Viswanathan Anand to meet Michael Adams after rest day

Champion Viswanathan Anand will take on Michael Adams of England in the opening round of the second half of Grenke Chess Classic here.

A missed opportunity, an excellent grind and few expected draws has been the story thus far for Anand and the Indian ace has every reason to look at the remaining games with optimism.

It was only the day before the lone rest day that Anand was able to secure a victory at the expense of Arkadij. Naiditsch of Germany. In four draws before that Anand had missed on a winning opportunity against Daniel Fridman of.Germany while the other games did not give him many chances.

Anand played three black games in first five rounds and now he will have three white games in the last five which gives him a real chance to catch up and even go past tournament leader Fabiano Caruana of Italy.

The Italian has recovered pretty well after a dismal show at last month's Tata Steel Chess tournament. With 3.5 points in his bag Caruana leads the standings ahead of Anand who has half point more than Naiditsch and Fridman. Adams is on two points from five games while Georg Meier of Germany is at the bottom of the standings with 1.5 points.

Stage is set for a nail-biting finish, if Anand continues in the same vein. The Indian has been in fine form recently and the game against Adams will be crucial to determine the eventual outcome in the tournament.

It may be recalled that Adams had scored a rare victory against Anand in the London Chess Classic last December and now comes the opportunity for the latter to avenge the defeat.

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