By IANS
Mexico City : World No.1 Viswanathan Anand of India turned in a brilliant novelty and showed immaculate preparation to score a stunning win over Lev Aronian of Armenia in the second round of the World Chess Championships here Saturday.
Also scoring a finely crafted win was his archrival, Russian Vladimir Kramnik, who beat his compatriot Alexander Morozevich, also in the second round.
The other two games ended in draws. Peter Svidler of Russia split the point with Peter Leko of Hungary, and Boris Gelfand of Israel drew with Alexander Grischuk of Russia.
With a win apiece for Anand and Kramnik, the stage was set for a riveting third-round clash between the two leaders.
Anand, who has beaten Kramnik 18 times and lost 14 times to him, will have the advantage of white pieces. The two have also drawn 86 times.
In the second round, a novelty on the 17th move sealed Aronian’s fate against Anand, who played with black.
Aronian with white began in his favourite style with d4 and then followed with c4 and NF3. He gave Anand the chance to go into any one of the three variations that follow and the Indian ace chose the Queen’s Gambit Anti-Meran.
The players went into a sharp line and after castling on the 12th move, Aronian managed to provoke black pawns to vulnerable positions threatening to open f-file with f3, with strong attack on kingside. Anand needed to be very fast and active in order to defend successfully.
Once again Anand, the NIIT brand ambassador, showed that he had come prepared and unleashed a novelty on the 17th move with his c5. That surprised Aronian.
Once that surprise hit him, Aronian found himself in a classical opening trap preparation. Also, Anand was moving very fast as is his style. The Indian did give Aronian a chance to wriggle out, and the Armenian went into complications.
Anand came out blazing once again with a strong 25th move and from thereon his advantage began growing and Aronian was having hard time. Aronian did try to defend stoutly, but slowly, the Indian star had him in a bind.
Aronian finally resigned after the 41st move as Anand capitalised on a wonderful theoretical novelty. That helped him score a fine win over one of his major rivals for the title and he also showed that he has come with solid home preparation and winning with black was indeed a fine effort.
Kramnik beat Morozevich in a mere 27 moves following a Catalan opening.
Gelfand and Grischuk drew in 23 moves of a Queens Indian and Svidler and Leko drew in 43 moves from a Ruy Lopez Marshall.
In the first round Anand started the championship with a draw against Gelfand, while Kramnik drew his first round with Svidler.
Results of Round 2: Kramnik beat Morozevich; Gelfand drew with Grischuk; Svidler drew with Leko; Aronian lost to Anand
Pairings for Round 3: Anand v Kramnik; Grischuk v Aronian; Leko v Gelfand; Morozevich v Svidler
Standings after Round 2: 1. Anand and Kramnik 1.5 points; 3. Gelfand, Svidler, Grischuk and Leko 1.0; 7. Aronian and Morozevich 0.5