Anand emerges sole leader

KOCHI, March 9: Yesterday belonged to Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand in the Ciudad de Linares Super Grandmasters Chess Tournament. He scored over Vesselin Topalov in the penultimate round according to reports reaching here.With the win, Anand has emerged the leader, having taken 11 points from seven matches. Anand now meets Vladmir Kramnik in the last round tonight.

Yesterday, Anand surprised one and all with a new move to counter the Sicilian- Najdorf. Anand gobbled up Topalov’s Queen for two minor pieces on move 28. The Indian GM faced a lot of technical difficulties before converting the advantage into a victory, his second in a row.

He had to return a material to begin with and to ensure he was an exchange up before finally prevailing over Topalov. The game lasted 74 moves and went into the sudden death time control.