Anand winds up Wely to join Topalov and Kramnik

Anand winds up Wely to join Topalov and Kramnik
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

MONTE CARLO, March 26: World champion Viswanathan Anand came back to winning ways defeating GM Lok van Wely to retain the lead with 11 points along with Grandmaster Vaselin Topalov of Bulgaria and Braingames champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia after the end of the 8th round of the 10th Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess Tournament here.

Anand defeated Dutch GM Lok van Wely 1.5-0.5, crushing his opponent in 30 moves after drawing the rapid game.

In the rapid game, Anand employed the Queen’s Indian defence and achieved a dynamically balanced position after the opening.

Van Wely went for complications at the cost of his pawn structure that looked precarious at the outset. Anand made a temporary pawn sacrifice and it appeared the Indian ace would sail through.

However, Van Wely forced the exchange of all minor pieces with excellent defensive manoeuvres. Anand decided not to press hard and the two signed truce in 36 moves.

The blindfold game was a spectator’s delight as Anand gave a perfect display of a kingside attack. In the French defence, Anand got an advantage after sacrificing a couple of pawns and made another highly enterprising piece sacrifice on his 14th move.

Van Wely had to sweat hard to work out a defence to stop Anand’s pieces which looked ready to rip open the king side. The defence was found in a queen sacrifice for two pieces but the ensuing position had very little counterplay as Anand romped home.

Standings (After Round VIII): 1-3: V Anand (India), V Kramnik (Russia), V Topalov (Bulgaria) 11 points; 4: Peter Leko (Hungary) 9 points; 5: A Shirov (Spain) 8.5 points; 6: J Piket (Netherlands) 8 points; 7: L Ljubojevic (Yugoslavia) 7 points; 8-9: Z Almasi (Hungary), B Gelfand (Israel) 6.5 points; 10-11: V Ivanchuk (Ukraine), A Karpov (Rus) 6 points; 12: L Van Wely (Ned) 5.5 points.

From the opening it was apparent that Kramnik was on top but following a perfect defence by Ivanchuk, the pieces got traded at regular intervals.

Kramnik had to play very accurately to keep his position intact and he succeeded in that.

The blindfold encounter between the two had no complexities about it and Ivanchuk had to settle for the draw in 25 moves. Topalov crushed former world champion Anatoly Karpov of Russia 2-0 to place himself among the leaders.In the rapid game, Karpov landed himself in trouble with some lacklustre moves in the Queen’s Indian defense with black pieces. Topalov seized the important squares with his minor pieces and obtained a passed pawn on the queen side. In the middlegame Karpov was forced to part with a rook for bishop and never recovered.

In the blindfold Topalov played an excellent rook and pawn endgame. The opening featured some unusual moves and Topalov managed to close the centre as pieces got traded in tandem. Karpov was saddled with a bad bishop that was confined to the defence of his own pawns. Topalov then penetrated the queenside decisively forcing the win.

GM Peter Leko of Hungary maintained his fourth position on nine points while GM Alexei Shirov of Spain made merry of an unprecedented blunder by GM Boris Gelfand of Israel to move into sole 5th position on 8.5 points.

The Moves
Van Wely v/s Viswanathan Anand
Rapid Game: White (Van Wely): 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. a3 Bb7 5. Nc3 d5 6. Bg5 Be7 7. Qa4 Bc6 8. Qb3 dxc4 9. Qxc4 O-O 10. bxf6 bxf6 11. e4 A6 12. Rd1 b5 13. Qa2 Bb7 14. e5 Bg5 15. Bd3 bxf3 16. gxf3 c5 17. Be4 Ra7 18. dxc5 Qc7 19. b4 bf4 20. Qc2 h6 21. h4 Nd7 22. Ne2 bxe5 23. Qd2 Bf6 24. f4 Rd8 25. Qe3 Be7 26. O-O bxh4 27. Nd4 Re8 28. Nc6 Raa8 29. Rd6 Nf6 30. Bf3 Nd5 31. bxd5 exd5 32. Qd3 Be7 33. Nxe7 Qxe7 34. Qxd5 Qe2 35. Qg2 Qc4 36. Rxh6 Draw agreed.
Blindfold game: White (Anand): 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Bd3 Ngf6 6. Qe2 c5 7. Nxf6 Nxf6 8. dxc5 bxc5 9. Bd2 O-O 10. O-O-O Qd5 11. Kb1 Qxg2 12. Nf3 Qxf2 13. Qe5 Nd7 14. bxh7 Kxh7 15. Qh5 Kg8 16. Rhg1 Be3 17. Bc3 f6 18. Rdf1 Qe2 19. Re1 Qf2 20. Ref1 Qe2 21. Re1 Qf2 22. Qg4 Rf7 23. Rgf1 Nf8 24. Rxf2 bxf2 25. Rf1 Bb6 26. Qh5 g6 27. Qh4 e5 28. Nd2 g5 29. Qh6 Bd8 30. Ne4 Black resigned.