Anand draws again, Shirov emerges sole leader

The proverbial needle in the haystack was spotted fine by Grandmaster Alexei Shirov of Spain as he emerged the sole leader while World champion Viswananthan Anand drew with Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk in the 5th round of the Corus Grandmaster group `A' chess tournament, in Wijk Ann Zee, The Netherlands.

For the first time since starting his successful voyage in the just-concluded World championship, Anand failed to have a real fight on hand with White pieces.

The Caro Kann defence opted for by Ivanchuk, who has so far drawn all his games here, proved a much tougher nut to crack than Anand had anticipated.

A delayed castling by Ivanchuk helped him neutralise White's lead in development and the position became level once out of expected theoretical moves.

Anand exchanged the first minor piece on the 19th move and proposed draw that was immediately accepted.

Anand has 3 points from 5 outings.

Shirov displayed his top form as he demolished the oldest participant here, GM Jan Timman of the Netherlands.

Playing black, Shirov was pleasantly surprised as the game embarked on less trodden paths soon after the start.

Timman was apparently off-colour as he handed the initiative to his opponent with a rather unorthodox deployment of his forces. Shirov sacrificed a couple of pawns in the Queenless middlegame and seized the seventh rank with his Rook to create dangerous threats against the King. More PTI CORR

Timman got a semblance of counter-play when his Rook moved into the opposition camp but his pawns continued to fall like nine pins.

Shirov turned the tide in his favour once the material became equal and his Bishop controlled vital squares to facilitate the advance of his passed pawns. Timman resigned after 65 moves, paving Shirov's way to the top of the table on 4 points.

The honours were split in the game between Russian GMs Gary Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik in a keenly contested match arising out of a Berlin defence game where Kasparov was White.

Kasparov retained a miniscule advantage after an early trade of Queens but could not increase his pressure in the ensuing Rooks and Pawns endgame.

The game was reminiscent of their BrainGames match during which Kramnik successfully demonstrated that the endgame arising out of this opening, though unpleasant, could be held with determined effort.

Adhering to this belief, Kramnik chose a slightly different formation than his earlier encounter with the mighty Kasparov.

As the endgame approached, Kasparov left no stones unturned to increase his advantage but in the end Kramnik dissolved the Queenside pawns with a temporary pawn sacrifice on the other flank. The draw was agreed to after 46 moves in a King and Pawn ending.

Both Kramnik and Kasparov have 3.5 points in their kitty.

Grandmaster Alexander Morozevich of Russia struck back with vengeance after a rather uncharacteristic loss to English GM Michael Adams on Wednesday.

Up against the English attack of lowly placed GM Sergei Tiviakov of the Netherlands, Morozevich showed his acumen when he sacrificed a pawn in the middlegame.

The nuances of the sacrifice became clear only after a few moves as Morozevich manoeuvred his Bishop to the long diagonal that was opened with the sacrifice.

It was a long agony for Tiviakov thereon as his pieces were confined to ensure the safety of his king. The attack became overwhelming after the Queen-side was effectively ripped open by young Russian and Tiviakov had to call it a day after 55 moves as Morozevich's started marching his kingside pawns to glory.

After messing a few enterprising positions in the earlier rounds, Dutch GM Jeroen Piket finally managed a victory.

The vanquished GM Alexei Federov of the Belarus lost in his pet Kings Indian defence with black pieces. Piket chose an unconventional setup and got a firm control on both wings.

In trying to establish counter-play, Federov lost an exchange and did not get the desired compensation, thereby losing on the 38th move.

GM Peter Leko of Hungary was upset by GM Loek Van Wely of the Netherlands. In the Grunfeld defence game, Van Wely employed the Fianchetto variation and caught Leko off guard in a tactical web that guaranteed the advance of his passed Queen pawn with an exchange sacrifice.

Leko lost two pieces for a Rook in the eventual finesse and resigned on the 32nd move.

A summary of the day's play:
Round 5, January 18
Timman - Shirov 0 - 1
Anand - Ivanchuk 1/2
Kasparov - Kramnik 1/2
Piket - Fedorov 1- 0
Van Wely - Leko 1 - 0
Adams - Topalov 1/2
Tiviakov - Morozevich 0 - 1

The match-up of the day was definitely the game between Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik. In a replay of their recent London match up. In this game Kramnik again employed the Berlin defense which brought him success in London. Kasparov again had the upper hand and Kramnik had another miraculous escape.On the 40th move he captured the c6-pawn and missed the brilliant 40...Ra8! response. Instead he should have played 40.f5!!, which could have brought him victory in all variations. The idea is that Black cannot activate his rook. In response to 40...Ra8 there follows 41.e8Q+ Rxe8 42.Rxc6. After that appears an ending in which White has a passed pawn along the “a”-file. The white king tries to protect his pawn; Black captures on g2, and as it stands at that point White would come out on top.

Meanwhile the FIDE champ, Vishwanathan Anand, in his game against Vassily Ivanchuk failed to capitalise on the advantage of playing white. Ivanchuk easily equalised the position in the opening. Anand offered a draw on the 19 move which Ivanchuk gladly accepted.

The Corus Chess tournament home page

Anand - Ivanchuk
1.e4 c6
2.d4 d5
3.Nc3 dxe4
4.Nxe4 Nd7
5.Bc4 Ngf6
6.Ng5 e6
7.Qe2 Nb6
8.Bb3 h6
9.N5f3 c5
10.Bf4 Nbd5
11.Be5 Qa5+
12.Nd2 b5
13.dxc5 Bxc5
14.c3 Bb7
15.Ngf3 Qb6
16.0-0 0-0
17.Rfe1 a6
18.Rad1 Bd6
19.Bxd6 1/2-1/2