Wijk Aan Zee: Viswanathan Anand cruised to a brilliant victory against the world’s youngest-ever Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine in the first round of the Corus Super Grandmasters Chess tournament that began here on Saturday (as reported in Sunday’s Late City edition).

Anand’s victory with black really came in handy, as the Indian stalwart was able to match world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria who also scored a thumping victory over Gata Kamsky of the US.

The opening day of the category-19 event also saw Ukrainian genius Vassily Ivanchuk coming out triumph against third seed and World Cup winner Levon Aronian of Armania. The remaining four game of the first day ended in draws, mostly after tough fights.

After the first round, Anand, Ivanchuk and Topalov share the lead with a perfect score while as many as eight players follow them a half point behind. The three losers of the first round were naturally relegated to the last spot.

In B group being held simultaneously, the other Indian in the fray, Koneru Humpy, also coasted off to a good start by holding once world championship candidate Slovenian Alexander Beliavsky to a draw.

Playing black, Humpy used her practical skills to keep the immensely experienced Beliavsky at bay for the major part of the game and in the end forced a draw after 60 moves.