Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Mumbai, Jan 24: Early results in the eighth round of the Corus Super Grandmasters chess on Monday produced no surprises. Viswanathan Anand of India, playing white, was held to a 31-move draw by Loek Van Wely of Netherlands, Russian leader Garry Kasparov was held by S Lputian of Armenia, while Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and Peter Leko of Hungary played split a point. That left the lead positions unchanged, the Russians holding on to the top spot with 5.5 points each. Anand and Leko are joint second with five points.
Results 8th round: V Anand Ind, 5 drew L Van Wely Ned, 2; S Lputian Arm, 3 drew G Kasparov Rus, 5.5; V Kramnik Rus, 5.5 drew P Leko Hun, 5.
Copying the game: Reports from Wijk Aan Zee suggested on Monday that there was a copycat in the playing hall on Sunday. Loek Van Wely was apparently copying the Beast from Baku8217;.
Every move World No one Kasparov made with white in his seventh-round game against Anand was faithfully reproduced by Van Wely in his white game against Britain8217;s Nigel Short.
8220;It8217;s an instance of cloning,8221; commentator Vlastimil Hort told his audience at the venue. 8220;Since Van Wely is a few moves behind, he can see how White8217;s plan works out.
8220;Kasparov doesn8217;t seem to mind but if I were Short, I8217;d be rather annoyed. After all, he8217;s playing Kasparov now in stead of Van Wely. And there8217;s a difference, you know,8221; snorted Hort.
It was, in fact, an instance of triple copying, as the two boards were following the game between Tal Shaked of US and Kiril Georgiev of Bulgaria from last year8217;s World Championship in Las Vegas.
At one point, Anand played 218230;. Bf3 and lost his c6-pawn. 8220;I was convinced that I8217;d win the pawn back soon enough,8221; he said afterwards. He did not, however, and had to work hard for another 35 moves to salvage a half point. Short, who was in exactly the same position, came up with a better idea. He played the simple 218230;. Rfe8, kept the pawn and needed only three more moves to reach a draw. 8220;I8217;m much better than this Indian guy,8221; he boasted after he left the tournament hall.
The Moves
Anand vs L Van Wely Round 8
Opening: Sicilian Defence
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. f3 b5 8. Qd2 Nbd7 9. g4 h6 10. O-O-O Bb7 11. Bd3 Ne5 12. Rhe1 Rc8 13. Kb1 Nfd7 14. f4 Nc4 15. Qe2 Nxe3 16. Qxe3 Qb6 17. f5 e5 18. Nb3 Qxe3 19. Rxe3 Nc5 20. Na5 Ba8 21. Nd5 Bxd5 22. exd5 Be7 23. Be2 Bg5 24. Rc3 e4 25. Nc6 Bf6 26. Ra3 Kd7 27. Nb4 Ra8 28. Nxa6 b4 29. Nxc5 dxc5 30. Re3 Kd6 31. Rxe4 0.5-0.5
