Anand, Xu Yuhua draw first round games

Defending champion Vishwanathan Anand and women's title holder Xu Yuhua of China agreed for draws against their respective opponents in the first round of the finals of the second World Chess Cup at Hyderabad on Saturday.

Anand, playing black, agreed for the draw with Rustam Kasimdzhaanov of Uzbekistan while Xu Yuhua and Antoneta Stefanova of Bulgaria called for truce after a spirited attempt by both players to gain the upper hand.

"There is no point in continuing when the position leads to nowhere," said Anand and Rustam after the match as they agreed to a draw in the 15th move with material and advantages derived from good positioning being nearly equal.

"The way the game was going there could be no other result", Antoneta said after the game which involved a Catalan opening and was stretched to 42 moves.

The Chinese defending champion Yuhua had a slight advantage by having a knight and a bishop against a rook of the Bulgarian who is the highest rated player of this tournament and her pieces were closely knitted.

Anand, employed the Caro Kann defense, played with caution while the young Uzbek was on equal terms with Anand and each had a stong bishop and a knight placed at the most authoritative squares, which prompted the draw.

"It was an unusual line of opening, but I did anticipate that Rustam would be adopting this and was prepared for it. He did not surprise me", Anand who had a marathon series of five matches in the semifinals on Friday said.

When asked if yesterday's taxing games could be the reason for the early draw, Anand said "the game was still very raw and my knight and his bishop were very strongly placed though no material was involved. We thought there was no point in continuing and agreed to split the point".

Rustam said "I offered the draw as the position was equal and would continue to be even after some more moves."

Anand, who tries for a draw in majority of the cases whenever he plays black, said "I really want to win while playing black pieces but had no chance and the game transposes into a situation where we agree for a draw".

After the regular opening moves, where both the players tried to gain control over the central squares and shared the space equally, the game shifted to equal exchanges to gain positional superiority .

Judicious placements and exchanges had left the material equal on the board with Anand having a strong bishop and Rustam holding a powerful knight and the pawn structure being protected on one hand and giving enough room for the movement of major pieces.

The truce call came from the Uzbek immediately after both sides castled.

The duo would be the playing the second game on Sunday with Anand having the advantage of being with white pieces.

Earlier reports
Day 8: Anand beats Dreev to enter final
Day 8: Anand, Humpy draw first semi-final games
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