The Hindu : Sport : Anand off to a winning start

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Sunday, Jun 12, 2005

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Sport

Anand off to a winning start

NEW DELHI: Viswanathan Anand got off to a winning start against 14-year-old Magnus Carlsen in the four-game semifinal of the Ciudad de Leon rapid chess tournament in Leon, Spain, on Saturday.

In the opening battle of the four-game semifinal, Anand scored a 30-move victory over the Norwegian.

Playing white in the Petroff game, Anand gained a pawn early and following a series of exchanges, managed to push his queen-bishop pawn to the sixth rank. An oversight by Carlsen saw Anand capture a knight. Carlsen, who had less than five minutes to Anand's 15, resigned at once.

On Friday, World champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov upstaged defending champion Alexie Shirov 3-1 in the first semifinal.

Kasimdzhanov won the first and third games with black pieces and drew the second to take a winning lead before splitting point in the inconsequential fourth game.

After drawing the second game in 42 moves of Petroff Defence, Kasimdzhanov, like in the first game, nailed the local favourite in Sicilian Scheveningen lasting 43 moves. A desperate Shirov's miscalculation saw Kasimdzhanov gain a knight. Undeterred, Shirov went on to sacrifice a rook for a bishop for initiative on the queen's side. Sensing danger, Kasimdzhanov gave up a bishop, exchanged the queens. In the resultant endgame, Kasimdzhanov's pair of rooks proved superior to Shirov's rook and bishop.

With the tie already decided, the last game in Sicilian Rossolimo produced draw in equal position in 36 moves.

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