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Chess
Ivanchuk holds Anand
By Arvind Aaron
MOSCOW, DEC. 11. World chess champion Viswanathan Anand went for an offbeat line of play and was forced to make a quick draw against Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine in the second game of their semifinals in the FIDE World chess championship at the Kremlin Palace here on Monday. The score in the best of four encounter is 1-1. The other semifinal game between Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine and Peter Svidler of Russia too ended in a 1-1 draw.
Overall, the older players in every match impressed on
Monday. Vassily Ivanchuk coasted to an easy draw with black while Peter Svidler was much better in the ending which he drew by allowing checks. Even in the women's match, 25-year-old Zhu Chen won and levelled scores.
Two games remain in the semifinals. The winners of the semifinals will play in the finals slated for January 16 here at the House of Columns.
With the first two games not yielding any result, the
four game semifinals has now been reduced to a best of two. In case of two more draws, tie-breaks will be held on Friday.
In the women's event, China's Zhu Chen rebounded to win the second game by outplaying Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia to level the score at 1-1. Two games remain to be played before a new player is crowned champion.
The Chinese came back strongly showing great resilience with the white pieces in the queen's gambit opening. Kosteniuk's 11th move was new and Zhu Chen had sacrificed a pawn to keep white's position aggressive. She sacrificed a second pawn on the 24th move to open the pawn line in front of the black king. Kosteniuk counterattacked in the centre by sacrificing a pawn. With a hard hitting 32nd move, Zhu Chen pinned a knight and won it. White's two bishops had plenty of power. Black had two pawns in compensation for the knight but it was grossly insufficient.
lThe results (round six, game two): V. Anand (Ind) drew with Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr). 1-1; Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukr) drew with Peter Svidler (Rus). 1-1.
Women (round six, game two): Zhu Chen (Chn) bt Alexandra Kosteniuk (Rus). 1-1.
The moves:
GM V. Anand-GM Vassily Ivanchuk, round six, game two, Closed Sicilian, B30: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Qc7 5.0-0 Nd4 6.d3 a6 7.Bc4 e6 8.Nxd4 cxd4 9.Ne2 Nxe4 10.dxe4 Qxc4 11.Nxd4 e5 12.Nf5 Qxe4 13.Nd6+ Bxd6 14.Qxd6 f6 15.f4 b5 16.Bd2 Bb7 17.Rf2 Qc6 18.Qxc6. Draw.
GM Ruslan Ponomariov-GM Peter Svidler, round six, game two, Sicilian Najdorf, B90: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f3 e6 7.Be3 b5 8.g4 Nfd7 9.Qd2 Nb6 10.0-0-0 N8d7 11.Bg5 Qc7 12.Ndxb5 axb5 13.Nxb5 Qc6 14.Nxd6+ Bxd6 15.Qxd6 Qxd6 16.Rxd6 Ba6 17.Bxa6 Rxa6 18.a3 h5 19.gxh5 Ra5 20.h4 Nc4 21.Rc6 Rc5 22.Rxc5 Nxc5 23.b3 Nxa3 24.h6 gxh6 25.Be3 Nb7 26.Kb2 Nb5 27.e5 Rg8 28.Bxh6 Nd4 29.h5 Rg2 30.Kc3 Nxf3 31.Bf4 Kf8 32.Rf1 Ng5 33.Kb4 Ne4 34.c4 Nbc5 35.Rf3 Ra2 36.h6 Kg8 37.Bc1
Ra7 38.Kb5 Nxb3 39.Kb6 Ra8 40.Be3 Rb8+ 41.Kc7 Rb4 42.Kd8 Rxc4 43.Rf4 Na5 44.Rg4+ Kh8 45.Ke7 Nc6+ 46.Kf8 Nd4. Draw.
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