Date:01/08/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/08/01/stories/2004080106861700.htm

Sport - Chess

Anand to meet Kramnik

DORTMUND, JULY 31. Viswanathan Anand drubbed Peter Leko in two blitz playoff games to enter the final of the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting here.

After the second match of their semifinal ended a draw, followed by similar results in the two rapid playoffs, Anand clinched the issue with decisive victories in the reduced time-controls.

Anand now faces Vladimir Kramnik, who came back from losing the first of the two rapid games to win three matches in a row to nail Peter Svidler.

German Arkadij Naiditsch scored over Sergey Karjakin for a second successive time to earn a clash with Sergei Rublevsky for the fifth spot. Rublevsky defeated defending champion Viorel Bologan in the two rapid playoffs.

Good day for Indians

Abhijit Kunte defeated Georgy Azrumanian to reach 5.5 points as the eighth round of the Czech Open proved a fruitful one for every Indian except Nisha Mohota on Saturday.

Besides Kunte, the other Indian winners of the day were S. Kidambi, D. Harika and Tejas Bakre. Nisha remained on four points after losing to Eduard Meduna.

With one round to go, Sergey Grigoriants leads with seven points.

The results:

At Dortmund: Semifinals: Anand bt Leko 4-2; Kramnik bt Svidler 4-2. For 5-8 places: Naiditsch bt Karjakin 2-0; Rublevsky bt Viorel Bologan 3-1.

Czech Open: Eighth round results (involving Indians): Abhijit Kunte (5.5) bt Georgy Azrumanian (4.5); Krzysztof Ejsmont (5) drew with Neelotpal Das (5); S. Kidambi (5.5) bt Pavel Freisler (4.5); Tomas Petrli (4.5) drew with S. Meenakshi (4.5); Eduard Meduna (5) bt Nisha Mohota (4); Sebastian Plischki (4) drew with Tania Sachdev (4); Rafail Farakhov (4.5) drew with R. B. Ramesh (4.5); D. Harika (4.5) bt Laura Rogule (3.5); Gleb Golovchenko (4) drew with Eesha Karavade (4); Bronislav Vymazal (3.5) lost to Tejas Bakre (4).