Defending champion Viswanathan Anand looks set to retain his title at the Corus Grandmasters Chess tournament. The Indian GM registered his third win in as many rounds, and fourth overall in eight rounds. The eighth round win over Evegeny Bareev with white pieces gave him a tally of six points from eight rounds and he is now half a point clear of his nearest rival, Michael Adams, who brought himself into the frame with a stunning win over Vladimir Kramnik in the eighth round.
Though Adams sent he shock waves of the day, it was Anand who claimed the "Best Game of the Day" prize selected by the spectators. This was Anand's second such prize.
The Anand-Bareev game was tense and complex and the Indian GM said, "That was a tough position to understand and unravel. It was wild at times and needed very precise play."
The ninth round will be a big for Anand, as he will face the top seed Kramnik with the Russian having the advantage of white pieces.
Adams dealt Kramnik his second loss of the tournament. Kramnik's first loss came in the first round against Vladimir Akopian. Adams had white pieces in a Sicilian Scheveningen and the soft spoken Adams got his full point after 43 moves from a positional battle.
Peter Leko, who in early stages shared the lead with Anand, beat Bologan and China's Zhang Zhong scored his first of the tournament beating local veteran Jan Timman for the only win with black pieces.
Veselin Topalov and Viorel Bologan drew in 28 moves off a Petroff defence, while Vladimir Akopian split points with Loek Van Wely of Netherlands in 26 moves from a Sicilian Rossolimo and Ivan Sokolov played a draw with Russian champion Peter Svidler in a 42-move Grunfeld.
Once Bareev went in for the French defence, Anand castled on the queenside. As Anand went for an attack as he played his rook pawn and then used his bishop and knight. The NIIT Mind Champion playing a very exciting game sacrificed his knight and then got his queen to the eighth rank. Bareev's attempts to escape were futile and Anand turned on the heat and the game became all the more complicated adding to Bareev's problems with the clock.
Anand, then, got Bareev's queen for two rooks and a knight. In the ending, Anand had a queen, bishop and six pawns as against his opponent's rooks, bishop and four pawns. Anand played aggressively with his queen and bishop and went all out before Bareev bowed to the pressure and resigned on the 48th.
Pairings for Round 9: Kramnik v Anand, Van Wely v Adams, Svidler v Leko, Bareev v Timman, Shirov v Sokolov, Bologan v Akopian, Zhang v Topalov
Results of Round 8: Adams beat Kramnik, Anand beat Bareev, Leko beat Bologan, Topalov drew with Shirov, Akopian drew with Van Wely, Sokolov drew with Svidler, Timman lost to Zhang
Standings after Round 8: 1. Anand 6.0; 2. Adams 5.5; 3. Leko 5.0; 4. Topalov, Svidler and Kramnik 4.5 points each; 7. Akopian and Van Wely 4.0 each ; 9. Shirov 3.5; 10. Sokolov, Bologan, Bareev and Zhang 3.0 each; 14. Timman 2.5.
Anand v Bareev
Wijk Aan Zee, 2004, Round 8
French Defence
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Be7 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. Nf3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nd7 9. O-O-O Be7 10. Bd3 b6 11. h4 Bb7 12. Neg5 Nf6 13. c3 Bxf314. gxf3 c5 15. dxc5 Qc7 16. Kb1 bxc5 17. Rdg1 Rfd8 18. Qc2 h6 19. Bh7+ Kf8 20. Nxf7 Kxf7 21. Qg6+ Kf8 22. Qxg7+ Ke8 23. Re1 Rd6 24. Qh8+ Bf8 25. Bg6+ Ke7 26. Rhg1 Rb6 27. Bf5 Kf7 28. Bg6+ Ke7 29. Bc2 Kf7 30. Rg6 Qf4 31. Reg1 e5 32. Rg7+ Ke6 33. R1g6 Rab8 34. Qg8+ Kd6 35. Rxf6+ Qxf6 36. Rg6 Kc7 37. Rxf6 Rxf6 38. Qh7+ Kb6 39. Be4 Rd6 40. h5 a6 41. Qf7 Rd2 42. a3 Rd1+ 43. Kc2 Rd6 44. b4 cxb4 45. axb4 Rdd8 46. Qe6+ Rd6 47. Qc4 Rf6 48. Qd5 1-0 (White wins)
