The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Gelfand joins Anand in lead

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Friday, Sep 21, 2007
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Sport - Chess

Gelfand joins Anand in lead

NEW DELHI: Viswanathan Anand played out a 21-move draw with Peter Leko before being joined by Israel’s Boris Gelfand in the lead after the sixth round of the World chess championship in Mexico City on Wednesday.

In what turned out to the shortest of the three draws in the round, Anand and Leko tested each other briefly in Ruy Lopez before signing peace.

As a result, Anand moved to four points, where Gelfand joined him after winning the longest game of the day.

Second straight win

Gelfand’s second consecutive victory resulted in Alexander Morozevich’s third loss and second in as many rounds.

The 50-move win for Gelfand, in the Queen’s Indian game, came after Morozevich sacrificed a rook for a bishop on the 19th move but gave up when he saw no way of stopping his rival from bringing back the queen on the board.

Defending champion Vladimir Kramnik and an indisposed Levon Aronian drew in 22 moves before Russians Alexander Grischuk and Peter Svidler reached a similar agreement in 48 moves.

The results (sixth round): Peter Leko (Hun, 2.5) drew with Viswanathan Anand (4); Boris Gelfand (Isr, 4) bt Alexander Morozevich (Rus, 2).

Levon Aronian (Arm, 2.5) drew with Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 3.5); Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 3.5) drew with Peter Svidler (Rus, 2).

Seventh round pairings: Anand-Grischuk; Kramnik-Gelfand; Morozevich-Leko; Svidler-Aronian.

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