Anand to meet Leko after first rest day in Corus
Chasing an elusive win after four successive draws, world champion Viswanathan Anand will take on Hungarian Peter Leko in the fifth round of the Corus Chess tournament`s elite `A` group here on Friday.
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Wijk Aan Zee: Chasing an
elusive win after four successive draws, world champion
Viswanathan Anand will take on Hungarian Peter Leko in the
fifth round of the Corus Chess tournament`s elite `A` group
here on Friday.
The Indian ace is tied fifth in this category-19
tournament with two points. Spaniard Alexei Shirov leads the
pack with four victories on the trot.
Shirov is a full point adrift of the nearest competitors
Magnus Carlsen of Norway, Hikaru Nakamura of United States and
Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine. Anand shares the next spot along
with Leinier Dominguez of Cuba and the Russian duo of Sergey
Karjakin and Vladimir Kramnik.
It has been a sedate start by Anand, contrary to what
many expected ahead of his world championship match against
Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria slated in April this year.
Till the first rest day, the two black games have
featured the Arkhengelsk variation in the Ruy Lopez and were
almost easily drawn while with white, Anand was not able to
press hard for advantage.
Five times winner here, Anand has a decent draw before
the next rest day slated after the eighth round and the Indian
will be looking forward to making the most of it. After Leko,
Anand will have white games against Carlsen and Ivanchuk and a
black game against Italian youngster Fabiano Caruana.
P Harikrishna has had a remarkable turnaround after an
indifferent start in this year`s `B` group. A loss at the
hands of Anish Giri followed by a draw wasn`t exactly the
start Hari could have dreamt off but two successive victories
thereafter have put him back on track for his maiden title
here.
The Indian is currently placed joint third, a half point
behind two leaders ? Giri and Ni Hua of China. Parimarjan
Negi, like Anand, has drawn his first four games but given the
strong opposition, it has been a decent result for him.
In the next round, Negi will meet Varuzhan Akobian of
United States, who is struggling with his form here while Hari
has to compete with Wesley So of Philippines.
Former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta was seen
ruing the missed chances in the round four game against
Zhaoqin Peng of Holland.
The Indian stood better but an erroneous plan led to a
draw. With 2.5 points in his bag, Abhijeet is also tied third
in the `C` group but the two leaders, Ray Robson of United
States and Li Chao of China, are a full point ahead of him.
There is certainly a lot of catching up to do and Abhijeet
will be hoping for a decent start to the next leg when he
takes on local hopeful Benjamin Bok.
World junior girls` champion Soumya Swaminathan has had a
forgettable start getting a lone draw in the first four
rounds. In the next she meets Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine with
chances to make amends.
PTI
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