The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Anand draws; Hari wins

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Thursday, Jan 17, 2008
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Anand draws; Hari wins

NEW DELHI: Joint top seed Viswanathan Anand opened his account with a comfortable draw with fourth seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov while Levon Aronian and Magnus Carlsen scored their second straight victories to share the lead after two rounds of the Corus chess tournament at Wijk ann Zee, near Amsterdam, on Sunday.

A victorious P. Hari Krishna joined the leaders in Group ‘B’ where K. Humpy drew. In Group ‘C’, Parimarjan Negi crashed to his second straight loss. Anand, playing white, got into a comfortable position in Ruy Lopez. Mamedyarov’s accurate defence did not allow Anand to make much headway.

Anand did manage to advance two of his pawns in an ending where the players had two rooks each. But Mamedyarov stopped the progress of these pawns and a peace treaty was signed in 36 moves.

Anand now plays Ukraine’s Pavel Elijanov with black pieces. In the day’s longest battle, Peter Leko and Michael Adams drew in 98 moves. For the second straight day, Parimarjan’s defensive manoeuvres were found wanting and he succumbed to a 31-move defeat to third-seeded German Arik Braun.

The results (second round): Group ‘A’: Viswanathan Anand (0.5) drew with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 0.5); Boris Gelfand (Isr, 0.5) lost to Levon Aronian (Arm, 2); Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 2) bt Pavel Elijanov (Ukr, 0.5); Loek van Wely (Ned, 1) drew with Judit Polgar (Hun, 1); Veselin Topalov (Bul, 0.5) drew with Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 1); Peter Leko (Hun, 1) drew with Michael Adams (Eng, 1); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 1) drew with Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 1.5). Group ‘B’: P. Hari Krishna (1.5) bt Hou Yifan (Chn, 0); K. Humpy (0.5) drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus, 1); Nigel Short (Eng, 1.5) bt Erwin L’Ami (Ned, 0.5); Gabriel Sargissian (Arm, 1) drew with Jan Smeets (Ned, 1.5); Ivan Cheparinov (Bul, 1.5) drew with Sergei Movsesian (Svk, 1); Michael Krasenkow (Pol, 1) bt Wouter Spoelman (Ned, 0); Etienne Bacrot (Fra, 1.5) drew with Daniel Stellwagen (Ned, 1.5). Group ‘C’: Arik Braun (Ger, 2) bt Parimarjan Negi (0); Irina Krush (USA, 0.5) drew with Dmitri Reinderman (Ned, 1.5); Grivas Efstratios (Gre, 1) bt Dennis Ruijgrok (Ned, 0); Fabiano Caruana (Ita, 2) bt Mark van der Werf (Ned, 1); Pontus Carlsson (Swe, 1.5) drew with Peng Zhaoqin (Ned, 0.5); John van der Wiel (Ned, 2) bt Friso Nijboer (Ned, 0); Li Shilong (Chi, 2) bt Anna Ushenina (Ukr, 0).

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