NEW DELHI: Michael Adams is the strongest-ever British Grandmaster. Known to be one of gifted exponents of positional play, the 2004 World championship runner-up has earned the respect of his peers through some amazingly consistent display since his junior days. But when it comes to playing with black pieces against Viswanathan Anand, Adams finds himself stuck with a none-too-flattering reputation of being the Indian's `bunny'.

On Friday, Anand reinforced that belief by recording his second shortest, and the most devastating, victory over Adams in the third round of the World chess championship at San Luis, Argentina.

This 32-move verdict improved Anand's head-to-head record against the Englishman to 17-2 from 32 encounters with white pieces. Anand's 19-move drubbing of Adams in 1987 Lloyds Bank championship remains the shortest decisive game between these old friends.

As though to make amends for the all-draw second day, the third round produced decisive battles on all four boards. After Anand's runaway victory, Peter Svidler added to Peter Leko's woes and Judit Polgar handed out World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov his first defeat.

Topalov, playing black, worked his way to a hard-earned victory over Alexander Morozevich and kept Anand's company at the top with 2.5 points.

Violent offensive

After Thursday's narrow escape against Topalov, Anand needed a commanding victory to send the right signals to the other contenders. It came before long when Anand surprised Adams with a violent offensive that had no defence. Adams, finalist of the last year's World championship and a semifinalist against Anand in the 2000 edition, came into Friday's game with a hope of repeating his victory posted in Linares in February this year.

In fact, this was Adams's only triumph over Anand with black pieces in the classical time control. His other victory came in 1992 in a rapid game in Brussels.

In contrast, Anand was looking to maintain the psychological advantage over Adams and attained his goal by winning for the fourth time in eight encounters in Ruy Lopez. By the 21st move, Anand had managed to shift his queen-rook to the kingside and exerted tremendous pressure on Adams's castled king. Two moves later, Anand offered his rook for a knight, a `novelty' believed to be prepared by Anand some seven years back but saved it for a day like this.

And Adams accepted Anand's offer but on the 28th move traded his queen for a rook to prevent immediate checkmate. But this bargain brought little relief to Adams. As Anand's queen and bishop moved in for the `kill', Adams gave up.

Topalov's win

Topalov joined Anand in the lead after overpowering a fighting Alexander Morozevich in 75 moves of Sicilian Rossolimo. The Bulgarian seized the initiative in the middle game during which Morozevich had to offer his knight to stay alive in the contest. Later, this extra knight proved decisive. In the battle between the two Peters, Svidler rendered Leko's queen ineffective in the middle game and gained control of the seventh rank with his rook. Leko's second loss in three days came in 31 moves.

Judit Polgar made her presence felt with a stunning display of attacking chess against Kasimdzhanov. She sacrificed a knight and a bishop by the 13th move of this Sicilian Najdorf game in order to stall the development of Kasimdzhanov's pieces and gain kingside initiative. She collected a knight but sacrificed the other bishop to bring her rook into attack. But Polgar declined to trade her rook for queen and preferred to save her knight. After a series of exchanges, Kasimdzhanov resigned on the 42nd move when he could not find a way to prevent Polgar's pawn from becoming a queen.

The results (third round): Viswanathan Anand (Ind, 2.5) bt Michael Adams (Eng, 1); Peter Svidler (Rus, 2) bt Peter Leko (Hun, 0.5); Judit Polgar (Hun, 1.5) bt Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzb, 1); Alexander Morozevich (Rus, 1) lost to Veselin Topalov (Bul, 2.5).

Fourth round pairings: Kasimdzhanov-Anand; Leko-Polgar; Morozevich-Svidler; Topalov-Adams.

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