Khalifman survives, holds Anand

By Rakesh Rao

NEW DELHI, DEC. 9. For a change, the expected `white-wash' never came. Alexander Khalifman survived with black pieces while facing Vishwanathan Anand this year. But all the same, the defending champion may have just about won a psychological battle over his strongest challenger with this `positive' result.

After an interesting quarterfinal battle in the World chess championship quarterfinals, Anand and Khalifman needed no reminding as to what their encounter meant for those present here and millions of others who followed it on the internet.

On Sunday, it remains to be seen whether Anand collects a great reason to celebrate on the eve of his birthday or Khalifman goes ahead and spoils the party. In case the match is destined to be decided in tie-breaker, the outcome is sure to be remembered and recalled in times to come.

No wonder the Anand-Khalifman match eclipsed everything else, including Evgeny Bareev's surprise victory over Alexei Shirov, and Michael Adams' planned execution of Veselin Topalov. The quick draw between Alexander Grischuk and Vladislav Tkachiev almost went unnoticed.

If attack is the best form of defence, then Khalifman had come well-prepared. He opted for the Marshall Attack in Ruy Lopez, where black sacrifices a couple of pawns to get a promising position. Should white ward off the threats, then black gets into serious trouble in the end-game where the extra pawns make all the difference.

Khalifman had obviously studied Anand's winning game against Adams played at Dortmund in July this year. Saturday's game followed the first 24 moves of that particular game before Anand deviated. ``When I had annotated that game, I had suggested this move as well, and obviously he had seen it. Once he found the right continuation, there was nothing really in it,'' said Anand.

The choice of such a sharp line reflected Khalifman's high level of confidence. ``It was one of the many things I expected. I briefly looked at a lot of other lines,'' said Anand about his last-minute preparations. On the final position, where he had two extra pawns, Anand said, ``well, one was going and the other one was looking sick. Though, I could never, never lose from that position.''

For Khalifman it was okay to draw with black. ``Considering that I had lost all matches to Anand with black and the fact that he had won his matches here with white, it was a positive result for me. But I am not really happy. There is nothing to feel happy about. I will be happy only if I win.''

In the only result which came on unexpected lines, World Cup finalist Evgeny Bareev outplayed Alexei Shirov and took a giant leap towards a place in the semifinals.

After 32 moves of Queens Gambit Declined, Bareev clearly looked ready for the kill. Shirov had to give up his rook for a knight and two pawns to stay alive in the contest. But it did not really help as he blundered a knight on the 40th move and resigned at once.

Michael Adams was not really stretched for ideas by Veselin Topalov. After overcoming Alexey Dreev after six games, the Bulgarian did appear a bit jaded and eventually paid the price over the board. Facing Sicilian Defence, Adams opted to castle on the queens side. After simplification, Topalov could not prevent Adams from penetrating from the open `c' file with queen and rook. Adams tightened the noose by winning a crucial pawn on the `e' file and went on to establish passed-pawns on the `a' and `b' files. Adams took his time to come out stronger in the rook-and- pawn ending. Topalov finally gave up on the 70th move.

The other draw of the day, between Vladislav Tkachiev and Alexander Grischuk, was a tame one. After following theory for 17 moves of Archengelsh Variation of Ruy Lopez, the players did not see any point in continuing. Tkachiev, who is 51 points ahead of the young Russian, is expected to be more aggressive with white pieces on Sunday.

The results (quarterfinals, game one): Vishwanathan Anand (Ind, 2762) drew with Alexander Khalifman (Rus, 2667); Michael Adams (Eng, 2755) bt Veselin Topalov (Bul, 2707); Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 2606) drew with Vladislav Tkachiev (Fra, 2657); Evgeny Bareev (Rus, 2702) bt Alexei Shirov (Esp, 2746).

The moves: White: Vishwanathan Anand (India) vs Black: Alexander Khalifman: 1. e4 e5. 2. Nf3 Nc6, 3. Bb5 a6, 4. Ba4 Nf6, 5. 0-0 Be7, 6. Re1 b5, 7. Bb3 0-0, 8. c3 d5, 9. exd5 Nxd5, 10. Nxe5 Nxe5, 11. Rxe5 c6, 12. Re1 Bd6, 13. d3 Qh4, 14. g3 Qh3, 15. Re4 Qf5 , 16. Nd2 Qg6, 17. Re1 f5, 18. a4 Rb8, 19. axb5 axb5, 20. Ne4, fxe4, 21. dxe4 Bg4, 22. Qd4 Bf3, 23. exd5 c5, 24. Qh4 Rbe8, 25. Bd2 Be4, 26. Re2, Qf5, 27. Bf4 c4, 28. Rxe4 Rxe4, 29. Bc2 Bxf4, 30. Bxe4 Qxe4, 31. gxf4 0.5-0.5.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Calicut varsity claims title
Next     : Kanying continues dream run