Viswanathan Anand trounced Peter Svidler with a masterful display that gave him the sole lead after seven rounds in the rapid section of the Melody Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess tournament in Monaco.
The Indian ace also moved into third position overall as he drew the blindfold game against Svidler.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Kramnik increased his overall lead thanks with a 2-0 win over his old rival Peter Leko. In the combined classification Kramnik is one full point ahead of Vasily Ivanchuk, who defeated Paco Vallejo 1.5-0.5. In the blindfold competition Kramnik is in a class of his own. In seven games he has only dropped half a point, but in the rapid competition Anand now tops the table with 5.5 points from 7.
In their blindfold game Svidler and Anand followed the game that the former played against Levon Aronian in Wijk aan Zee earlier this year. Anand introduced a novelty with 18 Bxd5 where the Armenian had taken with the queen. Black has good compensation for the pawn and White can only hope for an advantage if he manages to untangle his pieces. Not an easy thing to do with the powerful black knight on e4. Svidler's attempts to chase the knight away were unsuccessful and when Anand offered a draw he saw no reason to decline. Svidler felt it was black (Anand) who was better and hence took the draw.
The rapid game was no fun for Svidler, who got into trouble in the opening and was suffering all through the game. Showing admirable technique Anand converted his advantage, not allowing his opponent even a trace of counterplay.
Ivanchuk thrashed Paco Vallejo in rapid and drew blindfold to consolidate his position.
In his blindfold game against Leko, Kramnik surprisingly played the Marshall Gambit of the Ruy Lopez. A theoretical discussion ensued in which Kramnik was the first to play a new move, 23 Bf4. It was a novelty for the outside world as Leko had studied the move before his world championship match against the same Kramnik in Brissago in 2004.
Kramnik had investigated the move some time ago and admitted that he had gone through his notes. Despite all the complications the game was in balance till one move from the end when Leko's memory played a trick on him.
Believing Black's h-pawn was on h4 he moved his king to that square, only realizing that he'd made a big mistake when he didn't see 'Kxh4' on the screen but 'Kh4'. After Black's answer he had no choice but to resign.
Kramnik also won the rapid game easily to become stronger on combined points table.
Results - Round 7 (Blindfold): Svidler drew with Anand; Vallejo drew with Ivanchuk; Carlsen drew with Radjabov; Leko lost to Kramnik; Gelfand beat Van Wely; Aronian lost to Morozevich.
Results - Round 7 (Rapid): Anand beat Svidler; Ivanchuk beat Vallejo; Radjabov drew with Carlsen; Kramnik beat Leko; Van Wely drew with Gelfand; Morozevich drew with Aronian.
Round 7 - Standings (Blindfold): 1. Kramnik 6.5; 2. Gelfand 5.0; 3. Ivanchuk, and Svidler 4.5; 5. Morozevich and Radjabov 3.5; 7. Anand, Aronian and Leko 3.0; 10. Carlsen 2.5; 11. Van Wely and Vallejo Pons 1.5.
Round 7 - Standings (Rapid): 1. Anand 5.5; 2. Aronian and Ivanchuk 5.0; 4. Kramnik 4.0; 5. Morozevich and Carlsen and Leko 3.5; 8. Svidler 3.0; 9. Radjabov, Gelfand and Vallejo Pons 2.5; 12. Van Wely 1.5.
Round 7 - Standings (Combined): 1. Kramnik 10.5; 2. Ivanchuk 9.5; 3. Anand 8.5; 4. Aronian 8.0; 5. Svidler and Gelfand, 7.5; 7. Morozevich 7.0; 8. Leko 6.5; 9. Carlsen and Radjabov 6.0; 11. Vallejo Pons 4.0; 12. Van Wely 3.0.
