Anand thumps Kramnik in CCT

Viswanathan AnandIndia’s Viswanathan Anand has defeated the joint leader Vladimir Kramnik in just 45 moves in the 11th round of the 72nd Corus Chess Tournament (CCT) at Wijk aan Zee in Amsterdam on Saturday.

Anand dominated throughout the game as he exchanged his rook for a knight to avoid draw and traded his second rook for a minor piece. Kramnik, with Petroff defense with black pieces, decided to accept his defeat after two advanced central passed pawns of Anand.

With this win, Anand has moved to third spot in the elite group A with a total of seven points.  Anand is still unbeaten in the tournament with two wins in three rounds. Anand will now play against Loek van Wely of Netherlands in the final round on Sunday.

Among the other Indians, Hari Krishan played a draw while Parimarjan Negi lost his match in the Group B. In Group C, Abhijeet Gupta jumped to joint second place after defeating his compatriot Soumya Swaminathan.