the defensive, put up a brave show and steered the game to a level rook and pawns endgame, where a draw was agreed on the 72nd move. The India ace won 1.5-0.5.
In other games, Super Grandmasters champion Peter Leko of Hungary humbled Spaniard Alexei Shirov 2-0 to emerge sole leader with 3.5 point from four games played so far.
Anand ranks joint second alongwith Vladimir Kramnik and Evgeny Bareev (both Russia), Boris Gelfand (Israel) and Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine).
Leko, who is in top form after his maiden title at Linares, turned tables on Shirov from a rather innocuous looking position in the blindfold game and grabbed a full point in the rapid variety with his endgame.
The day's most interesting game was played between Kramnik and Topalov, which the former won in a Scilian opening, Kramnik playing white in the blindfold, steered the game to a peculiar position where Topalov found himself with an extra piece in the endgame, but mate on his king was inevitable.
Kramnik drew the Rapid game after an intense struggle.
Results:
Blindfold: Alexei Shirov (Spain) lost to Peter Leko (Hungary); Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) beat Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria); Evgeny Bareev (Russia) beat Zoltan Almasi (Hungary); Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) beat Alexander Morozevich (Russia); Viswanathan Anand (India) beat Loek van Wely (The Netherlands); Ljubomir Ljubojevic (Yugoslavia) drew Boris Gelfand (Israel).
Rapid: Morozevich 2; Bareev, Leko, Gelfand 1.5 each; Anand, Almasi, Topalov 1 each; Shirov, Kramnik, Van Wely, Ivanchuk, Ljubojevic 0.5 each.
Overall: Leko 3.5; Anand, Kramnik, Gelfand, Bareev, Ivanchuk 2.5 each; Morozevich, Topalov 2.0 each; Van Wely 1.5; Ljubojevic, Almasi 1 each; Shirov 0.5.