By IANS
Morelia : Viswanathan Anand bounced back from his second round defeat and maintained his dominance over young Norwegian Magnus Carlsen with a comprehensive victory in the third round of the Morelia-Linares Grandmasters chess tournament.
Defending champion Anand’s win, his second in three games, took his tally to two points and is just half a point behind leader Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, who also won his third round game against Vassily Ivanchuk.
There were two decisive games Sunday in third round out of four games. In the other two games, Peter Leko drew with Alexei Shirov and Lev Aronian, who beat Anand in second round, drew with Teimour Radjabov.
Anand, who has regularly got the better of Carlsen in the recent past, continued to do so. The Indian Grandmaster got a very small edge and kept building on that to score a full point, making up for his blunder in the second round against Aronian.
In a Queen’s Gambit declined Semi-Slav, Carlsen probably felt the pressure of frequent losses to the World Champion and was soon in trouble. He was forced to give up the exchange and Anand then simplified the position to get an ending with three pawns and a rook against four pawns and bishop. All pieces were on the kingside.
Anand finished on a perfect note and scored again as Carlsen resigned after 59 moves.
In another game, Topalov again came out with a theoretical innovation against Ivanchuk and added to his fast play making it clear it was a home analysis. This once again brought to the fore Topalov’s excellent opening preparation and with white he played with lots of energy and kept Ivanchuk on the ropes.
Leko decided to put some pressure on Shirov’s Sicilian Defence, and for a long time seemed to be better with white pieces. But Shirov defended well, and on 31st move he found a simplification of the position, so the ending was too balanced. The game ended in a dead draw at 37th move.
After a rest day, Anand, with white pieces, will play Radjabov in fourth round. Ivanchuk takes on Aronian, while Shirov meets Topalov and Carlsen faces Leko.
Results of Round 3:
Carlsen lost to Anand
Leko drew with Shirov
Tolpaov beat Ivanchuk
Aronian drew with Radjabov
Standings after Round 3:
1. Topalov (2.5)
2. Anand (2)
3. Aronian, Ivanchuk and Leko (1.5 each)
6. Radjabov, Shirov and Carlsen (1 each)