Date:07/11/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/11/07/stories/2009110760551700.htm

Sport - Chess

Anand opens campaign with a draw

NEW DELHI: World champion Viswanathan Anand started his campaign in the prestigious Tal memorial chess tournament in Moscow with a 44-move draw against Ukraine’s Vassily Ivanchuk on Thursday.

The 10-man field is the strongest seen this year with Anand playing as the second seed for the first time behind Norwegian youngster Magnus Carlsen. Besides these two, Hungary’s Peter Leko is the only other player in the fray born outside the erstwhile Soviet Union.

On a day when all five games ended in draws, Anand opted for the closed variation of Grunfeld defence and did not allow Ivanchuk any liberties with white.

In the longest game of the day, Vladimir Kramnik pressed hard for victory over Carlsen but eventually settled for a draw in 58 moves of Nimzo Indian.

The results (first round): Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr) drew with Viswanathan Anand; Magnus Carlsen (Nor) drew with Vladimir Kramnik (Rus); Boris Gelfand (Isr) drew with Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukr); Levon Aronian (Arm) drew with Peter Svidler (Rus); Alexander Morozevich (Rus) drew with Peter Leko (Hun).