Anand held; Kramnik joins Kasparov at the top

Linares (Spain), March 5: India's Viswanathan Anand continued to struggle as he was held to a draw by FIDE World champion Alexander Khalif...

Linares (Spain), March 5: India’s Viswanathan Anand continued to struggle as he was held to a draw by FIDE World champion Alexander Khalifman of Russia to be stuck at the bottom while World No. 3 Vladimir Kramnik joined fellow Russian Gary Kasparov at the top by crushing Alexei Shirov of Spain in the Linares Super Grandmasters chess, here on Saturday.

World No. 2 Anand recovered somewhat after two losses to Shirov and the peerless Kasparov in the previous rounds, but employing black pieces he was left with just 1.5 points after being forced to a draw in just 22 moves against Khalifman.

Kramnik cashed in fully on the advantage of playing white pieces as he forced Shirov to resign in the 48th move while Kasparov was held to a creditable draw in 38 moves by young Hungarian Peter Leko (2.5).

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At the halfway mark of the meet, where each of the six players face the other twice, former winner Anand look well out of the title race.

Leko was second with 2.5 points while Shirov and Khalifman with two points each were lying joint third.

Anand employed the Slav Defence and faced the classical set up from Khalifman.

That Khalifman was well armed with the system became evident as he sacrificed a pawn to enter complications. Anand stuck to his preparation and achieved a dynamic equality as he came out of the routine theory.

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Khalifman obtained the bishop pair against the knight pair but an extra pawn helped Anand in keeping the position semi-closed.

The queens were exchanged to arrive at an interesting endgame where Khalifman’s bishop dominated the board, but black had an extra pawn and Khalifman preferred safety play by proposing a draw which Anand accepted.

Kramnik, on the other hand, overcame Shirov in another Slav Defence game. Shirov employed the Piece Sacrifice Variation but could only wriggle out of the middlegame slighty inferior thanks to Kramnik’s advance king.

Shirov, faced against two pieces of Kramnik, soon lost control over the game and the Russian gobbled his queenside pawns to create a passed pawn. As Kramnik was in the process of pushing his queen knight pawn to glory, Shirov resigned.

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Kasparov faced stiff resistance as he could make no headway with white in the Hungarian Variation of the Grunfeld Indian Defence against Leko and had to settle for a draw.

Leko complicated the struggle in the middle game, but found himself on the defensive in the ensuing endgame as Kasparov got a passed pawn on the queen’s flank. However, with the help of his precise technique, Leko steered the game to a draw.

Top-seeded Kasparov has played three draws in his last four rounds and it will be interesting how he regains his top spot as the race hots up.

Standings (Round V): 1-2. Kasparov, Kramnik (3.5); 3. Leko (2.5); 4-5. Shirov, Khalifman (2); Viswanathan Anand (1.5).

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Moves: 1.D4 D5; 2.C4 C6; 3.Nf3 Nf6; 4.Nc3 dxc4; 5.a Bf5; 6.E3 E6; 7. Bxc4 Bb4; 8.0-0 Nbd7; 9.Qe2 Bg4; 10.Rd1 Qa5; 11.E4 Nb6; 12.Bb3 Bxc3; 13.bxc3 Qxc3; 14.Rb1 0-0; 15.H3 Bxf3; 16. Qxf3 Qxf3; 17.gxf3 Nbd7; 18.Ba3 Rc8; 19.Bc4 Nbd7; 20.Bb3 Nbd7; 21.Bc4 Nb6; 22.Bb3 Draw.