Anand rules; minnows hold centrestage

GMs Vladislav Tkachiev of France and Boris Gelfand of Israel played a quick 17-move draw in an English opening game to keep their qualifying hopes alive.

In Group C, GM Peter Svidler’s loss to Zhang Zhong came as a major surprise. Playing with white pieces, Svidler employed the extensively analysed Italian game but was unable to attain any advantage from the opening. Zhong deployed his pieces in and around the centre and gained some space on the Kingside.

Zhong tightened his grip and finished the game after 40 moves with an excellent manoeuvre to win an exchange.

In the other upset of the day, Morozevich lost to Aleksandrov in a King’s Gambit game with white pieces. The Piece Sacrifice Variation on the fifth move gave an illusionary attack to Morozevich and Aleksandrov romped home in the ensuing endgame.

The women’s section too saw a few upsets with top seed and favourite Xie Jun of China losing to Hong Thanh Trang of Vietnam in a King’s Indian defence game with white pieces. Trang appeared well-armed for the opening as she employed the King’s Fianchetto and gained a miniscule advantage in the middlegame. A tactical oversight on the 24th move cost Xie dearly as she lost an exchange and the game soon after.

Former World champion GM Maya Chiburdanidze of Georgia bounced back after Friday’s loss to score a hard-fought win over Ansel Laubshner.

Results (Round II):

Men’s: Group A:

Gulko (1) drew Azmaiparashvili (1); Morozevich (0.5) lost to Aleksandrov (1.5); G Milos drew A Dreev (1). Group B: Ponomariov (1) drew Short (1); Ye Jiang Chuan (1) drew Ivanchuk (1); Xu Jun (1.5) bt M Gurevich (0.5); Group C: A Fedorov (0.5) drew A Rizouk (0.5); Movsesian (1) drew Bareev (1.5); Svidler (1) lost to Zhang Zhong (1.5); Group D: Tissir (0.5) drew Tregubov (1); Tkachiev (1) drew Gelfand (1); Anand (2) bt Khalifman (0.5)

Women’s: Group A: Pokorna (1) lost to E Kovalevskaya (1); Maric (0.5) drew Xu Yuhua (1.5); Payetj (0) lost to Zhu Chen (2); Group B: Mouradin (0) lost to Qin Kanying (1.5); Almira Lautier (1) drew Wang Pin (1); Amura Claudia (1.5) drew Stefanova (1);

Group C: Kosteniuk (0) lost to N Khurtsidze (2); Chiburdanidze (1) bt Laubshner (0); Wang Yu (1.5) drew Cramling (1.5); Group D:

Hoang Thanh Trang (1.5) bt Xie Jun (0.5); Wang Lei (0.5) lost to Zhukova (1.5); Irina Krush (1.5) bt Hernandez (0.5).

Moves

Anand vs Khalifman

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. f3 B5 8. g4 h6 9. Qd2 Nd7 10. O-O-O Bb7 11. H4 B4 12. Na4 Qa5 13. B3 Nc5 14. a3 Rc8 15. Qxb4 Qc7 16. Kb1 Ncd7 17. Qd2 d5 18. Bh3 dxe4 19. G5 hxg5 20. hxg5 Nd5 21. Fxe4 Nxe3 22. Qxe3 Ne5 23. Rhf1 Bxa3 24. G6 Nxg6 25. Bxe6 fxe6 26. Nxe6 Qe7 27. Qb6 Nf8 28. Rd8+ Rxd8 29. Nc7+ Qxc7 30. Qxc7 Rd7 31. Qb8+ Ke7 32. Qe5+ Ne6 33. Rg1 Kf7 34. Nb6 Rhd8 35. Ka2 Bf8 36. Nxd7 Rxd7 37. Qf5+ Ke7 38. Rf1 Bc8 39. Qf7+ Kd6 40. e5+ 1-0.