Viswanathan Anand’s quest for the world championship title received a near-decisive setback as the Indian suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of tailender Alexander Morozevich in the seventh round of the world chess championship. With his second loss in four days after a fine 2.5/3 start, Anand was pushed to a 50 per cent score and now stands only joint third in the eight-player double round robin event. Topalov’s dominance, over an otherwise elite field, continued as he coasted to his sixth overall and fifth straight victory. On the receiving end was defending champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan who was outdone in a finely played endgame poised to find its place in the history books. At the halfway stage of this $ 1 million event, Topalov retained his two-point lead over Peter Svidler who scored over Judit Polgar. Yet again the day produced all decisive games with Peter Leko also coming out good against Michael Adams who is now firmly in the cellar along with Polgar on just 2 points. Anand on 3.5 points has the company of Peter Leko now on the third place while Kasimdzhanov and Adams share the fifth spot with 3 points each. Anand’s loss once more indicated that the he is not in the best shape even though Morozevich for once dominated the proceedings for the major part of this Caro Kann Defence game where the former played black. What followed thereafter was a real heartbreak for Anand’s supporters as the Russian whirled his pieces in perfect accordance with the position and his win was quite obvious by the 30th move. The standings (After round 7) • 1. Veselin Topalov (Bul, 6.5) • 2. Peter Svidler (Rus, 4.5) • 3-4. Viswanathan Anand (Ind), Peter Leko (Hun) 3.5 • 5-6. Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzb), Alexander Morozevich (Rus) 3 • 7-8. Michael Adams (Bri), Judit Polgar (Hun) 2
