The Hindu : Anand content with a draw

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 16, 2002

Sport

Sport - Chess

Anand content with a draw

By V.V. Subrahmanyam

HYDERABAD OCT. 15. India's challenge in the second World Cup of chess stayed afloat with defending men's champion Viswanathan Anand and surprise entry Subbaraman Meenakshi from Chennai settling for draws in the first round of the quarterfinals at the Ramoji Film City here.

Meanwhile Koneru Humpy marched ahead in style with yet another brilliant 38-move win over Li Ruofan of China.

Anand was content with a draw with black against Vladimir Malakhov of Russia. This was understandable as the Russian outwitted an out of form Vassily Ivanchuk to eliminate him from the fray on Monday.

In a Reti Opening which got transposed into a Queen's Gambit variation, Anand sacrificed a pawn with the hope of controlling the white squares. He even tempted his rival by offering a pawn on `e5' on the 19th move. But Malakhov cleverly avoided the trap and came up with the right counter-play to gain equality.

Though Anand felt that Ne2 instead of Nf4 would have been better, later in a post-game analysis he admitted that after his opponent played Qe2 on the 21st move there was very little scope for black to improve and he settled for a draw after 25 moves.

It was a pleasing sight to see Anand and Malakhov analysing the game from that position for nearly 45 minutes with Vassily Ivanchuk and Teimour Rajdhbov flanking Anand and Vescovi to the left of Malakhov. Apparently they too couldn't come up with a better end-game.

Humpy opted for the Queen's Pawn Opening to which her rival replied with a Queen's Gambit Declined Variation. Humpy initially was not sure of winning as the position became increasingly unclear.

But with a masterly move - Bf3 - on the 22nd move she took complete control of the `c' file which in turn enabled her to attack the queenside of her rival.

Ruofan had to sacrifice her white bishop. The Chinese GM was also surprised by the novelty introduced by Humpy - Nxc7 soon which gave positional advantage to the Indian.

In a Bishop-Knight ending advantage, Humpy wrapped up the issue. Now she only needs a draw against the same opponent to make it to the last four stage.

The unassuming Subbraman Meenakshi was once against the toast with her creditable draw against defending champion, Xu Yuhua. Playing the Nf3 Opening for the first time to bring an element of surprise into the game. Meenakshi seemed to have a good control in the middle-game.

But much to her chagrin, it developed into an unclear position. Both of them slipped into time pressure and a draw was agreed after 57 moves.

Svetlana Matveeva of Russia recorded an impressive 25-move win over Irina Krush of United States employing the Grunfeld Defence.

In another quarterfinal first round game, Alexander Dreev of Russia showed his acknowledged mastery in Carokann Defence to earn a draw with black against D. Nigel Short of England.

The English GM felt that he faltered by playing R x d5 on move 27 though he was a pawn up.

Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan recorded a facile 58 move win with black over Ye Jianghuan of China and this despite by his own confession that he was virtually hopeless at one stage. "I clearly over estimated my position and was under serious threat," Rustam remarked.

But, his tenacity paid off as Jiangchuan, desperately trying for a win, overlooked a Ng4 check from the opponent which proved to be decisive in the ultimate analysis.

G. Alexander Belivasky of Slovenia outwitted Sergie Rublevesky of Russia in 50 moves.

The results: quarterfinals: 1st round: Men: Vladimir Malakohv (Rus) drew with Viswanathan Anand (Ind); Jiangchuan Ye (Chn) lost to Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzb); D. Nigel Short (Eng) drew with Alexander Dreev (Rus); G. Alexander Beliavsky (Slo) bt Sergie Rublevsky (Rus).

Women: Irina Krush (USA) lost to Svetlana Matveeva (Rus); Koneru Humpy (Ind) bt Li Ruofan (Chn); Wang Pin (Chn) drew with Stefanova Antoneta (Bul); S. Meenakshi (Ind) drew with Xu Yuhua (Chn).

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