Viswanathan Anand capitalized on a small mistake by Vladimir Kramnik in their rapid clash in the sixth round to take a concrete step towards retaining his Melody Amber title in Monaco.
Anand drew his blindfold game against Kramnik and then won the rapid game to finish with 1.5 out of two in the day's clashes. It was Anand's fourth win in six rapid games so far and shows his amazing skill at this format, where he has drawn two other games to have sole lead in rapid. He also has a score of 3 out of six in blindfold.
So, far Anand has lost just one game, in blindfold, and that setback came against Topalov.
Anand now has eight points from six rounds - of two games each - and shares the lead with Evegeny Bareev, who was one of the big winners of the day beating Alexei Shirov 2-0. Anand however has sole possession of the lead in rapid standings, where he is a clear one point ahead of Bareev.
In one of the most action-packed rounds, where all six rapid games produced results and only three of the six blindfold games ended in draws.
Kramnik has now slipped to joint third with Peter Leko, who also scored a 2-0 win over Paco Vallejo.
Before the sixth round clash, Anand and Kramnik shared the lead and are also the world's No. 2 and 3 respectively. They have also won the year's two big events so far, the Wijk Aan Zee and Linares respectively.
A great fight was expected, but their blindfold game was a short 18-move draw in a Sicilian Scheveningen. A repetition of moves from Kramnik's side ended the game prematurely. Kramnik missed a decent chance to force initiative but Anand defended well.
Allaying any fears of another quick draw, Anand used his advantage with white in an anti-Sveshnikov in the rapid game.
Anand tried to use some ideas from last year's game here between Ivanchuk and Van Wely, but didn't succeed in it. Anand may have been wondering if all his efforts would go to vain, when the game took a sharp turn in his favour as Kramnik played 16.Qe8, a huge mistake and after 29.Nxd6 he found himself clearly better and despite a frantic time-trouble phase he confidently hauled in the full point to keep the lead.
Peter Leko bounced back from fifth round's ordeal with a fairly simple 2-0 victory over Paco Vallejo. In their blindfold game, the Spanish youngster mixed up a couple of variations and found himself in a very unpleasant position and lost in the game that began with the French Rubinstein.
In the rapid game, a Queen's Indian, Petrosian variation, Vallejo played poorly. A series of inaccuracies landed him in an inferior ending where Leko didn't have too many problems exploiting the strength of his bishop pair.
Loek van Wely, won his rapid game against the unpredictable Alexander Morozevich after drawing the blindfold. Vasily Ivanchuk ground down Veselin Topalov in their blind game, but then the result was reversed in rapid, where Topalov was in fine form.
Results of Round 6 (Blindfold):
Morozevich drew with Van Wely, Ivanchuk beat Topalov, Leko beat Vallejo Pons, Kramnik drew with Anand, Shirov lost to Bareev, Gelfand drew with Svidler.
Standings Blindfold:
1. Svidler, Morozevich, Ivanchuk, Bareev and Leko 4.0; 6. Kramnik 3.5; 7. Anand 3.0; 8. Van Wely, Topalov and Shirov 2.5; 11. Vallejo Pons 1.5; 12. Gelfand 0.5.
Resuts of Round 6 (Rapid):
Anand beat Kramnik, Bareev beat Shirov, Vallejo Pons lost to Leko, Topalov beat Ivanchuk, Svidler beat Gelfand, Van Wely beat Morozevich.
Standings Rapid:
1. Anand 50; 2. Bareev 4.0; 3. Topalov, Kramnik and Leko 3.5; 6. Svidler, Ivanchuk and Van Wely 3.0; 9. Shirov 2.5; 10. Morozevich 2.0; 11. Vallejo Pons and Gelfand 1.5.
Standings Combined:
1. Anand and Bareev 8.0; 3. Leko 7.5; 4. Svidler, Kramnik and Ivanchuk 7.0; 7. Topalov and Morozevich 6.0; 9. Van Wely 5.5; 10. Shirov 5.0; 11. Vallejo Pons 3.0; 12. Gelfand 2.0.
Pairings for seventh round:
Topalov-Gelfand; Bareev-Ivanchuk; Svidler-Shirov; Van Wely-Leko; Anand-Morozevich; Vallejo-Kramnik.
