Viswanathan Anand

Mexico City: Viswanathan Anand breached Alexander Morozevich’s defence in the only decisive 11th-round match of the World Chess Championship. Only a miracle can now deny the Indian GM his second world title.

Anand went for the kill against Morozevich and achieved it in great style to take his tally to 7.5 points out of a possible 11. In the process, the Indian GM extended his lead to 1.5 points over Boris Gelfand of Israel.

Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, expected to be the only real threat to Anand at the start of the championship, gave up hopes of defending his title after a quick draw with compatriot Alexander Grischuk. A tired Gelfand also played it safe against Russian Peter Svidler.

The other game of the day — between Levon Aronian of Armenia and Peter Leko of Hungary — was fought harder but that too reached a deadlock.

As things stand, Gelfand (6) is half a point ahead of Kramnik, Aronian and Leko, with Grischuk (5) being another half point adrift to be in sole sixth spot.

Morozevich, who had created a major flutter earlier by beating Kramnik, joined Svidler at the bottom of the table. They have 4.5 points.

The English attack has been Anand’s favourite for a long time and this was another day when he used it to his advantage. While other boards were locked in seemingly dry positions, Anand’s game invoked a lot of interest as he went all out for the full point.

Morozevich made a middlegame error that left a complicated battle in Anand’s favour. It was time for some manoeuvring and Anand displayed his deep understanding once again to clean up black’s queen side.

Morozevich got some counter-play on the other wing when his pawns started a march, but Anand finished the game with a brilliant tactical stroke. It was all over for Morozevich on the 56th move.

Kramnik made his peaceful intentions clear by opting for the Petroff Defence against Grischuk who did not mind adding to his tally either. Routine theory led to balanced position and the players shook hands after just 13 moves.

The Gelfand versus Svidler duel lasted a bit longer. Svidler employed the Grunfeld Defence as black and was never in trouble after the queens got traded. The game lasted 22 moves.

Leko tried to overcome Aronian in the queen’s Indian defence, but the latter was up to the task in defending adequately. Reaching a slightly worse rook and pawns endgame, Aronian held on to sign peace after 56 moves. (PTI)