Anand beats Radjabov; joint third now

Sor Hidle: World champion Viswanathan Anand outclassed Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan to jump to joint third spot after the seventh round of Norway chess 2013 super tournament, here.

It turned out to be a good day in office for Anand as he won an important game with black pieces adding to the woes of Radjabov whose slide in the world ranking continued. The full point also took Anand to four points out of a possible seven. Karjakin accounted for Hikaru Nakamura showing great signs of recovery after losing to Carlsen in the fifth and salvaging a half point against Anand in the sixth round. World number one Magnus Carlsen of Norway scored a lucky victory against compatriot Jon Ludvig Hammer while in the other two games Levon Aronian of Armenia played out a draw with Chinese Wang Hao and Russian Peter Svidler signed peace with former world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria. Karjakin stayed ahead with 5.5 points and Carlsen remained on his toes a half point behind. Aronian shares the third spot along with Anand on four points while Svidler and Nakamura have 3.5 points each for the shared fifth place. Topalov is next in standings on three points, a half point clear of Wnag Hao and Nakamura while Hammer remained on the bottom having 1.5 points from his seven games. The Catalan opening holds a solid reputation as white but Radjabov was on the receiving end after some reckless play in the middle game. Anand capitalised on his queen side pawn majority and an open file in the center to exert pressure and Radjabov’s position crumbled in quick time. The world champion ended the game with a tactical finesse winning material. PTI