Viswanathan Anand gave young Etienne Bacrot a good lesson by first defending well and then pouncing on a blunder by the Frenchman to win their eighth round encounter at the Corus Grandmasters chess tournament in Wijk Aan Zee.
The third win with black pieces for Anand carried the Indian back to tied first place with Veselin Topalov.
Anand now has 5.5 points from eight rounds and rejoins Topalov in the lead, who drew with Boris Gelfand. The Corus tournament is now shaping into an expected battle between the top two unretired players in the world -- Topalov and Anand.
Anand should also have probably have been given only a draw. In fact, he looked be slightly worse at one stage, but then he neutralized with great defence. Around move 45, Bacrot missed some chances and Anand applied the pressure and a final blunder handed the Indian ace the full point.
Topalov was the last to finish with a 78-move draw against Gelfand in the Petroff's Defence.
Bacrot must have been upset at his game against Anand. He was doing fine all through the game, and even had Anand defend accurately. But somewhere down the middle game the French youngster messed up after which Anand began playing faster to snatch an unlikely victory.
"Sometimes when you create threats your opponent panics," said Anand after the win.
Gata Kamsky played an unusual line in the Slav Defence against Ivan Sokolov and for the first time in eighth games drew one. He has two wins, five losses and one draw.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov lost to Levon Aronian, while Sergei Tiviakov got a big advantage against Sergey Karjakin out of the Sicilian c3 he played. But Karjakin managed to get his rooks active and hold out for a draw. Michael Adams surprised Peter Leko by playing a c3 Sicilian but the position quickly became equal and repetition followed. Van Wely drew with Vassily Ivanchuk in another game.
In Group B, India's Koneru Humpy beat J Smeets and moved to tied seventh. The Group B is being led by Magnus Carlsen, who has 6.5 points from eight rounds.
Pairings for Round 9: Gelfand v Sokolov; Karjakin v Topalov; Aronian v Tiviakov; Ivanchuk v Mamedyarov; Anand v Van Wely; Leko v Bacrot; Kamsky v Adams
Results for Round 8: Adams drew with Leko; Van Wely drew with Ivanchuk; Tiviakov drew with Karjakin; Mamedyarov lost to Aronian; Sokolov drew with Kamsky; Bacrot lost to Anand; Topalov drew with Gelfand
Standings after Round 8: 1. Anand and Topalov 5.5 each; 3. Karjakin 5.0; 4. Adams, Gelfand and Ivanchuk 4.5; 7. Van Wely, Leko and Aronian 4.0; 10. Tiviakov 3.5; 11. Mamedyarov and Sokolov 3.0; 13. Kamsky and Bacrot 2.5.