Anand inches closer to leaders

Wijk Aan Zee:

Viswanathan Anand recorded second victory on the trot crushing former World champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine to inch closer to the leaders after the sixth round of the Corus Chess tournament underway. Anand, who had a forgettable start here, has moved to 3.5 points from six games and is now just a half point behind four leaders Britain's Michael Adams, Hungarian Peter Leko, Bulgarian Veselin Topalov and Cuban Lazaro Bruzon. While all the leaders have 4 points apiece, Russians Vladimir Kramnik and Alexander Grischuk are next in line on 3.5 along with Anand, who is looking for hat-trick of title here. The next spot is jointly held by Ponomariov, Judit Polgar of Hungary and local challenge Loek Van Wely, who all have three points each in their kitty. Seven rounds are still left to be played in this category-19 event being played under Classical time control. (PTI)