Viswanathan Anand overshadowed Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan to emerge clear third after the 11th round of the World chess championship in San Luis, Argentina.
The fourth victory by the Indian ace also helped him move within two points of championship leader Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria as the latter survived a scare before getting a draw against Michael Adams of England.
In the other decisive game of the day, Peter Svidler made his bid for the second place by defeating another contender Alexander Morozevich of Russia while Judit Polgar put an end to her losses by taking a draw with fellow Hungarian Peter Leko.
With just three rounds remaining in the million dollars event Topalov inched closer to the World title and moved to 8.5 points out of a possible 11.
The lead gap was narrowed a bit by Svidler who took his tally to 7 points and Anand at this stage is on 6.5 points. Morozevich fell behind after an insipid loss against Svidler but still maintains the sole fourth spot on 5.5. Peter Leko is next in line on 5, half point ahead of Kasimdzhanov while Adams is placed seventh on 4 points.
Like at the top, there was no change at the bottom of the tables too with Judit Polgar, 3 points, now almost certain to finish last.
Kasimdzhanov had beaten Anand in their previous meeting in the championship and certainly the Indian ace wanted to settle the scores.
Playing the white side of an English attack, Anand, an exponent of the variation, came up with a surprise knight manoeuvre that rattled Kasimdzhanov right from the early stages of the middle game.
The Uzbek was further shaken with the consistency of white's attack that left black's King in mortal danger and once the pieces got together in the center, Kasimdzhanov knew the end was not far. Anand got his rook to the seventh rank to register a satisfying victory in just 29 moves.
The only win-less player in the event so far, Michael Adams came close to causing a sensation but Topalov slipped like a fish towards the final stages of this engrossing encounter.
It was a Sicilian Scheveningen in which Adams, white, first sacrificed a pawn and gained control of the weakened dark squares around black king and later won an exchange through a knight sortie.
Just while Topalov thought he was only slightly worse, the English came up with a temporary rook sacrifice to pierce the black king side but as the event unfolded it was only good enough for a draw by perpetual check in 45 moves.
Svidler came out with flying colours against Morozevich who failed to put up the desired resistance in a slightly inferior endgame arising out of a Petroff defense.
Playing white, Svidler tightened the noose around black's weakened pawn structure in quick time and knocked down one pawn.
However, once on top, Svidler showed signs of complacency as his technique was found wanting to convert the winning Bishop and pawns endgame.
At the same time, Morozevich was also completely off colour and after 70 moves Svidler eventually got the important full point he was looking for.
In the next round, Svidler will have black pieces against Topalov and fortunes of this World championship can change only in the unlikely event of a Svidler victory.
Anand will play with black pieces against Morozevich in the other important clash.
The other game of the day was a tame draw in just 25 moves between Polgar and Leko where the former played white and faced the Caro Kann defense.
Results round 11: Viswanathan Anand (Ind, 6.5) beat Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzb, 4.5); Michael Adams (Eng, 4) drew with Veselin Topalov (Bul, 8.5); Judit Polgar (Hun, 3) drew with Peter Leko (Hun, 5); Peter Svidler (Rus, 7) beat Alexander Morozevich (Rus, 5.5)
Standings after round 11: 1. Topalov 8.5; 2. Svidler 7; 3. Anand 6.5; 4. Morozevich 5.5; 5. Leko 5; 6. Kasimdzhanov 4.5; 7. Adams 4; 8. Polgar 3
Pairing round 12: Kasimdzhanov v Adams; Leko v Anand; Morozevich v Polgar; Topalov v Svidler.
The moves:
V Anand v/s R Kasimdzhanov 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Be3 Nbd7 9. Qd2 b5 10. O-O-O Nb6 11. Qf2 Nc4 12. Bxc4 bxc4 13. Na5 Rc8 14. Bb6 Qd7 15. g3 g6 16. Rd2 Bh6 17. f4 Ng4 18. Qf3 Rb8 19. h3 Nf6 20. Bc5 exf4 21. gxf4 Rc8 22. Bxd6 Qd8 23. Bb4 Qb6 24. a3 Nh5 25. Kb1 Bxf4 26. Nd5 Bx d5 27. Rxd5 Bb8 28. Rhd1 c3 29. Rd7 black resigned. Michael Adams v/s Veselin Topalov 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e6 7. O-O Be7 8. a4 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. f4 Qc7 11. Kh1 Re8 12. Bf3 Bf8 13. Nb3 b6 14. e5 dxe5 15. fxe5 Nd7 16. Bxc6 Qxc6 17. Nd4 Qb7 18. Qh5 g6 19. Qh4 Nxe5 20. Ne4 Be7 21. Ng5 Bxg5 22. Bxg5 f5 23. Rae1 Qd5 24. Ne2 Nf7 25. Nf4 Qc6 26. Nh5 Nx g5 27. Nf6+ Kf7 28. Nxe8 Bb7 29. Nd6+ Qxd6 30. Qxg5 Rc8 31. Rf2 Rc4 32. Qh6 Kg8 33. Rd2 Bd5 34. b3 Rc3 35. Qh4 Qc5 36. Rxe6 Bxe6 37. Qf6 Bd5 38. Qd8+ Kg7 39. Rxd5 Qf2 40. Rd7+ Kh6 41. Qf8+ Kg5 42. Qe7+ Kf4 43. Qd6+ Kg5 44. Qe7+ Kf4 45. Qd6+ draw agreed.