Viswanathan Anand scored a memorable victory over Vladimir Kramnik in 57 moves and shared the lead at 4.5 points from seven rounds of the Tata Steel Masters chess tournament here on Saturday.
The victory, with black pieces, helped Anand join Magnus Calrsen, Anish Giri, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren at the top.
In the Guico Piano game, Anand gained from Kramnik’s decision to let go of a central pawn early. It was on the 36th move, when the Russian chose to move his rook from the queen-side to the extreme file on the kingside, that Anand seized his opportunity.
Gradually, Anand’s rooks and two minor pieces controlled the strategic squares. Before long. Anand claimed a rook for a knight and advanced his queen-rook pawn to the seventh rank. Kramnik sensed the inevitable and resigned.
Vidit Gujarati, however, suffered his first loss after running into Azerbaijan’s Teimour Radjabov.
Praggu’s first win
In the Challengers section, young R. Praggnanandhaa posted his first victory after overpowering local Stefan Kuipers in 23 moves. Praggnanandhaa’s win after five successive draws raised his tally to 3.5 points and lifted him to the joint seventh spot in the 14-player field.
Seventh round results: Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 2) lost to Viswanathan Anand (4.5); Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 4) bt Vidit Gujarati (3.5); Vladimir Fedoseev (Rus, 2.5) drew with Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 4.5); Anish Giri (Ned, 4.5) drew with Ding Liren (Chn, 4.5); Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus, 4.5) drew with Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Pol, 2.5); Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 3) drew with Richard Rapport (Hun, 3); Samuel Shankland (USA, 3.5) bt Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 2) .
