Peaking at the right time, world champion Viswanathan Anand scored a facile victory against Laurent Fressinet of France to be joint third after the seventh round of the Alekhine Memorial Chess Tournament here.
The victory helped Anand take his tally to four points out of a possible seven and the way it came was quite satisfying for the Indian ace.
With just two rounds to come in the 10-player super tournament, Anand has one white game left against Peter Svidler of Russia and a victory in that could well mean his escalation to the top of the standings.
Anand's challenger in the last World Championship, Boris Gelfand of Israel continued with his impressive run and defeated Ding Liren of China to join overnight leader Maxime Vachier-Lagraev at the helm on a day that saw two decisive games after an all-drawn affair in round six.
Both Vachier-Lagraev and Gelfand have 4.5 points apiece and they are followed by Anand, Michael Adams of England and Levon Aronian of Armenia a half point behind.
Fressinet slipped to sixth on 3.5 points while Russian duo of Vladimir Kramnik and Nikita Vituigov are on joint seventh position with three points each. Ding Liren is now ninth with 2.5 while Peter Svidler is at the bottom of the standings having two points.
The Russian leg has augured well for Anand who started off with an easy draw as black against Kramnik before the victory over Fressinet.
