Anand squeezes Macieja, to meet Khalifman

Anand admitted the Caro-Kann was part of Macieja’s plan for solid defence. But with white Anand was always looking for initiative and got it with the pair of bishops and an active position. Both Anand and his second Ebenezer Ubilava referred to a previous draw between Anand and Anatoly Karpov in the same line but black varied after the 22nd move.

It did not have any direct impact on the result of the game. However, thebreakthrough came unexpectedly for white after two moves with Macieja making a rook move to the wrong square. The bishop sacrifice on the 25th move was lurking there and the rook move hastened it. Anand thought for 15 minutes and checked all options.

The result: He got four pawns for it and then later a mating attack. “Hehad to move the rook to the e8 square,” said Anand. “Without the rook move (Rc8) it would have been a long game. I can press him and torture him for awhile.” Anand added he was happy that he did not have to work on Friday (tiebreaker).

Boris Gelfand (white) and Alexie Shirov played an interesting draw in the Queens Gambit Accepted in 21 moves. Shirov sacrificed his Queen for rook and minor piece but the final position was more or less equal.

Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria rallied brilliantly with white pieces against Alexie Dreev of Russia and won in 34 moves of Slav Defence after winning a piece.

Khalifman defeated Leitao in English after a prolonged struggle. The Russian created a passed pawn on the Kingside and squeezed the Brazilian in 59 moves. “I have a very bad record against Vishy but I will try todo something,” he said of his upcoming match with Anand.

Vladislav Tkachiev of France entered the quarterfinals beating Alexander Morozevich of Russia in Slav Defence.

In the women’s section defending champion Xie Jun of China trounced Natalia Zhukova of Ukraine 1.5-0.5 to reach the semifinals where she would meet Kovalevskaya on Saturday. Xie drew today’s game in Kings Indian Defence in 60 moves. The other semifinalists will be decided after the tiebreaker games tomorrow.

Anand-Macieja Caro-Kann Defence
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 de4 4.Ne4 Nd7 5.Bc4 Nf6 6.Ng5 e6 7.Qe2 Nb6 8.Bb3 h6 9.Nf3 a5 10.a4 c5 11.Bf4 Bd6 12.Ne5 0-0 13.Nf3 Nd5 14.Bg3 Qc7 15.dc5 Qc5 16.0-0 b6 17.Rd1 Ba6 18.c4 Rd8 19.Nd4 Be5 20.Be5 Nb4 21.Nb5 Bb5 22.cb5Rd1+ 23.Rd1 Rc8 24.Bxf6 gxf6 25.Be6 fe6 26.Qe6+ Kh8 27.Qf6+ Kg8 28.Qe6+ Kh8 29.Qh6+ Kg8 30.Qe6+ Kh8 31.h3 Rf8 32.Qh6+ Kg8 33.Qg6+ Kh8 34.Qg3 Qc2 35.Rd4 1-0.
Results
Open (4th round): Anand bt Macieja (land); B.Gelfand (Israel) drew with A.Shirov (Spain); B.Gulko (USA) drew with E.Bareev (Rus); M.Adams (Eng) drew with P.Svidler (Rus); Grischuk (Rus) drew with Ehlvest (Estonia); Topalov (Bul) bt Dreev (Rus); Khalifman (Rus) bt R Leitao (Bra); Tkachiev (Fra) bt Morozevich (Rus)
Women: Peng Xhaoqin (Ned) drew with Kovalevskaya (Rus); Skripchenko (Mda) drew with A.Maric (Yug); Zhukova (Ukr) drew with Xie Jun (Chn); Peptan (Rom) drew with Qin Kanying (Chn)