Viswanathan Anand continued his march towards a possible record fifth Corus Grandmasters title with a convincing victory over local man Loek Van Wely in the ninth round of the 13-round contest that is entering the last stages, in Wijk Aan Zee, the Netherlands.
Anand now has 6.5 points from nine rounds, but keeping in step with him is co-favourite Veselin Topalov, who also scored over Sergey Karjakin to take his tally to 6.5 points.
Anand, the NIIT Brand Ambassador, and Topalov are a full point clear of the rest of the field.
The third place is shared by Michael Adams and Boris Gelfand, who have 5.5 points each.
Karjakin and Vassily Ivanchuk are another half a point behind.
Anand's game against Van Wely, against whom he has a huge plus score, was in the Sicilian Sveshnikov. The Indian, playing with white, made an exchange sacrifice and that, Anand said, gave him as "risk free position". Black's attempt to exchange Queens left him with an unpleasant position.
From there on it was almost impossible to stop Anand's march of pushing the passed 'b' pawn to the seventh rank. He also activated the Rook and engaged the Knight.
In another Sveshnikov duel, Topalov disposed of Karjakin in grand style. The two were following a long line of theory, which the winner believed was very fine for Black. Karjakin may have missed the chance of equalizing, but nevertheless Topalov was always dominating.
In group B, Koneru Humpy created a stir by holding Magnus Carlsen to a draw in ninth round. Carlsen still leads the field with seven out of nine, while Humpy has 4.5 points in seventh place.
Pairings for Round 10: Sokolov v Adams; Bacrot v Kamsky; van Wely v Leko; Mamedyarov v Anand; Tiviakov v Ivanchuk; Topalov v Aronian; Gelfand v Karjakin
Results of Round 9: Anand beat Van Wely; Gelfand beat Sokolov; Karjakin lost to Topalov; Ivanchuk drew with Mamedyarov; Leko drew with Bacrot; Aronian drew with Tiviakov; Kamsky lost to Adams.
Standings after Round 9: 1. Anand and Topalov 6.5 each; 3. Adams and Gelfand 5.5 each; 5. Karjakin and Ivanchuk 5.0 each; 7. Leko and Aronian 4.5; 9. Tiviakov and Van Wely 4.0 each; 11. Mamedyarov 3.5; 12. Bacrot and Sokolov 3.0 each; 14. Kamsky 2.5
