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Anand settles for draw with Topalov
Viswanathan Anand decided to play it safe against Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and easily drew the 9th roundgame of Corus Chess Tournament.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 09:49 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
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World rapid champion Viswanathan Anand decided to play it safe against World No 3 Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and easily drew the 9th roundgame of Corus Chess Tournament. With just four rounds to come in this category 19 event, Anand slipped a little more to join Brit Michael Adams in the joint third spot. Hungarian Peter Leko joined Topalov in lead on six points from 10 games with a hard earned victory over Commonwealth champion Nigel Short. While both Anand and Adams are on 5.5, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia inched up to 5 points after sharing honours with Dutch star Loek Van Wely. The next spot in the standings is occupied by Russian Alexander Grischuk, Cuban Lazaro Bruzon and Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov who all have 4.5 points apiece. Easy game Anand played an easy game as black and his Petroff defence was a clear indication that he was in no mood to spoil his chances with black. The Indian ace does not enjoy a good score against Topalov especially with black pieces in the recent past and that also played a significant part in this important contest. Playing just according to the requirement of the position Anand achieved the equality he was looking for in no time and the players signed truce in just 25 moves when the queens got traded. Leko was in his element against Short who was outdone quite easily in a King pawn game. The Hungarian showed depth in his opening preparation and came out with a significant advantage after the dust settled. Thwarted move Short tried hard after being pushed to the wall but his counter active attempts were thwarted quite easily. The game lasted just 37 moves. In the other decisive games of the day, Russian Alexander Morozevich reached another mark of respectability after outplaying Dutchman Ivan Sokolov. Peter Svidelr eventually gave an indication of his true strength with a fine victory over compatriot Alexander Grischuk. (PTI)Topics mentioned in this article
Chess
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