World No. 2 Viswanathan Anand has some tough battles ahead as he hopes to match hot favourite Garry Kasparov in the 22nd Linares Super Grandmasters' Chess tournament.
After the first rest day, the battle for supremacy begins later on Wednesday, with Anand taking on England's Michael Adams, who will play with white pieces.
The Indian's performance thus far in the tournament has been undoubtedly good with one victory and four draws in an almost evenly matched field.
But 'aging lion' Kasparov has done much better than the rest with two victories and three draws so far.
With 3.5 points in his kitty from five games, he looks a sure bet to lift the title as he has already negotiated his two main rivals -- Anand and Hungarian Peter Leko -- with black pieces.
In the return games, Kasparov will have the advantage of playing white.
The tournament played on a double round-robin basis between seven players is likely to see some upsurge in the remaining rounds, the main reason being the staggering Euro 297,000 prize fund.
So far, it is a story similar to the past few years, as far as the drawn games were concerned. As many as 66 per cent of the games ended draws, with each of the six rounds producing one decisive game.
In the past two editions, the winner scored just 7.0 points out of a possible 12. But this time, with Kasparov already on 3.5/5 and Anand and Bulgarian Veselin Topalov just a half point behind, the statistic looks set to change.
Anand definitely has a lot of ground to cover. The Indian did not convert his white pieces to a full point against Kasimdzhanov. Anand would have been happier had he won against Francisco Pons Vallejo, who has just one point so far.
Still, with seven rounds remaining and three whites on hand, Anand is definitely in contention but he will have to tackle his black pieces more tactfully, besides at least score two victories with the remaining whites.
The next round also has an exciting encounter lined up between Kasparov and Topalov, the only player in the meet besides Anand with a win over Kasparov.
Of late, Topalov has changed his guard completely and now aspires for fighting and exciting chess in almost all the games. Kasparov obviously will have to keep many things in mind before this clash which has the potential to turn the leader board.
In another match-up, Peter Leko will definitely fancy his chances against Vallejo. Surprisingly enough, Leko, the Corus champion and a former winner at Linares is yet to win a game and five draws is not what he is known for these days.
FIDE World champion Kasimdzhanov has a bye and will be back in action on Thursday.
Pairings - Round 8: Garry Kasparov (Rus) vs Veselin Topalov (Bul); Michael Adams (Eng) vs Viswanathan Anand (Ind); Francisco Vallejo Pons (Esp) vs Peter Leko (Hun); Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzb) has a bye.
