Tilburg, Nov 2: Vishwanathan Anand of India goes into the ninth round of the Tilburg Grandmasters chess tournament after the rest day and is buoyed by his superb win over Viktor Korchnoi in the eighth round which has virtually ensured him the title with three more rounds still to go.The world No 3 Indian, who has six points from eight games - with four wins and as many draws - and a point clear of second placed Peter Leko (5), demolished the Russian-born Swiss in just 19 moves to offset the draw he played against Dutchman Loek van Wely in the previous round.Anand (2862) will take on 22-year-old Russian Vadim Zviaginsev, who has been unbeaten till now, in the ninth round with black pieces with which he has drawn all his games.The young Zviaginsev (4.5), who was sharing third place with Mathew Sadler, has come a long way in the tournament, but has only had an average tournament and will take on Anand for the first time in his career.The Indian Grandmaster, however, has had a brilliant score withwhite pieces, winning four of the five games and drawing the other. He will take on Peter Svidler of Russia with white in the penultimate round and could hope for another win as the Russian has not shown any killer instinct during the tournament earning just four points from eight games.Second placed Peter Leko of Hungary, who is the only player in the tournament with a chance to challenge Anand, takes on bottom-placed Frenchman Joel Lautier in the ninth round.Leko, who scored fine wins against Vladimir Kramnik and Vasselin Topalov of Bulgaria with black pieces, has a favourable draw in the final part of the tournament.He will take on Lautier and Briton Michael Adams (4) with white pieces and full points from the two games will improve his chances in the final analysis if Anand fails to earn full points.Sadler, who has also been undefeated till now, runs into tough opponents and will meet Anand, Kramnik and Svidler in the next three rounds.Rankings (after 8th round) Viswanathan Anand (6); PeterLeko (5); Mathew Sadler, V Zviaginsev (4.5 each); Michael Adams (4); P Svidler (4), J Piket, l van Wely (4 each); V Kramnik, V Topalov (3.5); J Lautier, V Korchnoi (2.5 each).Good show by Indians in round sevenCASTELLON (Spain): The 12-member Indian chess team at the World Youth Championship gave a good account of themselves, with six wins, three draws and two losses in the seventh round in different age groups.In the under-10 girls category, Saheli Nath lost to Armenian T Abraminian in her seventh-round encounter.K Humpy, who is joint second in the under-12 girls section along with her compatriot Tania Sachdev with six points each, vanquished her Spanish rival Jcodina by playing an attacking game in an irregular opening. Tania beat M Sebag of France in a Sicilian Dragon, overcoming her rival in 41 moves.In the under-14 girls category, K Preeti overcame her rival, L Constantini of Italy, to tally a total of three points after the seventh round.Y Pratibha of India, playing with blackpieces in the under-16 girls section, played French defence and won against E Groberaman of the United States in just 33 moves.In the under-18 girls section, R Aarthi drew the match against her Hugarian rival A Rapcsak as she failed to take advantage of the precarious position of her rival.In the under-10 boys section, Abhijit Gupta made short work of his Chinese rival in just 29 moves. Playing with white pieces, he won a pawn on the 15th move. He exchanged queens in the end to win the match.P Harikrishna, playing with black pieces in French defence, settled for a draw against Guseinov of Azerbaijan after the 30th move. In the under-14 boys section, Valay Parikh played Caro Cann defence to win against his Polish rival S Zawadzki in 29 moves. The Indian sacrificed his pawn to secure a double bishop advantage during the match and launched a mating attack to win.MR Vankatesh agreed for a draw against his rival - R Sertic of Croatia - after he could not make any headway. With each player having aknight, bishop and six pawns left, a draw was agreed upon.In the under-18 boys section, Beenish Bhatia, playing with black pieces, lost to H Steric of Croatia, a highly rated International Master. Playing Sicilian defence-Alapin Variation, Beenish lost due to time constraints.
