In ninth round action yesterday at the World Candidates Tournament in Khanty-Mansiysk, Armenia’s Levon Aronian (playing black) lost to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan.

After nine rounds of play Anand leads the pack with 6 points, a full point ahead of second placed Aronian.

Sergey Karjakin scored a second consecutive victory by beating Vladimir Kramnik, while the other two Russians – Dmitry Andreikin and Peter Svidler split a point.

Kramnik, Karjakin and Mamedyarov are at 4.5 points each. Andreikin and Svidler share   sixth place at 4 points, while Topalov is last with 3.5 points.

Today is a rest day. The tournament resumes with Round 10 on Tuesday.