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Journalism of Courage
VISWANATHAN Anand’s hopes of winning the sixth title evaporated after he was held to an easy draw by Sergei Tiviakov of Holland in the 12th and penultimate round of the Corus International Chess tournament here.
Following the draw in his Group ‘A’ game, Anand inched to seven points in the first super tournament of the year while Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan joined Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in lead on eight points with just one round remaining in the event. Interestingly, the showdown for the title will be between Radjabov and Topalov in a befitting final when the two are slated to clash with each other.
The third place is held by Levon Aronian of Armenia and Anand now stands joint fourth with World Champion Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Svidler of Russia. Anand is slated to meet David Navara of Czech Republic in the final round.
World’s youngest Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi played out a fighting draw with tournament leader Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia after 55 moves of a French defense game in the Group ‘C’ being played simultaneously.
With one round to come Nepomniachtchi is on 10 points and top seed Michal Krasenkow of Russia is close on his heels with 9.5 points. Parimarjan, with 6.5 points, stands joint fifth here.
The game against Tiviakov turned out to be a damper for Anand as the former simply did not try harder with his white pieces. Anand opted for the Caro Kann defense to equalise comfortably in the opening and after three minor pieces got traded it was just a level position. The peace was signed after 27 moves.
The big battle between Topalov and Kramnik also ended in draw. Expectedly, the players did not shake hands before the game confirming off-board rivalry after the last World championship where Topalov accused Kramnik of cheating.
The Queen’s gambit declined by Kramnik, playing black, gave Topalov a miniscule advantage but the Bulgarian could do little as the pieces got exchanged at regular intervals. The knight and pawns endgame offered little hope and draw was a just result after 49 moves.
Radjabov came back in to reckoning for the title with another superlative effort with his black pieces. On the receiving end was Alexander Motylev of Russia whose ‘Classical treatment’ against the King’s Indian defense did not come good.
With gradual improvement, Radjabov seized the initiative and outplayed the Russian. The game lasted 40 moves.
