The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Anand moves closer to title

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Friday, Mar 09, 2007
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Anand moves closer to title

NEW DELHI: Viswanathan Anand inched closer to the title after taking a short draw from Armenia's Levon Aronian in the 12th round of the Morelia-Linares Super Grandmasters chess tournament in Linares, Spain, on Wednesday.

The 23-move draw in Ruy Lopez took Anand's tally to 7.5 points, half ahead of the second-placed Magnus Carlsen. The 16-year-old Norwegian drew with top seed Veselin Topalov in 25 moves to stay in contention.

Two more rounds remain after Thursday's day of rest.

In the two decisive battles of the day, Russians Peter Svidler and Alexander Morozevich won with the black pieces. Svidler, who had drawn all his previous games in the tournament, forced Peter Leko into a checkmating net in 36 moves of Sicilian Najdorf while Morozevich nailed an impulsive Vassily Ivanchuk in a Scotch game lasting 39 moves.

The results (12th round): Viswanathan Anand (7.5) drew with Levon Aronian (Arm, 6); Veselin Topalov (Bul, 5.5) drew with Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 7); Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 5.5) lost to Alexander Morozevich (Rus, 5.5); Peter Leko (Hun, 4.5) lost to Peter Svidler (Rus, 6.5).

Friday's 13th round pairings: Anand-Leko; Carlsen-Svidler; Morozevich-Topalov; Aronian-Ivanchuk.

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