The Hindu : Leko, Anand share lead

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 23, 2003

Sport

Sport - Chess

Leko, Anand share lead

By Arvind Aaron

MONTE CARLO MARCH 22. Linares champion Peter Leko of Hungary fought his way back into the lead when he defeated Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine in the sixth round of the 12th Amber chess tournament at Vista Palace Hotel on Friday.

Leko joined Viswanathan Anand in the lead by defeating Ivanchuk 1.5-0.5 with the decisive point coming from the rapid game after he survived anxious moments to make a draw in the blindfold game.

Anand and Leko have eight points each from 12 games and are half a point ahead of Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and Boris Gelfand of Israel. Anand made two draws against Kramnik, one a theoretical one with the black pieces in the blindfold game and the second, a tactical encounter after 40 absorbing moves in rapid chess.

Kramnik keeps his sole lead in the blindfold section with five points from six games and the rapid section is led by Anand and Bareev jointly with 4.5 points from six games.

Rapid games

Anand and Kramnik repeated the same Sicilian Rossolimo opening they played in Linares earlier. By the 18th move, most of the pieces were exchanged off.

Two rooks and a pair of opposite colour bishops was what was left. Anand's bishop was playing a pivotal role in hindering the natural development of the black rooks and he was thought to have the better chances. On move 27, Anand took his chances trying to win. He had a more secure queen knight pawn advance had he wanted a draw.

Kramnik won a pawn and defended very well and made white play accurately towards the end to draw in 40 moves.

The results (round six):

Blindfold: Bareev bt Ljubojevic, Almasi lost to Gelfand, Topalov bt Van Wely, Shirov bt Morozevich, Kramnik drew with Anand, Leko drew with Ivanchuk.

Rapid: Ljubojevic lost to Bareev, Gelfand bt Almasi, Van Wely drew with Topalov, Morozevich lost to Shirov, Anand drew with Kramnik, Ivanchuk lost to Leko.

The combined standings after round six: 1-2: Viswanathan Anand (Ind), Peter Leko (Hun) 8/12 each, 3-4: Boris Gelfand (Isr), Vladimir Kramnik (Rus) 7.5 each, 5-7: Evgeny Bareev (Rus), Alexander Morozevich (Rus), Veselin Topalov (Bul) 6.5 each, 8: Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr) 5.5, 9-10: Zoltan Almasi (Hun), Loek Van Wely (Ned) 5 each, 11: Alexei Shirov (Esp) 4.5, 12: Ljubomir Ljubojevic (Yug) 1.5.

The moves: GM Viswanathan Anand-GM Vladimir Kramnik, round six, rapid chess, 25 minutes plus 10, Sicilian Rossolimo, B30: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 e5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.Nxe5 Nxe4 7.Nxe4 Qd4 8.Qe2 Qxe5 9.f4 Qxf4 10.d4 Qh4+ 11.g3 Qe7 12.0-0 f5 13.Nd6+ Kd7 14.Qxe7+ Bxe7 15.dxc5 Bxd6 16.Rd1 Ke8 17.cxd6 Be6 18.Bg5 Kd7 19.Re1 h6 20.Be7 g5 21.Re5 Rhg8 22.a4 b6 23.b4 a6 24.Rc1 f4 25.c4 fxg3 26.hxg3 a5 27.c5 axb4 28.cxb6 Rxa4 29.Rce1 Bd5 30.Bf6 b3 31.b7 Rb4 32.Re7+ Kxd6 33.Rh7 c5 34.Rxh6 Rxb7 35.Be5+ Ke7 36.Rd1 b2 37.Rb1 Ra8 38.Rxb2 Rxb2 39.Bxb2 Ra2 40.Bf6+ Draw agreed.

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