Anand draws with white in Game One

New Delhi, December 9: For defending champion Alexander Khalifman of Russia, a draw with black pieces against top seed Indian Grandmaster ...

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New Delhi, December 9: For defending champion Alexander Khalifman of Russia, a draw with black pieces against top seed Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand must have been a satisfactory result. But more than the result itself, what was striking was that the bearded Russian, who plays white tomorrow, posed sufficient complications to test Anand. The draw in the quarterfinal game came after 31 moves.

Khalifman had come prepared with a sharp opening and was quite adept to leaving the table after making his moves. Anand, on the other hand, took more time in the opening and was rooted to his chair for a long time.

Khalifman, opening with Ruy Lopez, threw the Marshall Gambit, which is characterised by a pawn sacrifice in the opening and Anand kept the pawn till the end. However, the Indian Grandmaster had to solve many problems and at the time of draw he had two extra pawns — which did not matter much in the end.

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"One of them (pawns) was going and the other looked pretty sick," Anand said after the game. He also said he did not get surprise by the black opening as `it was one of the many things’ that he had expected.

“It was not a bad choice at all,” he added. “This was one of the lines I had prepared for Adams,” Anand referred to an earlier game between him and Adams.

After the 25th move (bishop coming to the central file) black had more or less got draw. Khalifman. who visited the media room after an hour’s gap, was philosophical in his comments. "Considering my results with black against Vishy this year, this was a positive result,” he said and pleaded he should be spared from questions about the game as the match was not over yet.

World Cup finalist Evgeny Bareev of Russia struck with white against Alexie Shirov of Spain in Queens Gambit Accepted. Bareev won an exchange on move 34 and got the point seven moves later. Michael Adams of England played a long game in Sicilian Scheveningen against Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and won a rook ending with the help of his connected pawns on the Queenside.

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In the women’s section, world champion Xie Jun of China started with a draw from the black side against Kovalevskaya of Russia in the semifinals. In the Four Knights Game, the point was split after 52 moves in a rook and pawn ending. Qin Kanying of China defeated Alisa Maric of Yugoslavia in 39 moves of French Defence. Qin created a passed pawn on the Queenside in a rooks ending.

Results: Open (quarterfinals): Anand drew with Khalifman (Russia); Alexander Grischuk (Rus) drew with Vladislav Tkachiev (Fra); Evgeny Bareev (Rus) bt Alexie Shirov (Spain); Michael Adams (Eng) bt Veselin Topalov (Bul).Women (Semifinals): Kovalevskaya (Rus) drew with Xie Jun (Chn); Qin Kanying (Chn) bt Alisa Maric (Yug)