Anand takes lead against Shirov

Viswanathan Anand defeated Grandmaster Alexei Shirov of Spain to take lead in the second game of the main event of the Mainz Chess Classic, dubbed as the duel of the World champions.

Anand though had to fight hard and was almost pushed to the wall at one point in the first game of the match.

The Indian ace, who won the previous three editions of the tournament , now has 1.5 points from two games.

The match is being played with 25 minutes given to each player, with a 10-second addition after every move is made. There will be eight games to determine the winner. In case of a tied score, tie-break games will come into effect.

Playing white in the second game, Anand took the bull by its horns and accepted the Marshall gambit by Shirov. These days in the elite chess circles not many have the courage to allow this but Anand had an ace up his sleeves that he demonstrated in style.

Going for a not-so-regular variation, Anand surprised Shirov with an exchange sacrifice after weakening the black's kingside and the effect was there for everyone to see.

With thematic manoeuvres soon after, Anand knocked down two pawns and had more than sufficient compensation for the lost material. Shirov tried to stage a comeback through the exchange of Queen's but the resulting endgame also proved to be winning for Anand, who completed the formalities in 59 moves.

In the first game, Anand almost survived by the skin of his teeth in the opinion of many experts.

In all his previous victories at Mainz, he had trailed at some point of time and during the first game quite a few believed that the trend would continue.

However, with his natural ability to play quick and correct in difficult situations, Anand got the draw in the end against the World Championship runner-up of 2001, who is referred to as vice World champion 2001 in this contest.

It was Rubenstein French and Anand had little trouble in securing the balance with black pieces. Shirov, an exponent of the French himself, did not try too hard and even as Anand had an optically fine position the hidden nuances were understood better by Shirov.

Anand found some solace in the trading of pieces at regular intervals but was definitely treading on thin ice once white's knight found a nice and nagging outpost on the seventh rank.

Shirov, however, was already under time pressure by this time and all Anand had to do was find right defensive moves that have seldom been a problem for the Indian ace. Shirov could only manage to continue the exchange of pieces and on move 41 Anand had a readymade draw in hand through perpetual checks.

Speaking about the day one games, Anand said, "In the first game I was much better, later I was worse, probably lost, but in the end I was able to find perpetual checks and saved the game and so that was a tough fight. Second game Shirov never got into the game."

In the Chess 960 match, being held simultaneously, defending champion Peter Svidler started his campaign with a hard-fought victory over challenger Levon Aronian of Armenia, who struck back strongly in the second to level scores.

Chess 960 is a name given to Fischer Random chess in which the position of the pieces is changed randomly before the game. The new name is given as there are as many as 960 possibilities to set up a chessboard at the start of a game.

In the open section Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran lost his fifth round game against Grandmaster Mikhail Kobalia of Russia. The loss proved costly for Sasikiran as he is now relegated to seventh spot in the overall standings from joint first.

Prior to this Sasikiran, fresh from his fine performance at the Biel Chess Festival, had won the first four games. The event has as many as 206 participants from across the globe.

The moves: 

Game 1: Alexei Shirov v/s V Anand
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. g3 b6 8. Bg2 Bb7 9. O-O Be7 10. c4 O-O 11. b3 a5 12. Bb2 a4 13. Qe2 Ra6 14. Rfd1 Re8 15. Bc3 Ne4 16. Be1 axb3 17. axb3 Rxa1 18. Rxa1 Bf6 19. Rd1 Qa8 20. h4 Nd6 21. g4 g6 22. c5 Nc8 23. Bd2 Ne7 24. b4 Bd5 25. Bg5 Bg7 26. b5 h6 27. Bxe7 Rxe7 28. c6 Re8 29. Ne5 Qd8 30. Nd7 Bxg2 31. Kxg2 f5 32. Kh3 Qe7 33. gxf5 gxf5 34. Rg1 Kh7 35. Qh5 Ra8 36. Qg6+ Kh8 37. Ne5 Bxe5 38. dxe5 Ra3+ 39. Rg3 Rxg3+ 40. fxg3 Qg7 41. Qxe6 draw agreed.

Game 2: V Anand v/s Alexei Shirov
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. Re1 Bd6 13. g3 Qd7 14. d3 Qh3 15. Re4 Nf6 16. Rh4 Qf5 17. Nd2 g5 18. Rh6 Ng4 19. Ne4 Nxh6 20. Nxd6 Qg6 21. Ne4 Bg4 22. Qd2 Nf5 23. Qxg5 Bf3 24. Qf4 Bxe4 25. dxe4 Ng7 26. Be3 Rad8 27. a4 Rd7 28. axb5 axb5 29. Bd4 Re8 30. f3 h6 31. Ra6 Kh7 32. Kf2 b4 33. g4 bxc3 34. Bxc3 Ne6 35. Bxe6 Qxe6 36. h4 Qd6 37. Qxd6 Rxd6 38. Ra7 Kg8 39. h5 Red8 40. Kg3 R8d7 41. Ra6 Rd8 42. Kf4 c5 43. Ra5 Rc8 44. Kf5 c4 45. f4 Rdc6 46. e5 Rc5 47. Ra4 Kh7 48. Ke4 R5c7 49. Ra1 Rd7 50. Ra6 Rg8 51. Kf5 Rd3 52. Rf6 Rg7 53. e6 fxe6+ 54. Rxe6 Rf7+ 55. Ke4 Rdd7 56. Be5 Rde7 57. Rc6 Rg7 58. Kf3 Rgf7 59. Kg3 black resigned.