Anand jumps to sole lead with Short's scalp

World Champion Viswanathan Anand crashed through the defences of Grandmaster Nigel Short of England to shoot into sole lead on 2.5 points after the third round of the Super Grandmasters' Chess tournament here last night.

Former champion GM Alexander Khalifman of Russia also had reasons to rejoice as he recorded his first victory in the tournament over dark-horse GM Gilberto Hernandez of Mexico and now shares the joint second spot with Short on 1.5 points. Hernandez is a distant fourth on 0.5 point.

Short rushed in where even the best fear to tread against Anand. The Indian GM is widely regarded as one of the best players of the Ruy Lopez opening and Short took the bait with the black pieces hoping for a miracle that did not happen.

The opening choice by Short - a deviation of the Stenitz variation - pleasantly surprised Anand as he came out of the opening phase with a lasting positional advantage.

The nature of the position remained closed for a long time and Anand routinely exerted pressure along the queenside with timely manoeuvres of his pieces.

Sensing danger, Short went for the King side attack but that did not yield a desirable position. Anand quickly accustomed himself to the fresh position on board and changed gears quickly to bring his heavy pieces on the king side to take advantage of the weaknesses in Short's camp.