Anand off to sedate start

Anand had to pull all his resources after the exchange of queens as his position became passive. On the 29th move, Adams took the bait by going for collecting Anand’s Knight for his passed Queen rook pawn.

Anand, however, had forseen the continuation and a problem-like finish ensued wherein Anand, having just one pawn for the Bishop, got a theoretically drawn position. The game lasted 48 moves.

Russia’s Kasparov scored his first victory after a long draught in the Braingames match against compatriot Kramnik where he failed to win a single game.

His opponent Grandmaster Sergei Tiviakov opted for the Grand Prix attack against the Sicilian and never looked like a serious contender in the game. After the opening, Kasparov got the advantage of Bishop pair and slowly built his position in classical fashion. In the middlegame, Kasparov initiated a dangerous kingside attack and Tiviakov had to part with his queen for Rook and one minor piece. Kasparov gave no chances thereafter and finished the game in his usual powerful manner.

GM Alexei Shirov of Spain struck back with vengeance after a humiliating loss to Anand in the just-concluded World Championship. A connoisseur of Hungarian attack against the Sicilian Nazdorf, Shirov got his favourite position against Grandmaster Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria with the white pieces. Topalov came up with a novelty on his 19th turn that failed to impress Shirov. By the 21st move, Shirov was already cruising, bruising and squeezing the defensive resources of Topalov.

The Latvia-born Spaniard won the game in just 24 moves.

The oldest Grandmaster in the fray, Jan Timman of Netherlands, did not spark any magic in his draw with Kramnik. In the opinion of Grandmaster Alexei Shipov, Timman skillfully turned the fertile rain forest of chess into a desert!In a side variation against the Sicilian defence, Timman, White, exchanged a couple of minor pieces before settling for peace in only 15 moves. The only other game to end decisively in the first round was between Grandmaster Jeroen Piket of Netherlands and Grandmaster Alexander Morozevich of Russia. In the Nimzowitsch defence of the Queen pawn opening, Piket outplayed Morozevich in all departments of the game with white pieces.

However, the time trouble provided a much needed respite to Morozevich who had observed Piket’s play deteriorating.

A series of erroneous moves by Piket turned the tide in Morzevich’s favour and he conceded no chances thereafter.

In the longest game of the day, GM Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine drew with Grandmaster Loek Van Wely of Netherlands.

The opening was a Benoni defence where the former was playing black. Van Wely got a semblance of advantage in the ensuing middlegame but his two pieces against the Rook in the endgame did not prove enough in the resulting endgame.

The draw was agreed to after 71 moves. GM Alexei Federov of Belarus, the lowest ranked player in the event, held GM Peter Leko of Hungary to an exciting draw in the Sicilian Accelerated Sveshnikov defence game with black pieces.

Important Results (Round I): Michael Adams (0.5) drew Viswanathan Anand (0.5); S Tiviakov (0) lost to Gary Kasparov (1); Jan Timman (0.5) drew Vladimir Kramnik (0.5); Alexei Shirov (1) bt Veselin Topalov (0); Jeroen Piket (0) lost to A Morozevich (1); Loek Van Vely (0.5) drew Vassily Ivanchuk (0.5); Peter Leko (0.5) drew Alexei Federov (0.5).