Sasikiran (2.5 points) employed the obscure i.B 3 opening to steer the game on original lines against Dreev. The Russian sacrificed a pawn to obtain the initiative and a pair of bishops, but Sasi countered well and a draw was agreed in a complicated position after 27 moves.

RB Ramesh (2 points) found a study like draw in what seemed a hopeless end game-two powns down-to salvage half point against IMD Svetushkin of Moldova.

Abhijit Kunte (2 points) beat teammate S Vijayalakshmi (1) with black pieces in English opening. Viji paid the price for passive play as she allowed Abhijit to slowly improve the position going into an endgame where his King played a vital role to net the point.

DV Prasad, V Saravanan and Cs Gokhale (2 points each) overcome AK Zair (Morocco), E Formanak (USA) and Marta Lorena (Ecuador) respectively, while PKonguvel (1.5 points) drew with Merino Garcia (Spain).

Important Results

K Sasikiran (Ind, 2.5 pts) drew with A Dreev (Rus), S Tiviakov (Rus, 2.5) drew with G Grigore (Rom), Yegiazarian (Arm) (2) lost to A Minasian (Arm, 3) A Bykhovsky (Ykr, 2) lost to G Bagaturov (Geo, 3), K Landa (Rus, 3) bt A Summerscale (UK) (2), A Grischuk (Ukr) (2.5) drew with Hamdovchi (Mor, 2.5), De La Villa G (Spain, 2.5) drew with M Kazhagaleyev (Kaz, 2.5), K Asrian (Arm, 2.5) bt I Herrera (Cub, 1.5) A Kharlov (Rus, 2.5) bt A Stefanova (Bul, 1.5).

Tough for Anand

WIJK AAN ZEE: Vishwanathan Anand faces a tough test against Vassily Ivanchuk with black pieces in what will be a crucial encounter for the Indian as well as the temperamental Ukrainian in the category 17 Hoogovens Chess Super Grandmaster tournament.

Anand is half a point behind the unofficial world champion, Garry Kasparov, who is on a roll with fours in the last four rounds.

Meanwhile, Kasparov takes on Jeroen Piket and with white pieces thebrilliant Russian superstar could be expected to make it five wins in a row. That kind of a performance in a category 17 tournament is awe-inspiring for Kasparov is a player beyond compare.

Strangely the tournament organisers scheduled a second rest day with less than half the tournament gone through and the latter stages has a tight schedule with eight games and only one rest day breaking it. Kasparov leads the 14-player field with 4.5 points, while Anand is second half a point behind. Four players, Vaselin Topalov, Alexi Shirov, Vassily Ivanchuk and Vladimir Kramnik are at three points each.