The Indian ace shares the top spot with Vladimir Kramnik of Russia who accounted for overnight leader Levon Aronian of Armenia 1.5-0.5.
Both Anand and Kramnik have identical nine points from 14 games played thus far and are now half point clear of Aronian and Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who scored a 2-0 victory over Chinese Wang Yue.
With four rounds (eight games) remaining, Peter Leko of Hungary is now a distant fifth on 7.5 points, half point clear of Gata Kamsky of the United States, Alexander Morozevich of Russia and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria.
Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan stands sole ninth on six points while Ukrainian duo of Vassily Ivanchuk and Karjakin are joint 10th on five points. Yue is at the bottom of the pile with 4.5 points in his bag.
In the blindfold section, Carlsen emerged as the new leader with a tally of 5.5 points. The Norwegian is half point ahead of Kramnik while Anand shares the third spot alongwith Leko on 4.5 points. PTI
