Viswanathan Anand finally got into the winning mode, outplaying Alexander Morozevich in the fifth round of the Corus Grandmasters chess tournament in Wijk Aan Zee on Thursday.
The NIIT Brand Ambassador won his first game after three draws and one loss and now has 2.5 points that puts him in joint-seventh place.
But there is till some way to go for the defending champion, who is looking for a hat-trick at this prestigious tournament.
Morozevich's bad form continued. He was never really in the game from the time he played 14. b4 instead of 14. 0-0 that could have given him some play. Anand's strong 18th move may have decided the way the game was going. By the 26th move the game was over, but Moro clung on.
Moro lost a piece and continued to play, though that would hardly be the etiquette at this level. However, Anand did not mind it, saying he understood, since Moro was having a tough time. Moro has lost four games now in five.
The opening 1. d4 was a bit of surprise but the out-of-form Moro wanted to try something different and play Queen's Pawn opening with Torre attack. But the Indian handled it well and moved onto a fine win.
Anand was back to 50 per cent at 2.5 out of five, but still a full point behind joint leaders Peter Leko and Michael Adams.
Anand will have white pieces against Ruslam Ponomariov next.
Lazaro Bruzon beat Nigel Short, who got into time trouble in the only other decisive game.
Peter Leko's game against Vladimir Kramnik was similar to one of their battles in Brissago in their recent match and Leko did bring in a novelty, but Kramnik was always comfortable and drew in 27 moves in the Queen's Indian games.
Judit Polgar first won and then blundered a pawn against Michael Adams in a Ruy Lopez but held on to a draw. Peter Svidler drew with Ruslan Ponomariov, while Alexander Grischuk surived the pressure from Vesselin Topalov to draw in another game despite severe time problems.
Morozevich,A (2741) - Anand,V (2786) [A46]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee (5), 2005
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5 c5 4.e3 h6 5.Bh4 cxd4 6.exd4 b6 7.Bxf6 Qxf6 8.g3 Nc6 9.c3 g5 10.Nbd2 Bb7 11.Bg2 0-0-0 12.a4 h5 13.a5 Nxa5 14.b4 Nc6 15.Nc4 b5 16.0-0 bxc4 17.b5 Nb8 18.Rxa7 d5 19.Ne5 Rd7 20.Qa4 Qd8 21.Nxc4 dxc4 22.Qxc4+ Qc7 23.Bxb7+ Kd8 24.Qe2 24...Bd6 25.Rfa1 Qxc3 26.d5 Rxb7 27.dxe6 Rxa7 28.Rxa7 fxe6 29.Qxe6 Qe5 30.Re7 Qa1+ 31.Qe1 Qxe1+ 32.Rxe1 Nd7 33.Kg2 Nc5 34.Rd1 Kd7 35.Rd5 Ne6 36.Kf3 Rf8+ 37.Ke2 Ke7 38.h4 g4 39.Rxh5 Bc5 40.Re5 Rxf2+ 41.Kd3 Kf6 0-1
Results of Round 5
Leko drew with Kramnik; Topalov drew with Grischuk; Bruzon beat Short; Polgar drew with Adams; Sokolov drew with Van Wely; Svidler drew with Ponomariov; Morozevich drew with Anand.
Corus A Standings after Round 5: 1. Leko and Adams 3.5; 3. Topalov, Bruzon, Ponomariov and Grischuk 3.0 each; 7. Kramnik, Polgar, Van Wely, Short and Anand 2.5 each; 12. Sokolov and Svidler 1.5; 14. Morozevich 0.5.
Pairings For Round 6: Adams v Sokolov; Anand v Ponomariov; Grischuk v Polgar; Kramnik v Svidler; Morozevich v Bruzon; Short v Topalov; Van Wely v Leko.
