Anand had suffered his second defeat on the trot in the blindfold game in the fifth round but did well to win the rapid game to make the scoreline 1-1 in the two-game mini-match against Morozevich.

This was Anand’s third straight loss to Morozevich in a blindfold game since 2006 in the same event when it was held in Monaco. On both the earlier occasions, Anand had lost in blindfold after drawing the rapid game but this time the Indian did well to tie the match after being a point down.

Winning ways
The victory in the rapid game helped Anand to take his combined tally to 5.5 points. Armenian Levon Aronian continued his winning ways and downed Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine 1.5-0.5 to jump to sole lead on 6.5 points.
Anand is also second behind Aronian in the rapid section but in blindfold, the Indian is on 10th spot.

Playing the white side of French defence in the return game, Anand outplayed Morozevich in the middle game. Morozevich conceded the match after 35 moves.

In other matches of the day, Grandmaster Peter Leko scored an easy victory over Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan while the much-awaited clash between Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and Vladimir Kramnik of Russia ended in favour of the latter who won the rapid game.

Results (fifth round, Blindfold): Veselin Topalov (Bul) drew with Vladimir Kramnik (Rus); Peter Leko (Hun) bt Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze); Alexander Morozevich (Rus) bt Viswanathan Anand (Ind). Rapid: Kramnik bt Topalov; Mamedyarov drew Leko; Anand bt Morozevich; Gelfand drew Carlsen; Aronian bt Ivanchuk; Karjakin bt Van Wely.

Combined standings after round 5: 1. Aronian 6.5; 2-7: Kramnik, Topalov, Anand, Ivanchuk, Leko, Carlsen 5.5; 8. Karjakin 5.0; 9-11. Mamedyarov, Morozevich, Van Wely 4.0; 12. Gelfand, 3.5.