The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Kasimdzhanov stuns Shirov

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 11, 2005

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Sport - Chess

Kasimdzhanov stuns Shirov

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: World champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov outsmarted second seed Alexie Shirov in the first game of their semifinal clash of the Ciudad de Leon rapid chess tournament in Leon, Spain, on Friday.

In their Sicilian game, Kasimdzhanov launched an early offensive from the queen's side and managed to win Shirov's queen for a bishop on the 21st move. In this 20-minute rapid encounter, the Uzbek looked like running out of time as Shirov slowly won two more minor pieces. But Kasimdzhanov made it when he threatened an inevitable checkmate on the 41st turn. Three more games remain to be played in this match.

Viswanathan Anand, a three-time winner in Leon and a firm favourite, will take on Norway's 14-year-old Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen in the second semifinals on Saturday. Anand plays white in the first game. In case of a tie after four games, five-minute blitz games will be played to find the winner.

On Thursday night, Anand chose Carlsen as his rival. Interestingly, Anand and Carlsen have never played in any form of the game.

Meanwhile, Latvian Shirov, a finalist to Anand in the 2000 World championship final, will have to fight very hard to live up to the expectations of the fans from his adopted nation.

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