World Rapid champion Viswanathan Anand assured himself of a berth in the semi-finals with a crushing victory over 2004 Aeroflot open winner Sergei Rublevsky of Russia in the fifth round of the preliminaries of the Sparkassen chess tournament in Dortmund, Germany.

Russian champion Peter Svidler too nearly assured himself of a berth in the next stage from Group A with a fine victory over local hope Arkadij Naiditsch and also kept the momentum of decisive games ticking in his group.

Earlier Report Anand held by teenager Naiditsch

Anand took his tally to an impressive 3.5 points from five games played so far and is half a point ahead of Svidler who has bounced back with successive victories after losing to the Indian stalwart. A full point behind Svidler is Rublevsky who now has to beat his compatriot to be in reckoning for a spot in the semi-finals.

The event is being played on a unique system of preliminaries leading to knockout stage wherein eight players have been divided in to two groups. Top two from both groups qualify to the semi-final stage while the rest will battle it out for 5-8 places.

Much to the dismay of spectators, Group B failed to yield a decisive result for the fifth day in succession and both the games were drawn, as none of the players seemed interested in a big risk.

As a result of this continued deadlock Braingames match winner Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, defending champion Viktor Bologan of Moldova, Hungarian Peter Leko and world's youngest ever Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine remained in joint lead with 2.5 points apiece after five games.

Anand was in his element as white against Rublevsky who was outclassed in a tactical game arising out of a Sicilian Paulsen.

The Russian found himself fishing in troubled waters right after the opening as Anand uncorked a brilliant sequence of moves starting with an exchange sacrifice.

What followed was a spectacle as Anand dominated the 64-squares with all his pieces and romped home with a piece sacrifice that forced checkmate.

Results: Round 5 preliminaries:

Group 'A': Viswanathan Anand (3.5, Ind) beat Sergei Rublevsky (2, Rus); Arkadij Naditsch (1.5, Ger) lost to Peter Svidler (3, Rus).

Group 'B': Vladimir Kramnik (2.5, Rus) drew with Viktor Bologan (2.5, Mda); Sergey Karjakin (2.5, Ukr) drew with Peter leko (2.5, Hun).

The moves:

V Anand v/s Sergei Rublevsky
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Bd3 Nf6 7. O-O Bc5 8. Nb3 Be7 9. Be3 d6 10. a4 b6 11. a5 b5 12. Bb6 Qc6 13. f4 Nbd7 14. Nd4 Qb7 15. e5 dxe5 16. fxe5 Nxe 17. Rxf6 gxf6 18. Be4 Qb8 19. Nc6 Nxc6 20. Bxc6+ Kf8 21. Qf3 Ra7 22. Qe3 Rc7 23. Qf4 Rb7 24. Qh6+ Kg8 25. Bd4 e5 26. Be3 Qd6 27. Bxb7 Bxb7 28. Rd1 Qe6 29. b4 Qg4 30. Rd2 Qxb4 31. Ne2 f5 32. Ng3 f4 33. Nf5 Qb1+ 34. Kf2 fxe3+ 35. Ke2 black resigned.