Topalov shocks Kramnik; Anand loses

By Arvind Aaron

MONTE CARLO, MARCH 20. Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria shocked defending champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia by 1.5-0.5 to move into lead in the fourth round of the 9th Amber chess tournament here at Le Metropole Palace Hotel on Sunday.

Former winner Viswanathan Anand hit a low losing to lowly rated Loek Van Wely of the Netherlands in the rapid game. Their blindfold game is unfinished.

Topalov is on six points from eight games but could be overtaken by Alexei Shirov who is playing on 5.5 points with white pieces.

Anand is on three points from seven games.

Successive defeats despite playing well has dented Anand's morale. His defeat to Tilburg Grandmaster Van Wely came after 113 moves in a long encounter which altered the other schedules of the day.

Blindfold Games

The session one of blindfold game lacked interest. Topalov and Kramnik drew with nine minutes each to spare after the former seemed to have a slight advantage out of the opening and the latter in the endgame.

They made fresh queens and split points after 39 moves.

In the other games, Ivanchuk was unimpressive in his 25-move draw with white against Gelfand and Piket avenged his rapid defeat by staging a comeback against Nikolic.

Piket's 73- move win in an opposite colour bishop ending was technical stuff and he made 1-1. The last session of blindfold games is in progress.

Rapid Games

The first session started with an upset. Kramnik's second successive loss in rapid chess. His conqueror was Topalov and it was error-filled duel from a queen pawn opening.

Kramnik's 25th move was fatal as he missed a draw and lost two pieces to crash into an atypical defeat.

The game followed highly original play from both sides, particularly black. On his comeback trail, Topalov has found the winning rhythm going in the tournament.

Topalov who last played in the European Team Championship at Batumi last December accepted to the game being marred by mistakes by both sides.

Ivanchuk won a pawn against Gelfand but in an opposite coloured bishop ending that ensued it proved insufficient for a victory after 54 moves.

Beaten twice on Saturday, Nikolic had dinner last night with his fourth round opponent.

It is normal here and although from Bosnia, Nikolic lives in the same city - Leiden - as Piket.

In events which does not feature Kasparov, players enjoy a greater social life among themselves.

Karpov, Kramnik, Gelfand and Dreev were playing Belote all night. Karpov is the Chairman of the Russian Belote Federation. Belote is a card game.

Like a computer, Nikolic spotted a queen move to win a pawn. Piket moved into an worse rook ending with passed pawns for both sides.

His decision not to exchange a pair of pawns on move 38 made the difference between being able to draw and lose.

Karpov's desire to play on after reaching a drawn queen ending met with disastrous results as he fell into a mating net to lose in 51 moves.

It was a crucial centrestage game deciding the leader and a costly lapse by the former world champion who had played very well so far.

Lucky once again, Shirov said, ``It is not my fault.''

Lautier and Ljubojevic shared points quickly in 29 moves in a lacklustre game.

Van Wely who had not been out of the hotel yet, had a great day beating Anand in 113 moves with the white pieces from a queen's Indian defence.

``I have beaten him here before but in less moves,'' Van Wely said after the victory.

``Is he having problems with his confidence?'' asked GM Roberto Cifuentes, trainer of Van Wely about Anand not making a draw in this game which followed a queen's Indian defence game.

Saturday's blindfold games

The last set of three blindfold games ended decisively but had several interesting moments as white won all three. Gelfand's progress in the tournament was checked by Piket.

Although outplayed, Piket found a trick and boxed the black king in a mating net to win in 41 moves and celebrate the arrival of his parents with a 1.5-0.5 victory for the day.

Topalov matched Karpov's 2-0 sweep by routing Nikolic in both games. He was convincing but missed a simpler way to checkmate the black king on move 46.

Beaten in the visual round, Kramnik hit back at Ivanchuk when the latter dropped a rook for knight for no reason on move 22.

The results: Rapid games (fourth round): V. Kramnik lost to V. Topalov, B. Gelfand drew with V. Ivanchuk, J. Piket lost to P. Nikolic, J. Lautier drew with L. Ljubojevic, A. Karpov lost to A. Shirov, L. Van Wely bt V. Anand.

Blindfold games (fourth round): V. Topalov drew with V. Kramnik, V. Ivanchuk drew with B. Gelfand, P. Nikolic lost to J. Piket, L. Ljubojevic playing J. Lautier, A. Shirov playing A. Karpov, V. Anand playing Van Wely.

Third round: J. Piket bt B. Gelfand, V. Topalov bt P. Nikolic, V. Kramnik bt V. Ivanchuk.

Combined standings after four rounds: 1 V. Topalov (Bul) 6/8, 2 A. Shirov (ESP) 5.5 plus one game on hand, 3 A. Karpov (Rus) 4.5 plus one game on hand, 4 B. Gelfand 4.5, 5 L. Van Wely (Ned) 4 plus one game on hand, 6 V. Kramnik (Rus) 4, 7- 8 V. Ivanchuk (Ukr), J. Piket (Ned) 3.5 each, 9 V. Anand (Ind) 3 plus one game in progress, 10 L. Ljubojevic (Yug) 2.5 plus one game in progress, 11 P. Nikolic (Bih) 2.5, 12 J. Lautier (Fra) 1.5 plus one game on hand.

The moves: GM L. Van Wely-GM V. Anand, round 4, rapid, Queen's Indian defence, E12: 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 b6 4.a3 Bb7 5.Nc3 d5 6.Bg5 Be7 7.Qa4 c6 8.Bxf6 Bxf6 9.cxd5 exd5 10.g3 O-O 11.Bg2 Na6 12.O-O Nc7 13.Rfd1 Re8 14.e3 g6 15.Rac1 Re7 16.Ne2 Nb5 17.Nf4 Bg7 18.h4 Qe8 19.Nd3 Nd6 20.Nfe5 c5 21.Qxe8 Raxe8 22.Nf4 Ne4 23.Nf3 Rd8 24.Ng5 cxd4 25.exd4 h6 26.Nf3 Nd6 27.b3 Bf6 28.a4 Kg7 29.Bh3 Ne4 30.Rc2 Nd6 31.Rdc1 Rde8 32.Rc7 Rxc7 33.Rxc7 Re7 34.Rc1 a5 35.Nd3 Ba6 36.Nde5 Be2 37.Rc6 Ne4 38.Bf1 Bxf3 39.Nxf3 Re6 40.Rc2 Rd6 41.Bh3 Kf8 42.Rc7 h5 43.Bf1 g5 44.hxg5 Nxg5 45.Rc8 Kg7 46.Nh4 Re6 47.f4 Ne4 48.Bh3 Bxd4 49.Kg2 Rf6 50.Rd8 Bc5 51.Rxd5 Nd6 52.Rxh5 Rh6 53.Rd5 Kf8 54.Nf3 Ne4 55.Bf5 Nd6 56.Bg4 Ne4 57.Bf5 Nd6 58.Bd3 Kg7 59.Re5 Rh8 60.g4 Re8 61.Rxe8 Nxe8 62.Ne5 Nd6 63.Kf3 f6 64.Nd7 Bd4 65.Bc4 Bg1 66.Nb8 Bd4 67.Nc6 Bg1 68.Kg3 Bc5 69.Kh4 Kh6 70.Ne7 Bf2 71.Kh3 Bc5 72.Nd5 Kg7 73.Kh4 Ne4 74.Bd3 Nd2 75.Bc2 Nf3 76.Kg3 Nd4 77.Bd1 Ne6 78.Kf3 Nd8 79.Ke4 Nc6 80.Be2 Ne7 81.Nc7 Kg6 82.Bd3 Bg1 83.Kf3 Kf7 84.Bc4 Kg6 85.Be6 Bc5 86.Ke4 Bg1 87.Nb5 Bc5 88.Nd4 Kh6 89.Bc4 Kg6 90.Kd3 Kh6 91.Ne6 Bg1 92.Bb5 Kh7 93.Kc4 Kg8 94.Be8 Be3 95.f5 Bg1 96.Kb5 Kh7 97.Bc6 Kh6 98.Bb7 Be3 99.Bf3 Bg1 100.Ka6 Nc8 101.Kb7 Nd6 102.Kc6 Nf7 103.Be2 Be3 104.Kd7 Ng5 105.Ke7 Nh7 106.Kf7 Bf2 107.Bb5 Bg3 108.Ke7 Be5 109.Bc6 Ng5 110.Nf8 Nh3 111.Nd7 Bd4 112.Nxf6 Nf4 113.Ne4 1-0.

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