Linares R11: Anand wins with Black, cuts Kasparov's lead in half

Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand defeated Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan today to take sole possession of second place in the 22nd Ciudad de Linares chess tournament in southern Spain and cut former world champion Garry Kasparov's lead over the field from two points to one.

Kasparov had a bye in today's eleventh round of the 14-round event.

It was second victory of the tournament for Anand, the world's second ranked player behind Kasparov; he defeated Bulgarian grandmaster Veselin Topalov, the world's number three, in the second round played February 24. Toplaov played a short draw today with Hungarian grandmaster Peter Leko, the world's fifth-ranked player. Topalov is currently in third place, a point and a half behind Kasparov. A full point is awarded for each victory while draws are worth a half point each.

The loss was the third in four rounds for Kasimdzhaonov, who went through the first half of the tournament with six straight draws. At twenty-fifth in the world, Kasimdzhanov is the lowest-ranked of the seven grandmasters at Linares and only one of two not ranked in the top ten. The other is Spaniard Francisco Vallejo, who is ranked nineteenth. For all practical purposes, both are out of the running for a prize in this year's Linares tournament.



Vishy Anand (left) and Rustam Kasimdzhanov during their game today at Linares

Kasimdzhanov, playing White, opened with his King's pawn and Anand responded with a Sicilian Defense. Not wishing to go into the stereotypical lines of the Open Sicilian Geme (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4), Kasimdzhaonv adopted the Alapin Attack (3. c3), also called the c3-Sicilian. While the Open Sicilian produced a half-open d-file for White and a half-open c-file for Black, the Alapin Attack keeps lines closed and postpones any sharp struggle until the middle game.

Anand, known as "Vishy" by his fans, appeared to come out of the opening with better mobility for his pieces. Anand took advantage of the situation by centralizing his Queen and Knight and disputing White's position with pawn advances. Black forced a series of exchanges which further disrupted White's coordination and produced an advanced passed pawn on the f-file. Black soon had the f-pawn on the seventh rank; White's attempts to stop the pawn from queening put him in a mating net. White resigned before making his 39th move, unable to defend against the threat of checkmate on the a6/c1 diagonal without suffering devastating material loss.

Further analysis should be up later today on ChessCenter.com (The Week in Chess) and ChessBase.com.

In one other game today, Vallejo drew against British grandmaster Michael Adams, the world's number seven player.

Tomorrow is a day off for all competitors. Kasparov returns to action Tuesday playing Black against Adams. Other round 12 games will pit Anand with White against against Vallejo and Topalov with White against Kasimdzhanov. Leko draws the bye. The tournament concludes after the 14th round on Thursday.

The Linares tournament, referred to as "the Wimbledon of chess", is named for the Andalusian town in which it is played.

Crosstable through eleven rounds

---------------- 1---- 2---- 3---- 4---- 5---- 6---- 7-----Total
1. Kasparov . . ** . .½- . .½- . .½½ . .1- . .11 . .½1 . . 6½/9.
2. Anand. . . . ½- . .** . .1½ . .½½ . .½- . .½- . .½1 . . 5½/9.
3. Topalov. . . ½- . .0½ . .** . .½½ . .1½ . .1- . .½- . . 5/9 .
4. Leko . . . . ½½ . .½½ . .½½ . .** . .½½ . .½- . .½- . . 5/10.
5. Adams. . . . 0- . .½- . .0½ . .½½ . .** . .1½ . .½½ . . 4½/10
6. Vallejo. . . 00 . .½- . .0- . .½- . .0½ . .** . .½1 . . 3½/9.
7. Kasimdzhanov ½0 . .½0 . .½- . .½- . .½½ . .½0 . .** . . 3½/10

Photo from ChessCenter.com

i can`t take the pressure anymore...the suspense is to much! just kidding. i was the captain of the jr college chess club..i was the worse chess player-hey it was jr college.

I'm good enough to know after the game is over which move I shouldn't have made.

BLACK: Anand

WHITE: Kasimdzhanov

Position after White's 32nd move

In this position, Black plays 32. -- f3!, sacrificing a pawn in order to create an advanced passed pawn with a gain of time. The game consluded 33. Qxb5 f2+ 34. Kg2 Rf8 35. Qd5+ Kh8 36. Kf1 Qh6 37. Bd2 Qh3+ 38. Qg2 Qf5 and White resigned.

Corrected crosstable:

---------------- 1---- 2---- 3---- 4---- 5---- 6---- 7-----Total
1. Kasparov . . ** . .½- . .½- . .½½ . .1- . .½1 . .11 . . 6½/9.
2. Anand. . . . ½- . .** . .1½ . .½½ . .½- . .½1 . .½- . . 5½/9.
3. Topalov. . . ½- . .0½ . .** . .½½ . .1½ . .½- . .1- . . 5/9 .
4. Leko . . . . ½½ . .½½ . .½½ . .** . .½½ . .½- . .½- . . 5/10.
5. Adams. . . . 0- . .½- . .0½ . .½½ . .** . .½½ . .1½ . . 4½/10
6. Kasimdzhanov ½0 . .½0 . .½- . .½- . .½½ . .** . .½0 . . 3½/10
7. Vallejo. . . 00 . .½- . .0- . .½- . .0½ . .½1 . .** . . 3/9 .

Another obvious correction from the narrative of the root post is that mate is threatened on the a6/f1 diaganal; there is no a6/c1 diagonal.

Diagram form ChessBase.com