Anand outclassed Vallejo Pons

Monaco: Defending champion Viswanathan Anand outclassed Grandmaster Francisco Vallejo Pons of Spain in the rapid game of the third round to take the mini-match by a 1.5-0.5 margin in the 15th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament here.

The victory helped the Indian super GM keep pace with World Cup winner Levon Aronian of Armenia in the rapid section of the event as the Indian maintained joint lead with him on 2.5 points out of a possible three.

Anand jumped to the joint third spot in the overall standings with 3.5 points in his kitty alongside world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and Boris Gelfand of Israel.

Aronian and Alexander Morozevich of Russia shared the lead in the combined standings with four points apiece.

The highlight of the day was another stunning defeat for Topalov in the rapid game where he was beaten by Peter Heine Nielsen of Denmark.

In this unique event, being held on a round-robin basis between 12 players, each round comprises a blindfold and a rapid game.

In the blindfold section, 20 seconds are added to the clock after every move is made while in the rapid there is a 10 seconds increment.

It was a Sicilian Nazdorf by Anand and Pons apparently had a tenable position in the middle game when Anand came up with a spectacular blow on the king side that ripped white’s position apart. After the tactical melee, Anand appeared with a couple of extra pawns and coasted home after 43 moves.

Earlier in the blindfold game, the draw as white did not help the Indian ace a great deal as he slipped to joint 10th spot in this section.

Playing the white side of an open Ruy Lopez, Anand could get little out of opening against the Spanish talent. In the middle game Pons obtained a comfortable position and when it appeared that he was in no trouble whatsoever, Anand thought it wise to take a draw through repetition of moves.

Topalov accounted for Danish Grandmaster Peter Heine Nielsen in style in the blindfold. However, in the return rapid game, he failed to match Nielsen’s skills and the latter won in just 33 moves.

Earlier, Topalov was a lucky winner in the blindfold after Nielsen misplayed a promising position against the world champion.