Anand beats Leko, joins Kramnik in lead at Tal Memorial chess

MOSCOW - Viswanathan Anand found a novel way against Peter Leko to register the lone win in the fifth round and join Vladimir Kramnik in shared lead at the Tal Memorial chess tournament. Anand outplayed Leko in a 45-move game in the Anti-Meran Gambit and won through with white pieces.

It was Anand’s second win, after his third round success against Peter Svidler, also with white.

Behind Anand and Kramnik, who have 3.5 points after five rounds, is Lev Aronian at three points from five rounds Tuesday.

Anand played an idea, which Teimour Radjabov used against him in 2006 and then Kramnik tried the same against Aronian in Wijk Aan Zee in 2008.

Anand found a new move with 22.Nxd4 and as the game continued it gradually became clear that white was the only one with winning chances. Ultimately Anand converted that into a full point.

Experts saw Anand’s victory as very important in the development of theory in the Moscow Gambit.

All the other fifth round games were drawn. In the sixth round, Anand meets Magnus Carlsen.

The Tal Memorial ends Nov 19.

Standings after 5 rounds:

1-2. Anand and Kramnik - 3,

3. Aronian - 3,

4-7. Carlsen, Gelfand, Ivanchuk and Ponomariov - 2,

8. Morozevich - 2,

9-10. Svidler and Leko - 1

Round 6 pairings:

Kramnik - Ponomariov

Leko - Svidler

Carlsen - Anand

Morozevich - Ivanchuk

Gelfand - Aronian