Anand's third win in six games gave him a full point lead over his rivals and he now has 4.5 points from a maximum possible six. With wins over Vladimir Kramnik and Adams, Anand's win in this tournament should now only be a matter of formality barring a dramatic reversal of form.

Following Anand a full point behind are Vesselin Topalov, Peter Leko, Mathew Sadler and Vadim Zviaginsev, who also scored his first win in the sixth round. They have 3.5 points, while Kramink is on 2.5 points.

Anand and Adams were engaged in a Nimzo Indian where Anand had white pieces. The game followed an aggressive route which Anand seemed to relish and he slowly got himself into a position of strength as Adams' pieces were scattered. Adams attempted a bold bishop sacrifice to stop an onslaught but it did not work.

Anandkept the extra bishop and Adams resigned after 32 moves. Anand used a little under one and a half hours for his moves while Adams spent an hour and 51 minutes.

Results (sixth round)

Anand bt Adams, Sadler drew with Korchnoi, Svidler beat Van Wely, Piket drew with Topalov, Kramnik lost to Leko, Lautier lost to Zviaginsev.

Points after sixth round: Anand(4.5); Topalov, Leko, Sadler and Zviaginsev (3.5); Svidler, Adams, Piket, Van Wely (3); Kramnik (2.5); Korchnoi (2) and Lautier (1).

Pairings for seventh round: Topalov-Lautier, Leko-Piket, Adams-Kramnik, Van Wely-Anand, Korchnoi-Svidler, Viaginsev-Sadler

Shah stays ahead

SURAT: S Shah of Revenue Sports Control Board (RSCB) continued to lead with 6.5 points even after being held to a draw by T Ravi of Petroleum Sports Control Board (PSCB) in the seventh round of the National B chess championship today.

Ravi has six points and is tied with V Koshi (PSCB), N Das (Goodrike), S Chandra (Goodrike) and R Ramesh (PSCB) atsecond position.

Chandra got a full point today against Ravi Hegde (5) of Banks Sports Board (BSB), while Koshy and L Ravi (5.5) shared the point in the seventh round. Das and Ramesh beat S Soman (5) of RSCB and K Visweshwaran (5) of Tamil Nadu respectively.

P Konguvel of PSCB beat Sriram Jha (5) after a tough fight. In another game, Sharad Tilak (5) of BSB drew with R Gokhale (5).

Tejas Bakre (5.5) of Air India and Praful Mehta of Gujarat also won their respective games, while International Womem Master Vijayalaxmi (5.5) of Air India was held to a draw by S Kidambi (5.5).