Chess: Anand enters Leon final

Six-time champion Viswanathan Anand opened his campaign at the 20th Ciudad de Leon chess tournament with a comprehensive 3-1 win over Ruslan Ponomariov in the first semi-final in Leon.

The NIIT-sponsored Anand made it to the final of the tournament, where he meets the winner of the other semi-final between Veselin Topalov and Rustam Kasimdzhanov.

On the first day, Anand outplayed his rival in the first two games and then drew the remaining encounters to make it a clear 3-1 verdict. Anand has won the Leon event on six occasions previously.

The first game was a French Opening in which Anand had white pieces and he used the space advantage very well in the end. Though Ponomariov played a surprise move as early as the sixth, Anand nevertheless built an advantage early by the 13th move. Into the middle game Anand tried to gain control of the black squares and then amidst some very fast play, the Indian star also managed to create a passed pawn. Ponomariov tried to stop that pawn with his rook, but it was a losing battle and he gave up after 46 moves to give Anand the lead.

In the second game, which was  Ruy Lopez, Anand with black played the Marshall and Ponomariov avoided the mainline theory. The Russian sacrificed a pawn to open up Anand's king, but Anand fought back well. He traded rooks and also returned the pawn. Over the next few moves Anand created a decisive advantage and by the 31st, he had a passed pawn. Anand completed a fine win in 50 moves after a great opening variation, excellent middle game and smooth ending.

The next two games were drawn and Anand was through 3-1.

The four invited players have all held the title of FIDE World Champions. They play four games in the semi-finals and the winners clash in final.

All games are to be played at a rate of 20 minutes for the whole game, with an increment of 10 seconds after each move. In case of a final draw, there will be a tie-break in form of blitz games (5 minutes for each player).

Anand's winning games:

Game 1 -- Anand (2786) vs Ponomariov (2717)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Nc6 7.Qg4 g6 8.h4 h6 9.Bd2 c4  10.Qg3 Bd7 11.h5 g5 12.f4 f6 13.Nh3 Qc7 14.Be2 0-0-0 15.0-0 Be8 16.Rae1 Rd7 17.Qh2 f5 18.fxg5 hxg5 19.Nxg5 Nd8 20.Rf4 Rg7 21.Rh4 Nh6 22.Nh3 Qe7 23.Nf4 Qxa3 24.Rh3 Qf8 25.Rg3 Rxg3 26.Qxg3 Qe7 27.Ra1 a6 28.Be1 Rg8 29.Qh4 Qxh4 30.Bxh4 Bf7 31.Bf3 Nc6 32.Kf2 Kd7 33.Bf6 Na7 34.Ke2 Nb5 35.Kd2 Nc7 36.Rb1 Kc6 37.Be7 Ne8 38.Nh3 b5 39.Ra1 Kb7 40.Bg5 Rh8 41.Nf4 Ng8 42.h6 Nc7 43.Rh1 Rh7 44.Bh5 Bxh5 45.Rxh5 Kc6 46.Ng6 Ne8 47.Nf8 Rh8 48.h7 Ng7 49.Ng6 1-0.

Game 2 -- Ponomariov (2717) vs Anand (2786)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.d3 Bf6 11.Nbd2 Nf4 12.Ne4 Nxd3 13.Nxf6+ gxf6 14.Bh6 Nxe1 15.Qxe1 Ne7 16.Rd1 Qe8 17.Nh4 Be6 18.Qe3 Ng6 19.Bxf8 Qxf8 20.Nxg6 hxg6 21.Bxe6 fxe6 22.Qe4 Qe8 23.g3 Rb8 24.h4 Rb6 25.Kh2 Rd6 26.Rxd6 cxd6 27.Qb7 d5 28.Qxa6 Qd7 29.Qa3 d4 30.cxd4 exd4 31.Qd3 Kg7 32.g4 e5 33.f3 f5 34.h5 gxh5 35.gxf5 Kf6 36.Kg3 Qxf5 37.Qxb5 Qf4+ 38.Kg2 h4 39.Qb6+ Kf5 40.Qb7 Qg3+ 41.Kf1 h3 42.Qf7+ Kg5 43.Ke2 Qg2+ 44.Kd3 Kh4 45.Qh7+ Kg3 46.Qg7+ Kf2 47.Qxe5 h2 48.Kxd4 Qg1 49.Kd3 Qd1+ 50.Kc4 0-1.