Anand subdues Lputian

By Rakesh Rao

NEW DELHI, DEC. 4. A long spell of anxiety, followed by some moments of assurance, before the job was finally accomplished. For Viswanathan Anand, it was indeed a tough ride into the pre- quarterfinals. Perhaps, the fact that everyone anticipates Anand to win with white pieces is making it a bit difficult for him.

Smbat Lputian is strong player and enjoys Anand's respect. Even in Anand's opinion, the result should have been 1- 1. In this see-saw French Defence battle lasting 45 moves, Anand gradually gained control once the Armenian failed to find the right continuation in time-pressure.

Anand was `slightly surprised'' at Lputian's preparation of a ``dangerous idea'' in the opening today. After all, when the two had met in January, Anand had scored a victory in Winawer Variation. On this day, Lputian again threw a similar challenge at Anand.

The best part of the match today was that it always promised a decisive result. The sharp tactical battle saw Anand trying to put some pressure on black's castled king early on. Lputian chose to open his `f' file and got his rook into play. What followed was an expected sacrifice of this rook for a knight on `f6' square, after which Anand's king stood a bit exposed, but not in any real danger.

What gave Anand hope of getting a firmer grip on the match was when on the 32nd move came Lputian's dubious knight move. As a result, Anand's bishop got the diagonal it wanted and went on to win the pawn on `a' pawn. ``Any imbalance on the queenside was good for me,'' was Anand's observation.

``After that, his minor piece could not possibly challenge my rook,'' said Anand, who was quick to add that his ``tough opponent'' was ``a bit unlucky.''

``I think 1-1 (match result) would have been a fair one,'' was how Anand paid tribute to Lputian. ``He should have looked for a fortress (for his king) but once he failed to get one, I knew I could win.''

Anand now awaits the winner of the match between Alexander Beliavsky and Macieja Bartlomiej. After sharing honours once again, the duo now prepares for Tuesday's tie-breaker rounds.

Alexander Khalifman and Peter Leko, too, fought out a draw following a rook and pawn ending. Interestingly, the match between Michael Adams and Alex Yermolisky followed almost the same pattern as the Khalifman-Leko match until the 19th move in Sicilian Defence. Adams too could not force a victory on this day and will have to find his way in the tie-breaker.

In all, nine of the 16 pre-quarterfinalists have been identified. They are Anand, Rafael Leitao, Veselin Topalov, Alexey Dreev, Alexander Morozevich, Alexander Grischuk, Boris Gelfand, Evgeny Bareev and Boris Gulko.

Apart from the match involving Anand, the only two winners of the day were Peter Svidler and Evgeny Bareev. Svidler pulled it off against Chinese Peng Xiaomen to force the tie- breaker, while Bareev scored his second straight victory to complete Aleksej Aleksandrov's agony.

The results (Round three: game two): Viswanathan Anand (Ind, 2762) 1.5 bt Smbat Lputian (Arm, 2598) 0.5; Bartlomiej Macieja (Pol, 2536) 1 drew with Alexander Beliavsky (Slo, 2659) 1; Peter Leko (Hun, 2743) 1 drew with Alexander Khalifman (Rus, 2667) 1; Igor Nataf (Fra, 2526) 0.5 drew with Rafael Leitao (Bra, 2567) 1.5; Michael Adams (Eng, 2755) 1 drew with Alex Yermolinsky (USA, 2596) 1; Peter Svidler (Rus, 2689) 1 bt Peng Xiaomin (Chn, 2657) 1; Veselin Topalov (Bul, 2707) 1.5 drew with Kiril Georgiev (Bul, 2661) 0.5; Alexey Dreev (Rus, 2676) 1.5 drew with Loek van Wely (Ned, 2643) 0.5; Evgeny Vladimirov (Kaz, 2598) 0.5 drew with Alexander Morozevich (Rus, 2756) 1.5; Vladislav Tkacheiv (Fra, 2657) 1 drew with Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzb, 2690) 1; Sergei Movesesian (Cze, 2666) 1 drew with Jaan Ehlvest (Est, 2627) 1; Serper Grigory (USA, 2574) 0.5 drew with Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 2606) 1.5; Mikhail Gurevich (Bel, 2667) 1 drew with Alexei Shirov (Esp, 2746) 1; Jeroen Piket (Ned, 2649) 0.5 drew with Boris Gelfand (Isr, 2681) 1.5; Aleksej Aleksandrov (Blr, 2591) 0 lost to Evgeny Bareev (Rus, 2702) 2; Boris Gulko (USA, 2643) 1.5 drew with Zurab Asmailparashvili (Geo, 2673) 0.5.

The moves: Viswanathan Anand (India, white); Smbat Lputian (Armenia, black): 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nc3 Bb4, 4, e5 c5, 5. a3 Bc3+, 6. bc Ne7, 7. Qg4, 0-0, 8. Bd3 Nc6, 9. Qh5 Ng6, 10. Nf5 Qc7, 11. Be3 Ne7, 12. h4 Bd7, 13. a4 f5, 14. ef Rf6, 15. 0-0 c4, 16. Bg6 Ng6, 17. Qg5 e5, 18. de Rf3, 19. gf Rf8, 20. Qg3 Qe5, 21. Qe5 Ne5, 22. Rfd1 Nf3+, 23. Kf1 Rf5, 24. Ba7 Rf5, 25. Ke2 Bg4, 26. Rbd1 Nh4, 27. Kd2 Nf3+, 28. Kc1 d4, 29. Rb5 Rb5, 30. ab dc, 31. Bc5 Bf5, 32. Ra4 Nd2, 33. Bd4 Be6, 34. Ra8+ Kf7, 35. Rh8 Nf3, 36. Bc3 Ng5, 37. f4 Ne4, 38. Be5 h6, 39. Rb8 Bd5, 40. f5 Nf6, 41. Rc8 h5, 42. Rc5 Be4, 43. Rc7+ Kg8, 44. Bf6 gf, 45. Kd2 1-0.

Caption:

Grandmasters Alexey Dreev of Russia (left) and Loek van Wely of the Netherlands battle it out in the second game of the third round of the men's World chess championship in New Delhi on Monday. Dreev moved into the pre- quarterfinals on the basis of his first game victory.

- Photo: S. Subramanium

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