Anand crushes Svidler

Anand has 3.5 points, half-a-point behind the leaders Sergey Karjakin and Levon Aronian with eight rounds still to go at the World Chess Candidates tournament in Moscow.

A file picture of Viswanathan Anand and Peter Svidler.

Five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand bounced back into contention at the World Chess Candidates tournament in quite some style, crushing Peter Svidler of Russia in the sixth round in Moscow on Thursday.

Playing on the white side of a Spanish Game, the genial genius from Chennai needed just 24 moves to outwit Svidler, for whom this was the first loss in the tournament, after drawing all his five games. The devastating attack that Anand launched on the king-side was just too much for the Russian.

There was even more excitement in the game between the sole overnight leader Sergey Karjakin of Russia and Fabiano Caruana of the United States. Karjakin defended superbly – he even sacrificed his queen – to draw the game.

Karjakin thus has taken tally to four points, but he was joined in the lead by Armenia’s Levon Aronian, who defeated Hikaru Nakamura of the United States after a long battle. Anand has 3.5 points, half-a-point behind the leaders. Eight rounds remain.

Friday is a rest day.

The results (sixth round): Viswanathan Anand (Ind) 3.5 bt Peter Svidler (Rus) 2.5; Fabiano Caruana (US) 3 drew with Sergey Karjakin (Rus) 4; Veselin Topalov (Bul) 2 drew with Anish Giri (Ned) 3; Levon Aronian 4 bt Hikaru Nakamura (US) 2.