The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Anand draws with Svidler

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Saturday, Sep 29, 2007
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Sport - Chess

Anand draws with Svidler

NEW DELHI: Viswanathan Anand stayed firmly on course of winning the World chess championship after a short 22-move draw with Russia’s Peter Svidler in the 12th round in Mexico City on Thursday.

Though Anand’s overnight lead of 1.5 points was cut to one point after nearest challenger Boris Gelfand beat Levon Aronian in 40 moves of Anti-Meran Gambit, the Indian top seed is still comfortably placed in the home-stretch of the 14-round contest.

Calm and collected

Playing black, Anand remained calm and collected during the game against Svidler. Though Svidler tried to take the initiative after exchanging the queenside rooks in quick time, Anand held on easily in this Ruy Lopez game.

After Anand’s result was known, Gelfand and defending champion Vladimir Kramnik pressed hard to win their respective games. Victory for Gelfand has kept alive his chances of catching up with Anand and forcing the tie-break games.

Assuming that Anand draws the remaining two rounds, Gelfand will have to win against defending champion Kramnik and Alexander Morozevich to match the Indian’s tally.

Kramnik, meanwhile, moved to the third spot by stopping Peter Leko. Russia’s Alexander Grischuk, Anand’s next round rival, crashed to his fourth loss of the competition and occupied the last spot in the eight-man field after facing compatriot Morozevich.

The results (12th round): Peter Svidler (Rus, 5) drew with Viswanathan Anand (8); Levon Aronian (Arm, 5.5) lost to Boris Gelfand (Isr, 7); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 6.5) bt Peter Leko (Hun, 5.5); Alexander Morozevich (Rus, 5.5) bt Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 5).

13th round pairings: Grischuk-Anand; Gelfand-Kramnik; Aronian-Svidler; Leko-Morozevich.

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