Anand, Kasparov in semifinals

By Arvind Aaron

REYKJAVIK, APRIL 1. Favourites Garry Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand moved into the knockout stage with a round to spare in the Top of the World Challenge rapid chess tournament here at the Concert Hall of Kopavagur on Saturday.

Viswanathan Anand won his Group and will face Margeir Petursson of Iceland in the semifinal. In the other semifinal, Garry Kasparov who won his Group will face Alexander Wojtkiewicz of Poland. Both matches will be two-match rapid encounters.

Scoring three smashing victories and two draws, Anand advanced to the semifinal round of this rapid tournament.

It is a 12-player rapid tournament and players are split into groups of six each. Two players qualify from each group and everybody is expecting a Kasparov versus Anand final.

In the second round, Anand won a see-saw battle against Wojtkiewicz, unwilling to play a shell-safe draw. The risk paid off. In the third round he played the Caro-Kann defence and cooled himself with a draw in a level bishop ending against Stefansson.

In the fourth, he pinned Ivan Sokolov's queen and king with his bishop to win instantly after 54 moves. Having ensured a place in the semifinals, he gave a draw to Arnason of Iceland who had not scored any points. This leaves Wojtkiewicz of Poland with a chance of winning and tying for first place in the group and evoking a play off.

In his qualification, Kasparov was first held to a draw by veteran Korchnoi. Then he beat the two Olafssons and Jan Timman to earn a berth in the next stage. Kasparov had a rook, bishop and pawn against Timman's queen and was little bit lucky to win that encounter.

Of all the visitors, Korchnoi has been a big failure, only managing a draw against Kasparov. There is an audience of 200 and the auditorium is 60 per cent full.

The results:

First round: Group A: G. Kasparov drew with V. Korchnoi, J. Timman drew with F. Olafsson, H. Olafsson lost to M. Petursson. Group B: J. Hjartarson lost to V. Anand, H. Stefansson lost to I. Sokolov, J.L. Arnason lost to A. Wojtkiewicz.

Second round: Group A: F. Olafsson lost to G. Kasparov, H. Olafsson drew with J. Timman, M. Petursson bt V. Korchnoi. Group B: I. Sokolov bt J.L. Arnason, V. Anand bt A. Wojtkiewicz, J. Hjartarsson drew with H. Stefansson.

Third round: Group A: V. Korchnoi lost to F. Olafsson, G. Kasparov bt H. Olafsson, J. Timman bt M. Petursson. Group B: H. Stefansson drew with V. Anand, A. Wojtkiewicz bt I. Sokolov, J. Hjartarsson bt J.L. Arnason.

Fourth round: Group A: J. Timman lost to G. Kasparov, H. Olafsson bt V. Korchnoi, M. Petursson bt F. Olafsson. Group B: V. Anand bt I. Sokolov, J. Hjartarson lost to A. Wojtkiewicz, H. Stefansson bt J.L. Arnason.

Fifth round: Group A: V. Korchnoi drew with J. Timman, G. Kasparov bt M. Petursson, F. Olafsson lost to H. Olafsson. Group B: J.L. Arnason drew with V. Anand, A. Wojtkiewicz drew with H. Stefansson, I. Sokolov bt J. Hjartarson.

Group Standings: Group A: 1 G. Kasparov (Rus) 4.5/5, 2 M. Petursson (Isd) 3, 3-4 H. Olafsson (Isd), J. Timman (Ned) 2.5 each, 5 F. Olafsson (Isd) 1.5, 6 V. Korchnoi (Swz) 1.

Group B: 1 V. Anand (Ind) 4/5, 2 A. Wojtkiewicz (Pol) 3.5, 3 I. Sokolov (Bih) 3, 4 H. Stefansson (Isd) 2.5, 5 J. Hjartarsson (Isd) 1.5, 6 J.L. Arnason (Isd) 0.5.

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