The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Svidler downs Bareev

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Friday, Mar 25, 2005

Sport

Sport - Chess

Svidler downs Bareev

MONACO, MARCH 24. Peter Svidler overpowered Russian teammate Evgeny Bareev to temporarily move to the second spot behind Viswanathan Anand in the blindfold section of the Amber blindfold and rapid chess tournament here on Thursday.

In the other matches in the first set of blindfold play in the fifth round, Dutch Loek van Wely held Peter Leko in 48 moves while Boris Gelfand earned a draw against defending champion Alexander Morozevich in 64 moves.

Anand was due to play black with Vassily Ivanchuk in the blindfold game and white in rapid later.

If Svidler managed to come out as a winner against Bareev, it was mainly due to his timely kingside offensive. Playing black, the former Russian champion managed to get his rook pair active and with the help of queen and bishop closed in for the `kill'. Bareev had no choice but to trade his rook for a well-placed bishop to prevent immediate loss. The ploy did not help Bareev's cause for long as Svidler regrouped his resources and threatened to checkmate his castled king.

The results: Blindfold (fifth round): Evgeny Bareev (Rus) lost to Peter Svidler (Rus); Boris Gelfand (Isr) drew with Alexander Morozevich (Rus); Loek van Wely (Ned) drew with Peter Leko (Hun).

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