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Anand leads in blitz, way down in overall standings

Indian grandmaster Vishwananthan Anand pulled off a good win, though with a somewhat suspect novelty in the rapidplay section of the the Amber Rapid and Blindfold Chess tournament in Monte Carlo in round five.

In the fifth round of the 11-round tournament, Anand defeated Loek van Wely in rapid play, and then drew his blindfold game for a 1.5-0.5 result.

Anand now leads the rapidplay event with 3.5 points out of five, but his poor score of 1.5 out of five in blindfold sees him in the eighth place among the 12 players. Vladmir Kramnik, who drew both his games against Alexi Shirov, leads the field with seven points from a maximum possible of 10. This was the first time Kramnik had failed to win any of his two games in a round. All previous results were 1.5-0.5 in his favour.

In rapidplay, Anand was successful with a bluff in the opening. Van Wely failed to capitalise on that and lost in 25 moves from the Queen's Gambit Accepted. After five rounds, Loek van Wely finally managed to get on the scoreboard for blindfold, when he drew with Anand with some solid play in the English Defence. Van Wely had lost four previous blindfold games.

Kramnik kept his top position intact as he registered a 1-1 result against Alexi Shirov in the fifth round. The Russian drew both his games. The rapidplay was a 32-move Petroff defence in which Kramnik had black. For sometime, Kramnik actually seemed in danger, before he managed a draw. Then in blindfold, it was a draw from a Gruenfeld.

The man who slipped once again was Anatoly Karpov, who lost his second game. He lost the rapid clash to Predrag Nikolic in 43 moves from a Queen's Gambit Accepted in which Karpov had black. In blindfold, Nikolic managed a draw for a favourable 1.5-0-5 result.

Boris Gelfand scrored a good 2-0 win over Jeroen Piket, winning both his games. Meanwhile Joel Lautier, lying second, defended his position successfully against Ivanchuk.

In rapid play standings, Anand leads the field with 3.5 points out of five, with five players -- Kramnik, Lautier, Karpov, Ivanchuk and Topalov -- having three each. In blindfold, Kramnik and Shirov continue to head the table with four points each, while Lautier has 3.5 points. Anand is way down in the 11th place with just 1.5 points from five.

Overall standings (after five rounds): Kraminik 7.0; Lautier 6.5; Topalov 6.0; Nikolic, Shirov, Ivanchuk, Karpov 5.5 each; Anand 5.0; Gelfand 4; Ljubojevic 3.5, Piket, Van Wely 3.0

UNI