Anand settles for fourth draw

DORTMUND, June 30: Grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand of India played his fourth consecutive draw while young Hungarian GM Peter Leko scored his...

DORTMUND, June 30: Grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand of India played his fourth consecutive draw while young Hungarian GM Peter Leko scored his second win to shoot into lead after the fourth round of the Sparkassen Chess Meeting 1998 here last night.

Leko with three points is on top, Vladimir Kramnik, Vassily Ivanchuk and Michael Adams are joint second with 2.5 points each with Anand and Peter Svidler 2 points behind.

With four rounds left, Alexander Beliavski, Artur Yusupov and Zoltan Almasi have 1.5 points with Alexey Shirov at the bottom with just one point.

Top seed and World number two, Anand was forced to share the point with Vassily Ivanchuk despite the advantage of an extra pawn. Playing with white against the Sicilian-Najdorf, which is one of his best areas, Anand, was comfortable but Ivanchuk defended well.

The presence of lot of material meant black had counter play. With double rooks and bishop on the board, Anand agreed for a draw after 37 moves.

It is unusual Anand has not secured a winafter four rounds, but the Indian GM has played against some of the strongest players in the field like Kramnik, Ivanchuk and Svidler. He is yet to play out-of-form Shirov and Almasi.

The 18-year-old Leko, once the youngest GM in the world recorded the only win of the day by beating Yusupov.

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The teenager displayed great tenacity against the experienced Yusupov in a marathon 68-move struggle. In a game seen as rather safe play in Petroff defence, Yusupov was a pawn down, but kept defending stoutly.

Yusupov8217;s compensation was some space but Leko, who knows his opponent8217;s style well, kept playing correctly and the Russian-born German resigned eventually.

Kramnik had a roller coaster game against Briton Michael Adams. In a Nimzo Indian defence game, the Englishman with black was in an inferior position after losing a pawn.

But both came under time pressure when Kramnik committed a mistake and allowed Adams not only to wriggle out but even attack him. Defeat seemed to be at hand for Kramnik, who hadnever lost here, when Adams erred on his 39th move 398230;Ra8 allowing Kramnik to find a perpetual check and get a draw after 41 moves.

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Svidler and Beliavski drew in 33 moves of a modern defence game while Zoltan Almasi held Shirov in 17 moves 8211; the shortest game of the tournament after the 19-move draw between Beliavski and Kramnik.

The tournament will resume on Wednesday after a rest day today. The final is scheduled for July 5.

Points after four rounds: Leko 3; Adams, Kramnik, Ivanchuk 2.5 each, Anand, Svidler 2 each, Beliavsky, Yusupov, Almasi 1.5; Shirov 1.

Moves

Anand vs Ivanchuk1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. g4 h6 8. f4 Nc6 9. h3 Be7 10. Qd2 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Qa5 12. 0-0 e5 13. Be3 Be6 14. a3 Rc8 15. Bg2 exf4 16. Bxf4 Nd7 17. Nd5 Qxd2 18. Rxd2 Ne5 19. Rhd1 Rc6 20. Ne3 Nc4 21. Nxe4 Rxe4 22. B3 Rc8 23. Kb1 h5 24. g5 h4 25. Bxd6 Bxd6 26. Rxd6 Rh5 27. g6 Rga5 28. gxf7 Kxf7 29. R1d2 Rc3 30. e5 Rxe5 31. Kb2 Rce3 32. Bxb7 a5 33. Rf2 Ke7 34. Rc6 g535. Rc7 Kd6 36. Rc6 Ke7 37. Rc7 draw