Date:21/01/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/01/21/stories/2005012104072100.htm

Sport - Chess

Anand needs to strike

WIJK ANN ZEE, JAN. 19. With the big names struggling to get into rhythm, the Corus chess tournament has turned so far turned into a joyous ride for `lesser mortals' like Michael Adams and Peter Leko.

The first rest day on Wednesday should help Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Morozevich and Peter Svidler to do some serious introspection and recover some lost ground in the coming rounds.

Adams, the British Grandmaster who walked away with a board prize in the Olympiad in October, has successfully employed the strategy of holding with black pieces and striking with white.

Leko had proved superior to Anand and that too, with black pieces. Leko followed this victory with another creditable triumph over Svidler, who was surprised by the Hungarian's opening move. So far, his experiments with openings have worked.

If the front-runners did the unexpected in the first four rounds, Anand, too, unexpectedly failed to strike early. He now plays Morozevich, who has lost the last three rounds.

In the Olympiad, where they last met, Anand had emerged as an impressive winner. Anand needs to win with black to offset the loss to Leko with white.

The event promises more surprises in days to come but nothing is likely to match the quick demolition carried out by Topalov.

In GM `C', Parimarjan Negi has done reasonably well so far to reach 1.5 points after playing three of the four rounds with black pieces.

The youngster needs a draw more than a 50 per cent score to gain a norm of nine games or more in the 13-player contest.

Standings (after four rounds):

GM `A': Leko, Adams (3); Grischuk, Short, Topalov, Ponomariov (2.5); Bruzon, Judit, Kramnik, Wely (2), Anand (1.5), Sokolov, Svidler (1) and Morozevich (0.5).

GM `C': Alekseev (3.5), Spoelman, Georgiev, L'Ami, Korotylev (3), Zhukova (2.5), Jonkman, Lanchava (2), Negi, Pliester (1.5), Wempe, Bosboom (1), Muhren and Mamedyarova (0.5).