Dortmund, Aug 05: Former world champion Viswanthan Anand warded off his blues and scored an emphatic victory over Grandmaster Arkadi Naiditsch of Germany in the fifth round of the Dortmund Sparkassen chess meeting here. Grandmaster Viktor Bologan of Moldova continued to lead the tables after getting an easy draw against youngest participant Timour Radjabov of Azerbaijan. Bologan took his tally to a remarkable 4 points out of a possible 5 and is likely to maintain his full point superiority over nearest contender Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik of Russia who was engrossed in a tense battle against GM Peter Leko of Hungary when reports last came in.
Anand took his tally to 2 points and will need to score heavily in the rounds to come if he has to be in contention for top honours in this six-players double round-robin tournament that is played on category 18 as per Fidefs charts.
Naiditsch remained on 2 points after bowing to Anand while Radjabov moved to the same score after his draw. Leko was on 1.5 but his game against Kamnik was still on and could get him a full point.
Anand finally struck with black after giving an exhibition of his superior middle game technique. Naiditsch was no match for the Indian giant in a complex battle arising out of a Sicilian Nazdorf.
The German Hope, or their best talent as he is sometimes referred to, was in a fix just when the game was out of known theoretical discussions and was outplayed in all its departments thereafter.
This win as black could be important for Anand as he will play with white against Naiditsch in their next encounter scheduled on the final day. Should the Indian ace make a real comeback, he will have a great psychological advantage over Naiditsch in that game.
Bureau Report