Aronian Beats Anand To Lead In Linares

Lev Aronian (pictured) defeated world champion Vishy Anand in round 2 of Linares to leapfrog over him into a share of the the lead on 1.5/2.0.  The Armenian GM is becoming something of a bogey player for Anand, who has a poor record against him after several losses in recent encounters.

Anand opened with 1.d4 which worked so well against Kramnik in their title match, and unleashed a novelty 12. Ng5 in the resulting Semi-Slav, sacrificing a pawn.  Aronian responded in kind, upping the ante by sacrificing a piece in return for a few pawns and the initiative.  In the sharp position that resulted, Anand went astray and Aronian comfortably converted the full point.

Sharing the lead with Aronian is Alexander Grischuk, who won in impressive and instructive fashion against Wang Yue.  Opposite coloured bishops tend to produce drawn endings, but they are no guarantee of that result, as Grischuk showed.

Carlsen and Dominguez played a remarkable game whose brevity was only matched by it's sheer wildness - a must see.  Finally, Ivanchuk teased Radjabov by playing the King's Indian against him for a change, but the honours were even after a good fight.  Plenty of exciting games so far - well done to all the players.