Anand continues to win

By Arvind Aaron

MERIDA (MEXICO), MAY 19. World champion Viswanathan Anand continued to win in yet another dazzling encounter against Nigel Short of England in the third round of the 2nd Torneo Magistral of chess here on Friday.

Anand wrested sole lead with this victory and is one point ahead of his immediate challengers, former FIDE World champion Alexander Khalifman of Russia and Short. Anand is on 2.5 points, Khalifman and Short have 1.5 each.

The half way mark of this four player double round- robin tournament has been reached. Three rounds remain to be played. Saturday is a free day and the players will give a simultaneous display in the morning. The event will conclude on May 22.

Anand, the 31-year-old Chennai born genius who posted an enterprising victory on Thursday, opened with the king pawn as white and faced the Ruy Lopez from Short. Trying to stay away from well analysed lines, the 35-year-old Englishman decided to fianchettoe his king side as part of an opening plan.

The six hour encounter was thrilling with each of them calling it differently. Anand played better and deserved to win in the end. Short closed the centre and pawn stormed the king side as if it were a king's Indian defence. The stark difference being that black had exchanged the good light squared bishop.

Anand's strategic planning was excellent. When black reduced pressure on the centre, he opted to open the queen knight file. When he sensed that black was parking a cluster of pieces on the queen side he opened the king side to open another platform to fight. This was the decisive phase, a bishop sacrifice on move 36 left black's side in total disarray and his king vulnerable. Anand missed a direct win on move 38 when he could have played Rb8 but he captured a pawn instead. Later, Anand picked a rook to make the net position stand at two sacrificed pieces for a rook and two pawns.

Just when Anand finished his time control taking time, Short bungled on move 50 when he could have fought for a draw with a better move on Qa5. Anand showed some analysis at the end of his game where black will play with three minor pieces against the white queen and two pawns.

After the 50th move, black was lost and Anand worked a way to trap the black queen. Short resigned the error-filled encounter on the 53rd turn. Most of the spectators formed those who played in the open tournament.

`Bad game says, Short'

Placing the game under the lens, Short said, ``it was a normal opening, then I made 10 bad moves, then he made seven bad moves and finally I made the last mistake.''

Anand said this game was like Russian roulette. Short dominated the analysis for the public saying, ``I was disgusted with my play.''

He even intended to resign on the 27th turn. When Anand fed the public with his analysis, he pointed out that he had missed a simple win on the 38th move. ``There you are, I told you it is a bad game,'' Short caught on.

In his first game with white pieces, Khalifman did open with his king knight which is also the name of his recent book on the 1.Nf3 opening. The game transposed to a king's Indian defence, fianchettoe opening. Sacrificing a pawn on the 12th move, Khalifman obtained a better position and was calling all the shots with white pieces for most of the session. Using this positional advantage he used his advantage on and off to keep up the pressure. After black sacrificed a knight on move 32, all the tactics worked in white's favour. Khalifman capitalised on black's weak back rank to win a rook that brought down the curtains on the Mexican player G. Hernandez.

Speaking after the game, Khalifman said, white's advantage in the opening was clear and black made some nice defensive moves to keep that under check.

Citing an example, he said after the exchange of queens it was getting complicated as white had no real attacking ammunition without the queen to realise the advantage. After white's 35th move, there was no escape for black, Khalifman concluded.

The results (round three): V. Anand bt N. Short, A. Khalifman bt G. Hernandez.

The standings: 1 V. Anand (Ind) 2.5/3; 2-3 A. Khalifman (Rus), N. Short (Eng) 1.5 each; 4 G. Hernandez (Mex) 0.5.

The moves: GM V. Anand-GM N. Short, round three, Ruy Lopez, C76: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.c3 g6 6.d4 Bd7 7.0-0 Bg7 8.Re1 Nge7 9.d5 Na5 10. Bxd7+ Qxd7 11.b3 0-0 12.c4 c5 13.Bd2 b6 14.Qc1 Nb7 15.a3 f5 16.Nc3 f4 17.Qc2 Bf6 18.Reb1 Qc7 19.Ne1 g5 20.Na4 Nc8 21.b4 Bd8 22.Rb3 Ra7 23.Rab1 Qg7 24.bxc5 bxc5 25.Nd3 Rf7 26.Bc3 Re7 27.Qe2 Rc7 28.g3 Qd7 29.Nab2 Qh3 30.Kh1 Rf7 31.gxf4 gxf4 32.Rg1+ Kf8 33.Qd1 f3 34.Rg3 Qh4 35.Qg1 Ne7 36.Bxe5 dxe5 37.Nxe5 Nd6 38.Rbxf3 38.Rb8! Ke8 39.Rg8+ Nxg8 40.Qxg8+ Rf8 41.Qe6+ Qe7 42.Rxd8+ Kxd8 43.Nc6+ and white wins0 38...Qxe4 39.Nxf7 Nxf7 40.Nd3 Ng6 41.Nxc5 Qxc4 42.Ne6+ Ke8 43.Qd1 Rd7 44.Rd3 Bb6 45.Rg4 Qa2 46.Re4 Nfe5 47.Rd2 Qxa3 48.f4 Nf7 49.Rd3 Qa2 50.Rb3 Rd6 50...Qa5 51.Nc5+ Re7 52.Nb7 Rxe4 53.Nxa5 Bxa5 54.Qg4 and black holds on.0 51.Nc5+ Ne7 52.Qe1 Bd8 53. Re2 1-0.

GM A. Khalifman-GM G. Hernandez, round three, king's Indian defence, E69: 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.0-0 d6 6.d4 Nbd7 7.Nc3 e5 8.h3 c6 9.e4 Qb6 10.c5 dxc5 11.dxe5 Ne8 12.e6 fxe6 13.Ng5 Ne5 14.f4 Nf7 15.Nxf7 Rxf7 16.e5 Nc7 17.Ne4 Nd5 18.Kh2 Bd7 19.Qc2 Bf8 20.Bd2 a5 21.h4 Be7 22.Rae1 Raf8 23.Be3 Nb4 24.Qc4 Qa6 25.Qxa6 Nxa6 26.Rd1 Bc8 27.Bh3 c4 28.Nd6 Bxd6 29.Rxd6 Nb4 30.Bd2 c5 31.a3 Nd3 32.b3 Nxe5 33.fxe5 Rxf1 34.Bxf1 Rxf1 35.Bh6 cxb3 36.Rd8+ Kf7 37.Rf8+ Ke7 38.Rxf1 b6 39.Kg1 Ba6 40.Rb1 a4 41.Rd1 1- 0.

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