World Rapid champion Viswanathan Anand continued his demolition act and downed his Spanish practice partner Francisco Pons Vallejo in the blindfold game of the third round of the 14th Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess tournament now in progress Monaco.
Anand thus maintained his all-win record in the tournament so far and took his tally to an enviable 5/5 at the halfway stage of the third round in this unique event, being played on a round-robin basis between 12 players with one rapid and one blindfold game in each round.
The Indian ace in fact stretched his overnight lead to a full point as nearest rival Peter Svidler of Russia drew with compatriot Alexander Morozevich after a tough fight in this round and moved to 4 points out of a possible five.
Russian Vladimir Kramnik and Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk are on joint third spot on 3.5 points each in the combined standings of the Euro 193,250 prize money tournament.
Later, Anand will have to tackle Vallejo in the rapid game but in the blindfold, the highest rated player in the event proved that he is many notches ahead when it came to handling younger opponents.
Giving a fantastic opening display in one of the most attacking variations against the Nazdorf, Anand made sure he got enough attack after a routine piece sacrifice and Vallejo simply had no answers in the late middle game as he was forced to part with his queen and the game lasted just 32 moves.
Kramnik ensured that at least in the blindfold he remained at par with Anand with his third win on the trot in the tournament.
On the receiving end this time was Topalov, who surprisingly has lost all his blindfold games thus far.
It may be recalled here that Topalov is fresh from his triumph at Linares Super Grandmasters tournament where he finished equal to Russian Garry Kasparov. However, herein ever since the beginning, Topalov is finding the going tough and Kramnik's drubbing was another indication that this is a totally different ball game from usual chess.
Topalov was up against an Anti Marshall and was subjected to an attack against his king after his counter play bid was successfully foiled. Kramnik, a joint winner here overall last year and clearly a cut above the rest in the blindfold, made merry after an erroneous plan by the Bulgarian and romped home in 51 moves.
Results round 3 (Blindfold):
Alexander Morozevich (Rus) drew with Peter Svidler (Rus); Evgeny Bareev (Rus) lost to Peter Leko (Hun); Boris Gelfand (Isr) beat Loek Van Wely (Ned); Viswanathan Anand (Ind) beat Francisco Pons Vallejo (Esp); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus) beat Veselin Topalov (Bul); Alexei Shirov (Esp) lost to Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr).
Blindfold standings: 1-2. Kramnik, Anand 3 each; 3. Svidler 2.5; 4-5. Leko, Ivanchuk 2 each; 6-7. Morozevich, Gelfand 1.5 each; 8-9. Bareev, Vallejo 1 each; 10. Van Wely 0.5; 11-12. Shirov, Topalov 0 each.
Combined Standings after round 3 blindfold: 1. Anand 5; 2. Svidler 4; 3-4. Ivanchuk, Kramnik 3.5 each; 5. Leko 3; 6-7. Morozevich, Bareev 2.5; 8-9. Gelfand, Vallejo 2 each; 10. Van Wely 1; 11-12. Shirov, Topalov 0.5 each.