Anand in summit clash with Karpov

Bastia, France:

India's Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand set up an interesting summit clash with veteran genius Anatoly Karpov of Russia after scoring a fluent victory over Mikhail Gurevich in the semifinals at the 6th Corsica Masters in Bastia, France. The 32-year-old former FIDE World Champion and two-time World Cup winner won the first of his two games with white pieces and then defended stoutly with black to come through a 1.5-0.5 winner against Gurevich. In the other semifinal, Karpov, another former World Champion, put paid to the hopes of Alexei Shirov with a victory by a similar margin to move into the final. A victory would give Anand the unique achievement of lifting the Corsica title three times in a row. (PTI)