Rediff

Netherlands, Jan 20: Viswanathan Anand's chances of winning the sixth Corus International title were dented after his loss to world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in the sixth round of the prestigious event on Friday.

Anand, who won the title for a record fifth time last year, played black and lost in 53 moves while most of the boards ended in drawn games in the Group A of the tournament.

He scored a thumping victory over Russian Grandmaster Peter Svidler in the fifth round on Thursday.

The world number two is now fourth with three points, which was equal to that of Seregey Karjakin of Ukraine and Levon Aronian of Hungary at three points apiece while Teimour Radjabov is leading at give points out of a possible seven and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and Kramnik were joint second at a one point distance at 4.

Anand will play Rajdabox in the next game.

However, youngster Parimarjan Negi won his game against J van der Wiel. He is now joint third with three points along with M Krasenkow, M Bosboom and Hou Yifan.

I Nepomniachtchi, with 4.5 points, is leading the event and E Berg with 3.5 points is second.

Negi will next play with black against E Berg.