Viswanathan Anand cruised past Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine with a fine performance in the rapid game of the fifth round of 14th Amber blindfold and rapid chess tournament here.

The 1.5-0.5 victory over Ivanchuk helped Anand to take his points tally to a very impressive 9/10 and stretched his lead to a huge 2.5 points over former Russian champion Peter Svidler.

With six rounds still to be played, as many as three players — Peter Leko of Hungary, Alexander Morozevich of Russia and Ivanchuk — share the third spot with six points apiece.

Israeli Boris Gelfand is next with five points, tied along side Russia’s Vladimir Kramnik.

Anand kept his all-win record intact after delivering the knockout punch to Ivanchuk in the rapid game. The Indian ace has won all his mini-matches here and has dropped just one point out of a possible 10. Ivanchuk, however, successfully ended Anand’s great run in the blindfold section by holding the speed king to a draw.

Playing white in a Scotch opening in the blindfold game, Ivanchuk got a routine position where players castled on opposite flanks and even thought the Ukrainian won a pawn, the extra material was quite inconsequential as it could only become a part of Anand’s defences. The peace was signed in just 25 moves. Anand went for a much more complex battle in the returngame with white pieces. It was a French defence wherein Ivanchuk opted for less trodden paths and again won a pawn.

However this time, Anand had sufficient compensation and he kept probing till such time Ivanchuk’s defences collapsed. Leading the game to a queen and pawn ending, Anand settled matters decisively in 55 moves.