Anand gets chance to go into sole lead

World Cup champion Viswanathan Anand has an excellent chance of gaining sole lead as he takes on lowly placed Grandmaster Ljubomir Ljubojevi...

World Cup champion Viswanathan Anand has an excellent chance of gaining sole lead as he takes on lowly placed Grandmaster Ljubomir Ljubojevic of Yugoslavia in the fifth round of 12th Amber blindfold and rapid chess tournament here.

The players had their first rest day yesterday and spent time preparing for the next round of this unique event that has one blindfold and one rapid game in each round.

After the fourth round on Tuesday, Grandmaster Peter Leko led the 12-player pack with 5.5 points from eight games played so far. Leko has garnered three points out of the four blindfold games while in the rapid his score is 2.5. The second place in the overall standings is shared by Anand, Russian duo of Braingames champion Vladimir Kramnik and Alexander Morozevich and Grandmaster Boris Gelfand of Israel, all on five points apiece.

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Living up to his reputation of one of the best men in business in rapid chess, Anand has an excellent score of three points from his four games and leads this section along with Russian Bareev and Morozevich.

The Indian ace has not been as impressive in the blindfold games so far and has just managed two points. Anand’s superiority in the rapid gives him a good chance to level even though the blindfold games will hold the key.

Leko has not done anything exceptional and is not leading in either section. But his consistency in both the section so far has held him in good stead and he will be a major hurdle for anand if the speed king has to repeat his performance of 1997 when he won all the three — rapid, blindfold and overall — titles at stake here.

Kramnik has been brilliant and ominous to opponents in the blindfold. His score of 3.5/4 is just another indication of his perfect concentration.

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His game against Topalov can be singled out as the most beautiful game in the event so far in the blindfold when he massacred the Bulgarian with a fantastic combination worthy of a place in history books.

Pairings round 5: Viswanathan Anand vs Ljubomir Ljubojevic (Yug); Loek van Wely (Ned) vs Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr); Alexander Mrozevich (Rus) vs Boris Gelfand (Isr); Veselin Topalov (Bul) vs Peter Leko (Hun); Alexei Shirov (Esp) vs Zoltan Almasi (Hun); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus) vs Evgeny Bareev (Rus).