Date:15/09/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/09/15/stories/2007091557162100.htm

Sport - Badminton

Anand starts with a draw

NEW DELHI: The World chess championship was off to a sedate start with all four boards ending in short draws in Mexico City on Thursday.

In what turned out to the shortest game of the opening day, favourite Viswanathan Anand signed a truce with Israel’s Boris Gelfand in just 22 moves of Petroff Defence.

In the day’s longest game, Russia’s Alexander Grischuk and Hungary’s Peter Leko tested each other for 28 moves after the opening moves of Ruy Lopez.

Defending champion Vladimir Kramik and fellow-Russian Peter Svidler entered the middle-game following Anti-Meran Gambit before agreeing to draw in 23 moves, two more than what Russia’s Alexander Morozevich and Armenia’s Levon Aronian played in their Queen’s Indian game.

The results (first round): Viswanathan Anand drew with Boris Gelfand (Isr); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus) drew with Peter Svidler (Rus); Alexander Morozevich (Rus) drew with Levon Aronian (Arm); Alexander Grischuk (Rus) drew with Peter Leko (Hun).

Second round pairings: Aronian-Anand; Gelfand-Grischuk; Kramnik-Morozevich; Svidler-Leko.