Anand beats Karjakin to jump into joint third spot

Viswanathan Anand downed Ukrainian Sergey Karjakin in the 10th round of the Group 'A' to stamp his second successive win at the Corus International chess tournament in Wijk Aan Zee, the Netherlands.

After languishing at seventh spot just two rounds before, the Indian ace worked his way back to the joint third spot in the category19 tournament with back-to-back victories in the last two rounds.

With just three rounds remaining in the elite event, Anand is fancied as someone who can really match up with tournament leader and top seed Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria.

Anand was in his element yet again against Karjakin in a repetition of the variation he fought out with the Ukrainian a year back in the same event.

Looking a bit subdued as white, Karjakin went for a queen sacrifice that promised only equalising chances for white in a Sicilian Najdorf game.

Anand on the other hand was obviously not satisfied with a draw given his tournament situation and slowly worked his way towards improving his position to which Karjakin had no answers after a certain point. Anand won in 63 moves.

Topalov won against Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the only other decisive result of this round.

The Bulgarian took his tally to 7.5 points after the victory where he is followed by Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan on 6.5. Anand, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and Levon Aronian of Armenia are next in line on 6 points each.

World's youngest Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi was held to a quick draw by Edwin Van Haastert of Holland in the Group 'C' being played simultaneously.

Playing the white side of a French defense, Negi could not get any advantage and signed peace in just 19 moves.

International Master Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia continued to lead this section on 8.5 points after settling for a draw with Wouter Spoelman of Holland. Negi now has 5.5 points in this section.

Results round 10:
Group 'A': Veselin Topalov (Bul, 7.5) beat Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 3); Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 6.5) drew with Peter Svidler (Rus, 6); Sergey Karjakin (Ukr, 5) lost to Viswanathan Anand (Ind, 6); Alexander Motylev drew with  Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 6); Sergei Tiviakov (Ned, 4) drew with David Navara (Cze, 4.5); Loek Van Wely (Ned, 3.5) drew with Levon Aronian (Arm, 6); Alexei Shirov (Esp, 3) drew with Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukr, 5)

Group 'C': Thomas Willemze (Ned, 3) beat Hou Yifan (Chn, 5.5); Wouter Spoelman (Ned, 5.5) drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus, 8.5); Stellan Brynell (Swe, 3) drew with Zhaoqin Peng (Ned, 4.5); Parimarjan Negi (Ind, 5,5) drew with Edwin van Haastert (Ned, 5); Nadezhda Kosintseva (Rus, 3.5) lost to Harmen Jonkman (Ned, 3.5); Michal Krasenkow (Pol, 7.5) beat Manuel Bosboom (Ned, 5); John van der Wiel (Ned, 3.5) drew with Emanuel Berg (Swe, 6.5).