World Rapid chess champion Viswanathan Anand staged a great recovery after initial hiccups but will have a lot to do in the rounds to come in the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess tournament now underway at the Monte Carlo Grand Hotel in Monaco.
Wednesday was a well-deserved a rest day for the 12 players, considering the efforts they have put in, so far.
Anand, the defending champion, shares the lead with Braingames champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and Hungarian Peter Leko after the end of the fourth round in this 11-round competition.
All the three leaders have 5.5 points each and are followed by the ever-consistent Evgeny Bareev of Russia, who is just a half point behind. Another half point adrift of Bareev are Russians Alexander Morozevich and Peter Svidler. Most likely, the remaining rounds will see a contest for the top honours between these six only.
The unique tournament that features one blindfold and one rapid game in each round has become an annual feature and is already in its 13th edition. The stakes are high with a total prize pool of 193500 Euros (over Rs 10 million).
Anand leads the table on 3.5 points from four games in the rapid section but his form in the blindfold is wanting as he is placed joint sixth with just a 50 per cent score so far. Svidler and Leko, who both have three points each, hold the top position in the blindfold category.
Anand started off rather shakily in the first round with two draws against Svidler and lost in the blindfold game in the second round to Bulgarian Veselin Topalov before winning the rapid round.
However, in the next two matches he defeated Francisco Vallejo Pons of Spain 2-0 and Dutch Loek Van Wely 1.5-0.5 to find himself amongst leaders.
Last year Anand finished with an overall tally of 14.5 points that proved enough for a clear first but this time with the likes of Kramnik and Leko giving him company at the first break, it seems unlikely that the same score will be enough.
Especially with Kramnik looking menacing in the rapid game, a variant that saw him struggling in the previous edition.
The Russian, who is going to play a match against Leko later this year as part of the unification treaty of the chess world signed in Prague in 2002, is looking extremely good this time and Anand's encounter against him in round six tomorrow might prove crucial.
Later today, in the fifth round game, Anand has another tough customer in Bareev but his huge plus against the Russian suggests that the Indian will start with a psychological edge.
Pairings round 5:
Viswanathan Anand (Ind) v/s Evgeny Bareev (Rus); Peter Svidler (Rus) v/s Loek Van Wely (Ned); Veselin Topalov (Bul) v/s Francisco Vallejo Pons (Esp); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus) v/s Alexei Shirov (Esp); Boris Gelfand (Isr) v/s Alexander Morozevich (Rus); Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr) v/s Peter Leko (Hun).
Blindfold Standings after round 4: 1-2. Svidler, Leko 3 each; 3-5. Morozevich, Kramnik, Bareev 2.5 each; 6-9. Topalov, Anand, Shirov, Ivanchuk 2 each; 10. Van Wely1.5; 11. Vallejo Pons 1; 12. Gelfand 0.
Rapid Standings: 1. Anand 3.5; 2. Kramnik 3; 3-4. Leko, Bareev 2.5 each; 5-8. Morozevich, Topalov, Shirov, Ivanchuk 2 each; 9-10. Svidler, Van Wely 1.5 each; 11. Vallejo Pons, 1; 12. Gelfand 0.5.
Combined Standings: 1-3. Leko, Kramnik, Anand 5.5 each; 4. Bareev 5; 5-6. Morozevich, Svidler 4.5 each; 7-9. Topalov, Shirov, Ivanchuk 4 each; 10. Van Wely 3; 11. Vallejo Pons 2; 12. Gelfand 0.5.
