Anand outguns Shirov

Anand played the Ruy Lopez Spanish opening and obtained slight positional advantage against Shirov’s irregular defence.

Shirov tried to complicate the position by sacrificing a pawn on the 12th move but Anand returned the pawn to get clear advantage.

On the 21st move, Shirov made a decisive positional mistake and was tactically outplayed by the Indian.

After getting the winning position, Anand playing with white pieces simplified the game to reach an ending and registered a smooth victory in 41 moves.

The other two quarter-final matches in the championship saw the opponents drawing each other in the first leg.

Belarussian Boris Gelfand was held to draw by Alexey Dreev of Russia while Michael Adams on England drew with local hope Loek van Wely.

The quarter-finalists will play the second leg late tonight.

Barua, Thipsay win: Indian Grandmasters Dibyendu Barua and Pravin Thipsay and Woman Fide Master Saheli Dhar Barua won their second round games in the 36th Groningen Open Chess Championship.

International Woman Master Bhagyashree Thipsay, however, lost to highly-rated IM Maiwald of Germany.

Barua played a fine ending to score over 15-year-old Florian Handke of Germany.

Pravin Thipsay faced with a strategical opening trap in Sicilian Paulsen against Zurmely of France tactically outplayed his opponent and won the game in 41 moves. Saheli Dhar Barua scored over Epinga in a Tarrasch variation of the French defence.

The Moves

Anand – White; Shirov- Black

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.a4 Rb8 8.c3 d6 9.d4 Bb6 10.Na3 0-0 11.axb5 axb5 12.Nxb5 Bg4 13.Be3 exd4 14.cxd4 Qe8 15.h3 bd7 16.Nc3 Nxe4 17.Re1 Nxc3 18.Bxc3 Qc8 19.c4 Bf5 20.Re2 Na5 21.Ba2 c5 22. d5 Bd8 23.Bd2 Qa6 24.Qa4 Ra8 25.Bc3 Nb7 26.Qd1 Ba5 27.Bb2 Bb4 28.Nh4 Bg6 29.f4 Qa4 30.Qxa4 Rxa4 31.f5 Rfa8 32.Re7 bh5 33.g4 f6 34.gxh5 Rxa2 35.Rxa2 Rxa2 36.h6 Rxb2 37.Rxg7ch Kh8 38.Rxb7 Bc3 39.Rd7 Kg8 40.Rd8ch Kf7 41.Rh8 bd4ch 42.Kf1 Black resigns