Anand, who had lost his first round game against another Azerbaijan Teimour Radjabov, split the point to open his score. But another Indian GM P Harikrishna came firing on all cylinders to beat GM Yifan Hou of China in a keenly contested game and emerged as joint leader on 1.5 points with five others in the Group 'B', being played simultaneously.

Harikrishna became the first Indian to score a victory in the Corus tournament as Koneru Humpy played out a draw with Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi in the other game of Group 'B' while GM Parimarjan Negi suffered his second defeat in as many days in the Group 'C', going down to Arik Braun of Germany.

Grandmaster Levon Aronian and Magnus Carlsen scored their second victories on the trot in the elite Group 'A' and continued to lead the tables with 2 points from as many games.

On the receiving end was Boris Gelfand of Israel who found the going tough against Aronian in a variation named after the Israeli while Pavel Eljanov of Ukraine was gradually outplayed by Carlsen.
With all the remaining 5 games of Group 'A' ending in draws, Radjabov was relegated to the sole third spot on 1.5 points and a half point behind are Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, Loek Van Wely of Holland, Hungarians Peter Leko and Judit Polgar and Michael Adams of England.

Anand is currently at the bottom of the tables on a half point sharing it with Mamedyarov, Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, Gelfand and Eljanov.

Harikrishna's effort against Hou was simply perfect. The Indian had misplayed a promising position against England's Nigel Short in the first round and made amends by outwitting Hou who played the black side of a King's Indian attack.

Harikrishna played the middle game energetically and cashed in when Hou made an error leading to loss of material.

Anand could do little against Mamedyarov who played solidly with black pieces. It was a Ruy Lopez where the Indian played with white and got a miniscule advantage but subsequent exchanges left little hope for either players even though Anand had an extra pawn in the endgame. The peace was signed after 36 moves.

In the Group 'C', young Parimarjan Negi was beaten by Braun of Germany from a complicated position arising out of an English opening.
Results round 2 Group 'A':
Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 2) beat Pavel Eljanov (Ukr, 0.5); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 1) drew with Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 1.5); Loek Van Wely (Ned, 1) drew with Judit Polgar (Hun, 1); Peter Lk (Hun, 1) drew with Michael Adams (Eng, 1); Veselin Topalov (Bul, 0.5) drew with Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 1); Boris Gelfand (Isr, 0.5) lost to Levon Aronian (Arm, 2); Viswanathan Anand (Ind, 0.5) drew with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 0.5).

Group 'B': Nigel Short (Eng, 1.5) beat Erwin L'Ami (Ned, 0.5); Etienne Bacrot (Fra, 1.5) drew with Daniel Stellwagen (Ned, 1.5); P Harikrishna (Ind, 1.5) beat Yifan Hou (Chn, 0); Ivan Cheparinov (Bul, 1.5) drew with Sergei Movsesian (Svk, 1); Gabriel Sargissian (Arm, 1) drew with Jan Smeets (Ned, 1.5); Michal Krasenkow (Pol, 1) beat Wouter Spoelman (Ned, 0); Koneru Humpy (Ind, 0.5) drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus, 1)

Group 'C': Caruana Fabiano (Ita, 2) beat Mark Van der Werf (Ned, 1); Li Shilong (Chn, 2) beat Anna Ushenina (Ukr, 0); Arik Braun (Ger, 2) beat Parimarjan Negi (Ind, 0; John Van der Wiel (Ned, 2) beat Friso Nijboer (Ned, 0); Pontus Carlsson (Swe, 1.5) drew with Peng Zhaoqin (Ned, 0.5); Efstratios Grivas (Gre, 1) beat Dennis Ruijgrok (Ned, 0); Irush Krush (Usa, 0.5) drew with Dmitri Reinderman (Ned, 1.5).

The moves: V Anand v/s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. c3 g6 6. d4 Bd7 7. O-O Bg7 8. Re1 b5 9. Bc2 exd4 10. cxd4 Bg4 11. Be3 Nge7 12. Nc3 O-O 13. Rc1 Kh8 14. Qd2 Bxf3 15. gxf3 Qd7 16. Ne2 f5 17. Bd1 fxe4 18. fxe4 d5 19. e5 Nf5 20. Nf4 Nxe3 21. fxe3 Bh6 22. Qc3 Nd8 23. Qxc7 Qxc7 24. Rxc7 Bxf4 25. exf4 Ne6 26. Rd7 Rxf4 27. Bb3 Nxd4 28. Bxd5 Re8 29. e6 Nf3+ 30. Bxf3 Rxf3 31. Ra7 Rd3 32. Rxa6 Rd2 33. b4 Re7 34. a4 bxa4 35. b5 Rb2 36. b6 Re8 game drawn.