Vishwanathan Anand has it easy

By Rakesh Rao

NEW DELHI, DEC. 1. The discerning are well aware, that in chess, it is not always as easy as it looks. In what turned out to a fine demonstration of how to win from a winning position, Vishwanathan Anad walked away as the victor. In the process, he did not allow Victor Bologan to live up to his name.

Much after Anand became one of the early qualifiers into the third round, K. Sasikiran went down for the second time in as many days to Dutch Loek van Wely. Now Anand remains the only Indian in the World Chess Championship here.

For a few moments after shaking hands with an already- shaken Moldovian, Anand resembled Pied Piper. Horde of jubilant scribes, cameramen, players, a couple of Grandmasters simply followed this lovable champion from the playing hall to the media room for the post-match analysis.

It is said, `when knowledge speaks, wisdom listens'. So when Anand spoke and the lesser mortals listened. The master- like dismissal of Bologan was explained in detail. For the discerning, it was Anand's ability to see so much more on the board and carry out the precise plan at the right moment was the key.

Playing white, Anand got into a comfortable position in the Breyer variation of Ruy Lopez. ``I can't say I prepared it,'' Anand was to say later. In this position, white gets his pawns rolling on the `g' and `h' files that often leads to mating attacks. On the queenside, black does get a bit of counterplay but it is not enough to divert white's resources from the other flank of the board.

On this day, Bologan did miss the pawn on the `d5' square which would have blocked the long diagonal leading to his castled king. So when Anand began the pawn-roll on the extreme two files on his right, Bologan knew his trouble had just began. His plans to plant his two minor pieces alongside the castled king on the back-rank did not really work. When Anand pushed `g6' on the 38th turn, it took some time to gauge how effective this move was. In the eventual analysis, this move proved the one that hastened the end.

Bologan, as surprised as most others, had no choice but to take the pawn and see his fort breached almost by force. With Anand's knight moving to d7 and queen moving from f7 and e8, Bologan chose to resign instead of facing loss of material on way to the inevitable.

``It is a pleasant result, without going through the tie- breaker,'' said Anand, remaining as understated as usual.

Sasikiran, reeling under the loss suffered on Thursday, could never equalise in his Kings Indian Defence game that followed the Classical Variation. Loek van Wely played solidly and capitalised on Sasikiran's ambitious but premature plan. In the complications that followed, the Dutch had no difficulty in coming out stronger.

The results : (Round Two : Game Two) : Viswanathan Anand (Ind, 2762) 1.5 bt Victor Bologan (Mda, 2641) 0.5; Sergei Rublevsky (Rus, 2670) 0.5 drew with Smbat Lputian (Arm, 2598) 1.5; Bartlomiej Macieja (Pol, 2536) 1 drew with Michael Krasenkov (Pol, 2702) 1; Alexander Beliavsky (Slo, 2659) 1.5 bt Alexander Galkin (Rus, 2587) 0.5; Peter Leko (Hun, 2743) 1.5 bt Sergey Volkov (Rus, 2554) 0.5; Alexander Khalifman (Rus, 2667) 1 drew with Christopher Lutz (Ger, 2595) 1; Nigel Short (Eng, 2677) 1 drew with Igor Nataf (Fra, 2526) 1; Rafael Leitao (Bra, 2567) 1.5 bt Joel Benjamin (US, 2577) 0.5; Michael Adams (Eng, 2755) 1 drew with Thein Hai Dao (Vie, 2555) 1; Xu Jun (Chn, 2688) 0.5 drew with Alex Yermolinsky (US, 2596) 1.5; Peter Svidler (Rus, 2689) 1 drew with Etienne Barcot (Fra, 2613) 1; Peng Xiaomin (Chn, 2657) 1 lost to Utut Adianto (Ina, 2583) 1; Veselin Topalov (Bul, 2707) 1.5 bt Andrei Kharlov (Rus, 2627) 1; Kiril Georgiev (Bul, 2661) 1 drew with Liviv-Dieter Nisipeanu (Rom, 2592) 0.5; Alexei Dreev (Rus, 2676) 1 drew with Vladimir Malakhov (Rus, 2605) 1; Loek van Wely (Ned, 2643) 2 bt K. Sasikiran (Ind, 2573) 0; Gilberto Milos (Bra, 2633) 0 lost to Alexander Morozevich (Rus, 2756) 2; Evgeny Vladimirov (Kaz, 2598) 1 drew with Zoltan Almasi (Hun, 2668) 1; Pavel. V. Tregubov (Rus, 2620) 1 bt Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzb, 2690) 1; Alexandre Lesiege (Can, 2584) 0.5 drew with Vladislav Tkachiev (Uzb, 2690) 1.5; Jaan Ehlvest (Est, 2627) 1 drew with Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 2719) 1; Viorel Iordachescu (Mda, 2594) 1 bt Sergei Movesesian (Cze, 2666) 1; Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 2606) 1 drew with Ilya Smirin (Isr, 2677) 1; Grigory Serper (US, 2574) 2 bt Alexander Ivanov (US, 2567) 1; Alexander Onischuk (Ukr, 2627) 1 drew with Alexie Shirov (Esp, 2746) 1; Artashes Minasian (Arm, 2667) 1 drew with Mikhail Gurevich (Bel, 2667) 1; Emir Dizdarevic (Bih, 2527) 0 lost to Boris Gelfand (Isr, 2681) 2; Vladislav Nevedaichy (Rom, 2582) 0 lost to Jeroen Piket (Ned, 2649) 2; Rafael Vaganian (Arm, 2623) 1 bt Evgeny Bareev (Rus, 2702) 1; Aleksej Alexendrov (Blr, 2591) 1.5 bt Vladimir Akopian (Arm, 2660) 0.5; Vladimir Baklan (Ukr, 2599) 0.5 lost to Zurab Azmaiparashvili (Geo, 2673) 1.5; Alexander Chernin (Hun, 2572) 1 drew with Boris Gulko (US, 2643) 1.

The Game : V. Anand (India, White) : Victor Bologan (Moldova, Black)1. e4 e5, 2. Nf3 Nc6, 3. Bb5 a6, 4. Ba4, Nf6, 5. 0-0 Be7, 6. Re1 b5, 7. Bb3 d6, 8. c3 0-0, 9. h3 Nb8, 10. d4 Nbd7, 11. Nbd2 Bb7, 12. Bc2 Re8, 13. Nf1 Bf8, 14. Ng3 c5, 15. d5 c4, 16. Bg5 Qc7, 17. Nf5 Kh8, 18. g4 Ng8, 19. Qd2 Nc5, 20. Be3 Bc8, 21. Ng3 Rb8, 22. Kg2 a5, 23. a3 Ne7, 24. Rh1 Ng6, 25. g5 b4, 26. axb4 axb4, 27. cxb4 Na6, 28. Ra4, Nf4+, 29. Bxf4 exf4. 30. Nh5 Qb6, 31. Qxf4 Nxb4, 32. Bb1 Rb7, 33. Ra3, Rc7, 34. Rd1 Na6, 35. Nd4 Qxb2, 36. Rg3 c3, 37. Nf6, Re5, 38. g6 fxg6, 39. Nd7 Be7, 40. Nxe5 dxe5, 41. Qf7 h6, 42. Qe8+ 1-0.

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