Viswanathan Anand found the winning touch as outplayed the twice Russian champion Alexander Motylev in just 31 moves to join a group of seven players at the top of the table after the second round of the 'A' group of Corus chess tournament.

The win gave Anand a good start in his quest for a sixth Corus title.

In Group C, Parimarjan Negi drew with Stellan Byrnell and moved into shared lead with three others. They all have 1.5 points from two rounds. Negi (2538) had white pieces against Thomas Willemze (2393) and has a good chance to win.

In round three, Anand will have white pieces for the first time and will clash with Lev Aronian in third round.

Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan drew the only game as he was attempting to score a full point against Sergei Karjakin of Ukraine to retain sole lead that he held after the first round after beating Loek Van Wely of Holland in the first round.

Top seed Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and World champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia also scored emphatic victories against Loek Van Wely and Alexei Shirov of Spain in the 14-player tournament.

Anand had to pull himself together for the game against Motylev, making his debut in the 'A' group of this elite event.

Playing black against Motylev, the Indian ace was up against a dangerous variation of the Sicilian Najdorf. But Anand, who is now just four points behind Topalov in world rankings played a brilliant game.

Motylev while trying to keep his attack going found Anand tough to crack and in end succumbed himself in just 31 moves.

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