Viswanathan Anand crushes Fabiano Caruana, shares lead in Tata Steel Masters Chess

Viswanathan Anand secured his second victory in three days and shared the lead with Anish Giri of Holland as he aims for a record sixth title at the Tata Steel Masters Chess Tournament in Wijk Aan Zee

Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand crushed USA’s Fabiano Caruana in the third round to join Dutchman Anish Giri in lead on 2.5 points at the Tata Steel Masters Chess tournament in Wijk Aan Zee.

Viswanathan Anand shared the lead with Anish Giri in the Tata Steel Chess Masters tournament in Wijk Aan Zee as he defeated Fabiano Caruana in 42 moves. (ChessBase Facebook)

For Anand, it was his second victory in three days as he looks for a record sixth title here.

Caruana went for the Petroff defense, an opening he had used in round one also. Anand went for a topical variation full of complexities and it was in the early middle game that Caruana reacted strongly on the 16th move.

“I was very surprised,” Anand said in the post-game chat adding, “I thought it didn’t call for such extreme measures.”

In the moves that followed, Caruana gave up two minor pieces for a rook and a pawn and even though the position remained a bit unclear, the American clearly did not like what was happening. It was on the 28th move that Caruana shut his remaining chances. A pawn capture led to a lost position.

As it happened in the game, a pretty queen sacrifice on the 42nd move sealed the fate of the game.

After finishing third in the previous edition, Grandmaster B Adhiban clearly seems to be struggling here. The Indian suffered his second defeat in as many days going down to Gawain Jones of England.

With ten rounds still to come in the 14-players, 13-rounds event, top rated Magnus Carlsen of Norway, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan and Jones share the third spot with two points apiece.

In the challengers section being held simultaneously, Vidit Gujrathi continued his impressive run and outclassed Amin Baseem of Egypt. It was a one-sided affair as Gujrathi won a piece and then had to showcase some routine technique.

Gujrathi remained as the joint leader in this section along-side Anton Korobov of Ukraine on 2.5 points. Harika Dronavalli played out her third draw in the event, signing peace with Erwin L’Ami of Holland.

Results round 3 Masters: Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 1.5) drew with Yifan Hou (Chn, 0.5); Peter Svidler (Rus, 1.5) drew with Anish Giri (Ned, 2.5); Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 2) drew with Wei Yi (Chn, 1); Gawain Jones (Eng, 2) beat B Adhiban (Ind, 0.5); V Anand (Ind, 2.5) beat Fabiano Caruana (USA, 1); Wesley So (USA, 1.5) drew with Sergey Karjakin(Rus, 1.5); Shakhriyar Mamedyarov Aze, 2) drew with Maxim Matlakov (Rus, 1)