Anand, Humpy win in Corus Chess

Viswanathan Anand beat Etienne Bacrot and Koneru Humpy beat J Smeets in the Corus Grandmasters chess tournament.

Viswanathan Anand gave young Etienne Bacrot a good lesson to record his third win with black and tie for the top spot with Veselin Topalov in the Corus Grandmasters chess tournament.

In-group B, India's Koneru Humpy beat J Smeets and moved to tie seventh. Magnus Carlsen with 6.5 points from eight rounds leads Group B.

Anand now has 5.5 points from eight rounds, even as the Corus tournament is shaping into an expected battle between him and Topalov, the other top player in the world.

Anand should probably have drawn the game. In fact, he looked slightly worse at one stage but neutralized that with a great defence.

Around move 45, Bacrot missed some chances and Anand applied the pressure. A final blunder handed the Indian ace the full point.

Bacrot must have been upset at his game against Anand. He was doing fine all through and even had Anand defend accurately. Somewhere down the middle game, Bacrot messed up and Anand looked better.

Anand then began playing faster. Bacrot, short on time, made a few mistakes that Anand duly capitalised on.

"Sometimes, when you create threats, your opponent panics," said Anand after the match.

Topalov was the last to finish with a 78-move draw against Gelfand in the Petroff defence.

Gata Kamsky played an unusual line in the Slav Defence against Ivan Sokolov and for the first time in eight games drew one. He has two wins, five losses and one draw.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov lost to Levon Aronian while Sergei Tiviakov got a big advantage against Sergey Karjakin out of the Sicilian c3 he played. But Karjakin managed to get his rooks active and hold out for a draw.

Michael Adams surprised Peter Leko by playing a c3 Sicilian but the position quickly became equal and repetition followed.

Van Wely drew with Vassily Ivanchuk in another game.

Pairings for Round 9: Gelfand v Sokolov; Karjakin v Topalov; Aronian v Tiviakov; Ivanchuk v Mamedyarov; Anand v van Wely; Leko v Bacrot; Kamsky v Adams

Results for Round 8: Adams drew with Leko; Van Wely drew with Ivanchuk; Tiviakov drew with Karjakin; Mamedyarov lost to Aronian; Sokolov drew with Kamsky; Bacrot lost to Anand; Topalov drew with Gelfand

Standings after Round 8: 1. Anand and Topalov 5.5 each; 3. Karjakin 5.0; 4. Adams, Gelfand and Ivanchuk 4.5; 7. Van Wely, Leko and Aronian 4.0; 10. Tiviakov 3.5; 11. Mamedyarov and Sokolov 3.0; 13. Kamsky and Bacrot 2.5