Wijk Aan Zee (The Netherlands): Following a
sedate start that fetched Viswanathan Anand nine consecutive
draws, the Indian can now look forward to a good finish after
a lucky victory over Alexei Shirov in the last match pushed
him to joint fourth in overall standing, here.
The victory over Shirov of Spain may not have boosted
confidence of the world champion but certainly set the stage
for Anand as a good finish in the remaining three rounds - in
first of which he meets tail ender Jan Smeets of Holland-
can propel the Indian to the podium.
After losing to Anand, Shirov was dethroned as the leader
of the tournament for the first time in the tournament, while
Vladimir Kramnik of Russia emerged as the new sole leader on
seven points. Carlsen and Shirov are now joint second with 6.5
points each.
Anand shares the next position along with Hikaru Nakamura
of United States, Leinier Dominguez of Cuba, Vassily Ivanchuk
of Ukraine and Karjakin, who all have 5.5 points each.
Apart from Smeets, Anand has a match with Kramnik lined
up on the penultimate day of competition and in the last round
he plays with another Dutchman -Loek van Wely- against
whom the Indian ace has a great record.
Meanwhile, Anish Giri of Holland remained in front on
seven points in Group B and it seems the Dutch chess has found
a new star in the 15-year-old. The simplicity with which Anish
handled the strong opposition speaks volumes about this
prodigy.
Erwin l'Ami of Holland and Ni Hua are still on Giri's
toes a half point behind and Parimarjan Negi has emerged as
the best Indian hope here having 5.5 points so far.
Another Indian Grandmaster P Harikrishna is on five
points now and has a lot of catching up to do in the remaining
three rounds.
Abhijeet Gupta, 2008 world junior champion, had started
off well but the two losses between the second and the third
rest day have been crucial to his aspirations.
Abhijeet stands joint fifth on 5.5 points and needs a
good finish, while world junior girls' champion Soumya
Swaminathan will hope to improve her standing in the remaining
three games.
Barring a debacle Chinese Li Chao is poised to win this
section as he has already accumulated 7.5 points and enjoys a
1.5 points lead over the nearest rivals.
PTI
First Published: Friday, January 29, 2010, 14:57