World rapid king and defending champion Viswanathan Anand avenged his defeat at the hands of Levon Aronian in the Chess 960 final by beating him on the first day in the second game of the Grenke Leasing World Rapid Championship in Rhinegoldhalle, Mainz.
In the opening game on Friday, Anand, playing with White against his traditional rival Rustom Kasimdzhanov, opened with e4 and Kasimdzhanov replied with e5. After the set moves, the game was played on Ruy Lopez lines. Anand played a technically perfect game, occupied all the relevant squares and did not give Kasimdzhanov any chance to improve his position. Realising the mess he was in, Kasimdzhanov surrendered to the rapid king on the 45th move.
With one win in hand, Anand was more aggressive against Aronian.
In a Ruy Lopez game, by the time Aronian realized what was happening on the board, Anand surrounded the black pieces and finally gave a check to Aronian's King on the 37th move with Rf7+.
Aronian however survived the attack but then could not withstand the pressure of Anand's onslaught and surrendered meekly on the 40th move.
With two victories in hand Anand was more at ease against Frenchman Etienne Bacrot.
Playing with black this time, Anand replied with e5 to Bacrot's opening move of e4.
In this game also, Anand took to Ruy Lopez lines, which gave him the earlier two wins. Though he had some problems in the middle game, he was able to keep them away. He played a relaxed game and agreed for draw when offered on the 37th move.
''It is nice to win two games. In the third game I was slightly worse but with no problems.
"It is a nice start. Tomorrow I have three more games and if you are one of the two top that you still have a long way to go,'' Anand said.
In other games, Aronian defeated Bacrot in the first game, lost the second to Anand and drew the third game with Kasimdzhanov.
Bacrot beat Kasimdzhanov in the second game.
In the second round Anand will have two blacks and one white in the next three games to determine the finalist.
Standings after three games: Viswanathan Anand 2.5, Levon Aronian 1.5, Etienne Bacrot 1.5.
