WIJK AAN ZEE, January 15: VISWANATHAN Anand started the Corus Super Grandmasters chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee with a crushing win over young Sergey Karjakin in the opening round. Co-favourite and arch-rival Veselin Topalov started with an equally overwhelming win over a rusty Gata Kamsky in the first round. Three of the seven games provided results on the opening day.

The day’s quickest winner was the NIIT Brand Ambassador Anand, who dominated right out of the opening. It was a sharp theoretical battle in a Sicilian Najdorf, which ended in 37 moves. The result was almost decided straight from the opening and soon after Karjakin's novelty. A combination of his wealth of knowledge and over the board inspiration saw Anand demolish Karjakin. His knight sacrifice was stunning and the white (Karjakin’s) king was so weak that Anand was cruising. It turned out to be a great start for Anand.

Kamsky's whose invitation to Wijk aan Zee itself was a surprise was rusty and castled in a very bad position after a surprise Scandinavian Defence. Topalov missed out on winning lines twice, but then Kamsky also missed out chances to defend properly and the result was a good start for Topalov, too.

Levon Aronian got off to a rough start against Vassily Ivanchuk. Aronian allowed Ivanchuk to equalise and then went on a sacrificing spree, which did not work. Ivanchuk completed a fine win in due course.

In Group B, India’s Koneru Humpy drew her first round with Alexander Beliavsky.

In the second round, Anand has white against Aronian, who lost to Ivanchuk in first round.

Results Round 1: Mamedyarov drew with Bacrot; Karjakin lost to Anand; Topalov beat Kamsky;Gelfand drew with Leko; Van Wely drew with Sokolov; Aronian lost to Ivanchuk; Tiviakov drew with Adams.

Round 1 Standings: 1. Anand, Topalov and Ivanchuk 1.0 each; 4. Bacrot, Mamedyarov, Gelfand, Leko, Sokolov, Van Wely, Adams and Tiviakov, Aronian, Kamsky and Karjakin 0.

Pairings for round 2: Sokolov v Ivanchuk; Anand v Aronian; Leko v Karjakin; Kamsky v Gelfand; Adams v Topalov; Bacrot v Tiviakov; Van Wely v Mamedyarov.