Anand hands Carlsen a master class

Vishwanathan Anand handed young Magnus Carlsen a useful lesson in chess as he outplayed the Norwegian Grandmaster in the third round of the Linares-Morelia 2007 Super Grandmasters tournament.

The Indian ace, ranked No. 2 in the world took a share of the lead after three rounds and before the first rest day of the tournament that is held in two legs in Linares, Spain and Morelia, Mexico.

The first leg of the eight-man tournament is in Morelia.

Anand, who drew his first two rounds with Peter Svidler and Veselin Topalov shares the lead with Vassily Ivanchuk, who came in as a late replacement in the tournament.

The Indian chess whiz used his experience to turn the contest around after a seemingly equal middle game. With Carlsen falling into his trap, Anand squeezed him in the end game.

The two opened in Queen's Gambit Meran, made famous by Rubinstein. Initially white (Carlsen) did not put much pressure on Black (Anand) and allowed him a free hand. In the middle game, both seemed equal, more so with opposite coloured bishops.

But slowly Anand pulled away creating an edge for himself as Carlsen made small but costly errors as he tried to make a fight of it. Anand steadily began breaking away from his young opponent and then with a passed pawn, he hammered home and Carlsen resigned on the 40th.

Anand had twice beaten Carlsen at Leon in 2005 and in four other clashes, the two had split points, the last time being in Corus in January this year.

In the fourth round which will be held on Wednesday, Anand has white pieces against Morozevich.

Results of Round 3: Topalov drew with Leko; Carlsen lost to Anand; Svidler drew with Ivanchuk; Morozevich drew with Aronian

Standings after Round 3: 1. Anand and Ivanchuk 2.0 points; 3. Svidler, Leko, Aronian and Carlsen 1.5; 7. Topalov and Morozevich 1.0

Pairings for Round 4: Leko v Aronian; Anand v Morozevich; Ivanchuk v Carlsen; Topalov v Svidler