The Indian’s play can ensure an encore in the Candidates

When the World Chess Candidates tournament resumes in Moscow on Wednesday after a day’s rest, and with five rounds remaining, the focus would mainly be on the joint leaders — five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand and Russia’s Sergey Karjakin.

Anand, the only player to have won thrice in this tournament, and Karjakin, who is unbeaten, have 5.5 points each.

If one went solely by the rating, one would not have expected those two names at the top of the table going into the business end of the tournament. Of the eight men in Moscow, only Peter Svidler of Russia has a lower rating than the leading duo.

The way Anand has played, a Magnus Carlsen-Anand Part III is looking very much a possibility.

The ‘Tiger of Madras’ has won three games in this Candidates, the latest against Levon Aronian of Armenia in the ninth round on Monday.

That was the only decisive game of the round with the draw between Anish Giri of the Netherlands and Fabiano Caruana of the United States lasting 96 moves.

The results (ninth round): Viswanathan Anand (Ind) 5.5 bt Levon Aronian (Arm) 5; Anish Giri (Ned) 4.5 drew with Fabiano Caruana (US) 5; Hikaru Nakamura (US) 3.5 drew with Sergey Karjakin (Rus) 5.5; Veselin Topalov (Bul) 3 drew with Peter Svidler (Rus) 4.

The standings: 1-2. Karjakin and Anand 5.5; 3-4. Caruana and Aronian 5; 5. Giri 4.5; 6. Svidler 4; 7. Nakamura 3.5; 8. Topalov 3.