Anand, Humpy draw first
semi-final games

Defending champion Vishwanathan Anand and up-and-coming star Koneru Humpy of India were held to draws in the first of the two-game semi-finals in the chess World Cup, being played at the Ramoji Film City, in Hyderabad, on Thursday.

Bulgaria's Antoneta Stefanova was the lone player to taste victory, when she defeated Russian GM Mateeva to garner a full point in the women's match.

The other semi-final in the men's section, between Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzb) amd Alexander Belivsky of Russia also ended in a draw even though Belivsky had the advantage of a bishop up.

Anand, who was held to a draw by Russian Grandmaster Alexey Dreev, shared the point in the men's section.

The young Humpy, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, drew her game with Xu Yuhua of China after a tense battle involving 44 moves.

Humpy had on Wednesday pulled off a dramatic tie-breaker win.

Anand and his opponent called for a truce after 22 moves as no player was left with a chance of victory.

In a Queen's Indian Defence, the defending champion played a waiting game, without allowing Dreev a foothold in the middle game, thus nullifying his opponent's advantage of playing with white. Mopping up the 'c' and 'd' files early and the exchange of Queens on the 20th move made Anand's intentions of splitting the point clear. This was followed by the Bc6 move that thwarted the progress of 'a' and 'b' files. Prolonging the game may have concluded with an opposite bishop ending, with equal minor pieces, leaving little room for a result other than a draw.

At 2755, the former World champion, 73 places above the Russian in the Elo ratings, knew well of his opponent's strength in handling a variety of Indian defences and decided not to experiment "something silly".

"You have to play a waiting game instead of trying something silly," he said at the media briefing after the game.

Apparently, the third-best player in the world chess was not unhappy with the result for he will have the advantage of playing with white in the second and final game on Friday. Even in the quarter-finals, Anand adopted the same strategy against another Russian, GM Vladimir Malakhov.

Anand did anticipate some trouble but Dreev thought otherwise.

"Had he (Dreev) played Ka2, it would have created problems for me," he said.

Humpy, adopting a Petroff Defence, got into complications in the middle game against the Chinese WGM, but hung on well to earn a draw. She will start the second game with white and hopes to take the full point that will ensure her a place in the final.

Talking about the draw, Humpy, the youngest woman to earn a men's GM norm, said: "I will try to take the initiative in the second game."

Game
White: Dreev Alexey"
Black: Anand, Viswanathan
Result: 1/2-1/2

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. a3 Bb7 5. Nc3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bd2 Nd7 8. Nxd5 Bxd5 9. Qc2 c5 10. e4 Bb7 11. Rd1 cxd4 12. Nxd4 a6 13. Be3 b5 14. f3 Be7 15. Be2 Rc8 16. Qd2 Ne5 17. O-O O-O 18. b4 Nc4 19. Bxc4 bxc4 20. Ne2 Qxd2 21. Rxd2 Bc6 22. Nc3 1/2-1/2

White: Beliavsky Alexander G
Black: Kasimdzhanov Rustam
Result: 1/2-1/2

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 b6 8. Bd3 Bb7 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. cxd5 exd5 11. O-O Nd7 12. Rc1 Re8 13. Nb5 c5 14. Nd6 c4 15. Nxe8 Qxe8 16. Bb1 b5 17. Re1 Rd8 18. h4 Be7 19. Qc2 Nf6 20. Nh2 Bd6 21. Nf1 Qe7 22. f3 Re8 23. h5 Bc7 24. g4 Qd6 25. Re2 b4 26. Rg2 Bc8 27. Qf2 Nh7 28. f4 Nf6 29. g5 Ng4 30. Qf3 hxg5 31. Rxg4 Bxg4 32. Qxg4 gxf4 33. Rc2 fxe3 34. Rg2 Qf6 35. Qd7 Qe6 36. Qxc7 e2 37. Qg3 exf1Q+ 38. Kxf1 Qf6+ 39. Rf2 Qxd4 40. Qf3 Re7 41. Qf5 Kf8 42. Qc8+ Re8 43. Rxf7+ Kxf7 44. Bg6+ Kf6 45. Qxe8 Qf4+ 46. Ke2 Qg4+ 47. Kd2 Qd4+ 48. Ke1 Qg1+ 49. Ke2 Qg4+.

White: Matveeva Svetlana
Black: Stefanova Antoaneta
Result: 0-1

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 a6 5. Qc2 b5 6. b3 g6 7. cxd5 cxd5 8. Bg5 Bf5 9. Qb2 Ne4 10. Nxe4 dxe4 11. Nd2 Bg7 12. e3 Nc6 13. Rc1 Qd7 14. Be2 O-O 15. O-O e5 16. d5 Nb4 17. a3 Nxd5 18. Rfd1 h6 19. Bh4 Qe6 20. Nc4 g5 21. Bg3 Nf4 22. Na5 Nxe2+ 23. Qxe2 Bg4 24. f3 exf3 25. gxf3 Bh5 26. Rc6 Qf5 27. Rf1 e4 28. fxe4 Bxe2 29. Rxf5 Bd3 30. Bd6 Rfd8 31.Bc7 Re8 32. Rf2 Bxe4 33. Rd6 Bg6 34. Bb6 Bf8 35. Rd7 Bxa3 36. Nc6 Re6 37. Rc7 Bd6 38. Rb7 Bf8 39. Nd8 Rxb6.

White: Xu Yuhua
Black: Koneru Humpy
Result: 1/2-1/2

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. c4 Nb4 9. Be2 O-O 10. a3 Nc6 11. cxd5 Qxd5 12. Nc3 Nxc3 13. bxc3 Na5 14. Ne5 c5 15. Rb1 Bf5 16. Rb5 b6 17. Re1 Rad8 18. Bf3 Qd6 19. Qe2 cxd4 20. cxd4 Rc8 21. Bd5 Be6 22. Be4 Nb3 23. Bf4 Nxd4 24. Qd3 f5 25. Ng6 fxe4 26. Bxd6 exd3 27. Nxe7+ Kf7 28. Nxc8 d2 29. Rd1 Rxc8 30. Rb2 Bb3 31. Rbxd2 Bxd1 32. Rxd4 Bb3 33. h4 Rc4 34. Rxc4 Bxc4 35. Bb8 a6 36. Bc7 b5 37. g4 Be2 38. g5 Ke6 39. f4 g6 40. Kf2 Bg4 41. Ke3 Kd5 42. Kd3 Bf5+ 43. Kc3 Kc5 44. Bd8 Be4.

Earlier reports
Day 7: Anand in semis | Humpy wins tie-break
Day 6: Humpy scores; Anand settles for a draw
Day 5: Anand squeezes into last eight
Day 4: Anand, Humpy win easily
Day 3: Anand back in contention
Day 2: Sasikiran shocks Anand
Day 1: Meenakshi beats world champ; Anand splits point