Linares chess: Anand beats Yue in round 4

Linares, Spain:

World Champion Viswanathan Anand outwitted Chinese Wang Yue in his fourth round encounter in the ongoing Magistral Ciudad de Linares chess tournament here on Monday.

After getting the second victory in four games, the Indian ace inched himself up to 2.5 points in all and now stands sole third.

Overnight leaders Levon Aronian of Armenia and Alexander Grischuk of Russia also recorded victories to reach 3 points and continued to share the top spot jointly. Grischuk got he better of off-form Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan while Aronian grounded Lenier Dominguez of Cuba.

Anand, playing with his white pieces, he again opted for the queen pawn that he had successfully used in the world championship match against Kramnik last October.

Going for a recently popular variation Anand went for the early trade of queens that gave him a minuscule advantage and once Wang Yue failed to find the right plan, white had a vice-like grip on the position resulting in extreme pressure on both flanks.

Wang Yue was simply overpowered as Anand slowly improved his position before delivering the knockout punch. The Indian guided both his rooks in devastating position on the seventh rank and the Chinese lost a piece before calling it a day.

The other game of the fourth round between Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine ended in a draw.

With Aronian and Grischuk at the helm and Anand breathing down their necks, Carlsen and Ivanchuk now share the fourth spot on 2 points each having drawn all their games while Dominguez is sole sixth on 1.5 points.

Radjabov and Wang Yue share the seventh spot with just one point in their kitty so far. Ten rounds still remain in the traditional tournament, which is being played on a double round-robin basis between eight players.

Grischuk won with black, a clear sign that Radjabov is struggling with his form here. Going for a pawn sacrifice early in the opening Radjabov declared his intentions of a bloody game but the Russian was quite up to the task in finding the necessary defense and later launched a counter attack which was difficult to parry. Radjabov lost one more pawn and there was not much to play for after that.

Aronian showcased his ever growing technique and routed Dominguez. It was another queen pawn opening of the day wherein the former got out with a slightly better position and won a pawn in a long drawn affair.

It took 92 moves before Dominguez threw the towel in.

Carlsen and Ivanchuk shared the point in 36 moves.

Results of round 4: V Anand (Ind, 2.5) beat Wang Yue (Chn, 1); Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 1) lost to Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 3); Levon Aronian (Arm, 3) beat lenier Dominguez (Cub, 1.5); Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 2) drew with Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 2).