Anand to go all out

MADRID, May 15: A confident Viswanathan Anand will go for the kill when he takes on Alexander Beliavsky of Slovakia in the fourth round of the 7th Torneo Magistral Madrid Open Chess Tournament fresh from a day’s rest here.Grandmaster Anand of India, the top seed here, is leading the pack of 10 players after three rounds earning 2.5 points.

The world No 2 has kept his sights on two goals here — winning this prestigious category 17 tournament and to cross the elusive 2800 elo rating, achieved by chess wizard Gary Kasparov the lone one among contemporary players. The only other player who has crossed the 2800 elo rating is the eccentric American Bobby Fischer, the world champion in the 70’s. Anand needs to collect minimum seven points from nine games to accomplish the target, which means he must win four rounds from remaining six to get close to 2800 rating, when the rankings are announced in first week of June.The Indian is closely followed by Russian Peter Svidler and two Spaniards Miguel Illescas and SanSegundo, all on two points each. Pairings for the fourth round: Michael Adams-A Yermolinsky; Granda Zuniga-Miguel Illescas; Peter Svidler-San Segundo; Viswanathan Anand-A Beliavsky; Michael Krasenkov-Peter Loko.