Hyderabad: Defending champion Viswanathan Anand won his board to catch up with K Sasikiran, who suffered a shock defeat, to share the lead after the penultimate league round of the prestigious World Cup chess tournament on Sunday.

Sasikiran, who inflicted a defeat on Anand in the second round, lost to second best player in Asia Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan in 35 moves. He has now 2.5 points, the same as Anand, as the top Indian stars shared the lead in Group ‘C’.

While Anand and Sasikiran are likely to qualify for the knockout from Group ‘C’, Alexander Beliavsky of Slovenia led Group ‘D’ with 3 points. For the second spot in Group ‘D’, there would be a tussle between Nigel Short and Surya Sekhar Ganguly.

The other two groups are still very open and a leader is difficult to predict.

Anand asserted his superiority in 36 moves against Al Modiahki of Qatar to remain on course for a title triumph encore.

In a game, which started in Sicilian Najdroff and converted into Sicilian dragon variation, Anand proved his class by displaying the power of his pieces. He placed his pieces with dexterity to register a comprehensive victory.

Sasikiran looked off-colour on Sunday as he was outwitted by his opponent in a game where he employed the Kings Indian defence against the Queen pawn opening.

PTI