Wijk Aan Zee: Following a sedate start that fetched Viswanathan Anand nine consecutive draws, the Indian can now look forward to a good finish after a lucky victory over Alexei Shirov in the last match pushed him to joint fourth in overall standing, here.
The victory over Shirov of Spain may not have boosted confidence of the world champion but certainly set the stage for Anand as a good finish in the remaining three rounds - in first of which he meets tail ender Jan Smeets of Holland - can propel the Indian to the podium.
After losing to Anand, Shirov was dethroned as the leader of the tournament for the first time in the tournament, while Vladimir Kramnik of Russia emerged as the new sole leader on seven points. Carlsen and Shirov are now joint second with 6.5 points each.
Anand shares the next position along with Hikaru Nakamura of United States, Leinier Dominguez of Cuba, Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine and Karjakin, who all have 5.5 points each.
Apart from Smeets, Anand has a match with Kramnik lined up on the penultimate day of competition and in the last round he plays with another Dutchman - Loek van Wely - against whom the Indian ace has a great record.
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