New Delhi, December 4: Top seeds Viswanthan Anand and Xie Jun of China entered the fourth round of the World Chess Championship with identical 1.5-0.5 victories over Smbat Lputian of Armenia and Elena Zayac of Russia respectively. Both the favourites struck with white pieces in the second game on Monday.Anand faced the French Defence from Lputian and adopted the Winawer variation. But the Armenian had come prepared with a sharp line that created tension on the Kingside with an exchange sacrifice. Anand was not in any real danger but the game progressed through unclear areas for a long time. As Anand himself admitted, ``he never made any big mistake though 32.Nd2 was the critical point.'' Anand kept the exchange and took control of the Queenflank steering the game into a clear ending in which Lputian slowly lost his hold and resigned after 45 moves when faced with loss of material. ``It was too long a game to gointo the details. Obviously, he came with dangerous ideas bit a draw would have been a just result,'' Anand said later. ``It was a see-saw game and I cannot say I was better till the very end of the game. Probably, he could have drawn the game without Nd2.''Xie Jun was in her element from the white side of the Ruy Lopez against Zayac and activated her pieces quickly. Then in a tactical skirmish, she released her Queen to the Kingside and found a match-winning knightfork that fetched her a full rook after 29 moves.Among the favourites who advanced comfortably were World Cup finalist Evgeny Bareev of Russia,who scored a thumping 2-0 win over Aleksej Aleksandrov of Belarus and 53-year-old Boris Gulko of USA, who took a draw against Zurab Azmaiparashvili of Georgia today, for a 1.5-0.5 overall result. Bareev employed the Slav Defence and withstood a sacrificial attack from hisopponent, who got nothing for his piece. Gulko, with white pieces, faced the Pirc Defence and reached a dead equal rook and pawn ending. Twenty-year-old Rafael Leitao of Brazil bettered his third round showing in Las Vegas by reaching the fourth round here with a 1.5-0.5 result against Igor Nataf of France. ``I am happy for the money and it is a good result for me,'' said Leitao, a former under-12 and under-18 world champion.Anand-Lputian French Defence1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4 0-0 8.Bd3 Nc6 9.Qh5 Ng6 10.Nf3 Qc7 11.Be3 Ne7 12.h4 Bd7 13.a4 f5 14.exf6 Rxf6 15.0-0 c4 16.Bg6 Ng6 17.Qg5 e5 18.de5 Rf3 19.gf3 Rf8 20.Qg3 Qe5 21.Qe5 Ne5 22.Rd1 Nf3+ 23.Kf1 Rf5 24.Ba7 Rh5 25.Ke2 Bg4 26.Rdb1 Nh4+ 27.Kd2 Nf3 28.Kc1 d4 29.Rb5 Rb5 30.ab5 dc3 31.Bc5 Bf5 32.Ra1 Nd2 33.Bd4 Be6 34.Ra8+ Kf7 35.Rh8 Nf3 36.Bc3 Ng5 37.f4 Ne4 38.Be5 h6 39.Rb8 Bd5 40.f5 Nf6 41.Rc8 h5 42.Rc5 Be4 43.Rc7+ Kg8 44.Bf6 gf6 45.Kd2 1-0.Results (Round 3, game 2):Men: Anand (India) bt Lputian (Armenia); Leitao (Bra) drew with Nataf (Fra); Van Wely (Ned) drew with Dreev (Rus); Kazimdzanov (Uzb) drew with Tkachiev (Fra); Ehlvest (Est) drew with Movsesian (Cze); Shirov (Spain) drew with Gurevich (Bel); Bareev (Rus) lost to Aleksandrov (Blr); Azmaiparashvli (Geo) drew with Gulko (USA); Grischuk (Rus) drew with Serper (USA); Gelfand (Israel) drew with Piket (Ned); Morozevich (Rus) drew with Vladimirov (Kaz); Georgiev (Bul) drew with Topalov (Bul); Yermolinsky (USA) drew with Adams(England)Round 4 qualifiers: Anand, Dreev, Bareev, Grischuk, Gelfand, Morozevich, Topalov, Gulko. Women: Xie Jun (Chn) bt Zayac (Rus); Xu Yuhua (Chn) drew with Zhukova (Ukr); Peng (Ned) bt Demina (Rus); Kachiani (Ger) drew with Qin Kanying (Chn);Skripchenko (Mda) bt Galliamova (Rus); Maric (Yug) bt Cmiltye (Ltu)Qualifiers: Xie Jun, Maric, Qin Kanying, Peng
