World champion Viswanathan An-and thumped Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine in the bl-indfold and won his sixth round game 1.5-0.5 in the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess tournament.

Past the half-way stage in this 11-round event, the Indian ace now occupies sole second spot and bridged the gap between him and leader Levon Aronian of Armenia, who played out draws with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan in both games.

With five rounds still to go, Aronian is at the top of the combined points table on 7.5 while Anand is now close behind with seven points.

Five players are just half a point adrift of Anand at joint third. They are Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, Peter Leko of Hungary, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine and Magnus Carlsen of Norway.

Anand misread an opening move in the blindfold game but fortunately there was no damage.

Sixth-round results: Blindfold: Sergey Karjakin (Ukr) lt to Viswanathan Anand (Ind); Levon Aronian (Arm) drew Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze); Magnus Carlsen (Nor) drew Veselin Topalov (Bul); Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr) drew Peter Leko (Hun); Loek van Wely (Ned) lt to Alexander Morozevich (Rus); Boris Gelfand (Isr) drew Vladimir Kramnik (Rus).

Rapid: Anand drew Karjakin; Mamedyarov drew Aronian; Topalov dew Carlsen; Leko drew Ivanchuk; Morozevich drew Van Wely; Kramnik drew Gelfand.

Combined: 1. Aronian 7.5; 2. Anand 7; 3-7: Topalov, Leko, Kramnik, Ivanchuk, Carlsen 6.5; 8-9: Morozevich, Karjakin 5.5; 10. Mamedyarov 5.0; 11-12: Gelfand, Van Wely 4.5.