Miskolc (Hungary), Jun 06: World Champion Viswanathan Anand is sitting pretty with a full point lead and it will be a herculean task for Hungarian Peter Leko to strike the right
chord in the second half of the rapid match here.
A win in the second game gave the Indian ace lead in this
eight-games match and it seems that Leko's hunt for an elusive
victory in the match against a world class player has
continued since he won the first match way back in 2006
against former World Champion Anatoly Karpov of Russia.
In 2007, Leko had gone down to Vladimir Kramnik of Russia
while last year Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen had proved
stronger than the Russian in the rapid chess format.
Anand, widely regarded as the best rapid chess player in
the history, only had a momentary scare in the fourth game of
the match when the Speed King came under big pressure.
Having withstood that, Anand has put enormous pressure on
Leko again as the Hungarian first needs to win a game to
equalise and only then he can start thinking about winning on
his home soil against the world champion.
The first game witnessed Anand on top a bit with his
black pieces and in the second the Indian converted his
advantage with awesome ease.
The third game of the match wasa rather tame affair
ending in a draw while in the fourth Leko showed his sparks
and it was a miss in the end resulting in a draw.
The high point from the technical perspective has been
Anand's choice of Grunfeld defense with black pieces that he
has employed after a seven year gap. Leko is himself
considered a great expert of this opening but that has not
deterred Anand in any ways.
According to the experts of the game, this psychological
ploy has worked for Anand as Leko was definitely not expecting
it.
Last year in the world championship match against Kramnik
too Anand's choice of opening – when he changed gears to Queen
Pawn move on his first turn – turned out to be a real coup and
in the end it was an easy victory for the champion.
Leko has appeared a bit unsettled and will have to do
something fast to stage a recovery.
For the records, Anand just needs to draw the remaining
four games to register victory in his first match against
Leko. After the sole rest day, the battle resumes again late
Saturday night.
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, June 06, 2009, 21:31