Anand stays on top

January 28: Viswanathan Anand scored an excellent theoretical win over Friso Nijboer to keep his lead over the rest in the Hoogovens Grandma...

January 28: Viswanathan Anand scored an excellent theoretical win over Friso Nijboer to keep his lead over the rest in the Hoogovens Grandmasters chess tournament tonight. Anand now has seven points from 10 rounds while Shirov, who beat Timman, is his closest rival with 6.5 points.

In other games, Dutchman Jan Timman fell to his first defeat in this meet. Kramnik drew against Topalov and is now in the third spot with six points, while Anatoly Karpov scored his first win of the event with a powerful opening performance against Judit Polgar’s Grunfeld Defence. Polgar was in serious trouble as early as move 14 and played on longer than necessary.

English GM Michael Adams scored a fine win over Valery Salov in 39 moves off a Sicilian Defence employed by Salov. Boris Gelfand drew with Loek Van Wely in 37 moves in a Caro-Kann game, while Shirov demolished Timman’s Petroff Defence in 52 moves. Piket beat Van Der Sterren in a Queen’s Gambit in 34 moves.

Results (10th round)

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Shirov bt Timman; Kramnik drew with Topalov; Gelfand drew with Van Wely; Adams bt Salov; Karpov bt Polgar; Piket bt Van Der Sterren; Nijboer lost to Anand.

Points ten rounds: Anand 7; Shirov 6.5; Kramnik 6; Polgar, Timman, Topalov and Adams 5.5 each; Karpov and Piket 4.5 each; Van Wely, Nijboer, Salov and Vanb Der Sterren 3.5 each.