Anand starts campaign with a draw

It turned out to be a cautious start for World Champion Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand at the Super Grandmasters Chesstournament as he settled for a quick draw against Alexander Khalifman of Russia in the first round here.

Playing a classical game yesterday after a gap of about four months, Anand was expectedly in trouble against the Caro Kann defence of Khalifman who has had some devastating results with his French defence against the Indian super talent.

The white pieces did not yield much for Anand in the Panov Botvinnik variation as Khalifman came up with a relatively new plan in the middlegame.

The game progressed on level terms after the 12th move and after trading a couple of pieces, peace was agreed to in just 16 moves.

Having drawn his first game with white and split the point, the pressure will be on Anand later today, as he takes on Gilberto Hernandez with black pieces in the second round.

It was local star GM Hernandez who stole the show on the first day with a hard-fought draw against GM Nigel Short of England.

Hernandez's ELO rating hardly reflects his true strength as Short might have observed in the French defence game with black pieces.

In the Winawer variation, of which Short is himself an exponent, Hernandez remained undeterred by a new idea in the opening that was based on piece play rather than the usual queenside attack with a pawn foray.

It was the 11th move by Short that made Hernandez think for a suitable plan and once he struck upon it, he never looked in trouble. After a king side pawn onslaught Hernandez got slightly better opportunities but Short neutralised with a timely breakthrough on the Kingside.

The pieces got exchanged in tandem and soon a minor piece endgame was on board. In the ensuing Knight and pawns endgame, Short had a passed king Bishop pawn but Hernandez's King side majority held his front comfortably. Truce was a natural result after 41 moves.

The event is held on a double round robin basis and the participants will play twice against each other to determine the winner after six rounds.