Anand crushes Mamedyarov to take joint lead

Viswanathan Anand crashed through the defences of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan to jump to joint lead after the end of the second round of 10th Tal Memorial Chess tournament. Showcasing some brilliant resourceful play, Anand had to tackle what appeared to be a dangerous attack on his king and made excellent use of his first white pieces in the tournament. Anish Giri of Holland and Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia joined Anand in lead. Giri got the better of Boris Gelfand of Israel in anther steller performance of the day while Nepomniachtchi played out a draw with fellow countryman Peter Svidler. The other two games of the day were also drawn – Russian Vladimir Kramnik failed to break the ice against Chinese Li Chao while after a disastrous first round, Russian Evgeny Tomashevsky was just happy to open his account against Levon Aronian of Armenia.