| WIJK
AAN ZEE, January 21: Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw
by leader Teimour Radjabov despite being in trouble for a
good part of the game at the Corus Grandmasters chess tournament.
Anand, who is aiming for a record sixth Corus title, was unable
to force a full point even as Radjabov looked like having
problems defending his pawn.
The top segment of the points table is more spread out with
Radjabov maintaining his lead with 5.5 points and he is followed
by Veselin Topalov who with a win over Ruslan Ponomariov is
at five points. Half a point further behind is Vladimir Kramnik,
who drew with Lev Aronian.
The NIIT-sponsored Anand has four points in tied fourth place
with Aronian, David Navara, Sergey Karjakin and Peter Svidler.
Radjabov had to be accurate to defend against Anand's improvement
over the rapid game between Karjakin - Radjabov from last
year's Cap D'Agde. The Anand-Radjabov game finished just after
first time control.
The game was a contemporary Sveshnikov, where white placed
a strong knight on d5 and then hoped to trade off pieces and
leave black with his passive dark squared bishop. Around the
36th move Anand had a chance to push Radjabov into serious
problems, but Radjabov got out and defended accurately and
wisely traded one pair of rooks to get a draw comfortably.
Topalov returned to his best beating Ponomariov in a wild
game. Ponomariov seemed better after the opening, but hesitated
in going for the kill. He tried to sacrifice a pawn and that
backfired. Topo fearlessly grabbed a second pawn and then
even though Ponomariov stayed on board, the Bulgarian was
winning clearly and he did not miss out.
In Group C, Parimarjan Negi beat J Van Der Wiel in the sixth
round, but lost to Emmanuel Berg in seventh. Negi is now tied
fifth with four points. Ian Nepomniachtchi continues to lead
Group C, while Krasenkow and Emmanuel Berg are way behind
at five. Hou Yifan is at 4.5 and Negi alongwith M Bosboom
is at four.
Pairings for Round 8: Motylev v Svidler; Kramnik v Carlsen;
Radjabov v Aronian; Topalov v Anand; van Wely v Ponomariov;
Karjakin v Navara; Shirov v Tiviakov
Results of Round 7: Anand drew with Radjabov; Aronian drew
with Kramnik; Navara beat Van Wely; Ponomariov lost to Topalov;
Tiviakov drew with Karjakin; Carlsen lost to Svidler;
Shirov drew with Motylev;
Standings after Round 7: Group
A: 1. Radjabov 5.5; 2. Topalov 5.0; 3. Kramnik 4.5; 4. Anand,
Aronian, Navara, Karjakin and Svidler 4.0; 9. Ponomariov and
Motylev 3.0; 11. Tiviakov and Van Wely 2.5; 13. Carlsen 2.0;
14. Shirov 1.0;
Round 8 (January 21, 2007)
A. Motylev - P. Svidler
V. Kramnik - M. Carlsen
T. Radjabov - L. Aronian
V. Topalov - V. Anand
L. van Wely - R. Ponomariov
S. Karjakin - D. Navara
A. Shirov - S. Tiviakov
Round 7 (January 20, 2007)
Anand, Viswanathan - Radjabov,
Teimour 1/2 42 B33 Sicilian Sveshnikov
Aronian, Levon - Kramnik, Vladimir 1/2 28 D17 Slav Defence
Navara, David - Van Wely, Loek 1-0 67 B90 Sicilian Najdorf
Variation
Ponomariov, Ruslan - Topalov, Veselin 0-1 58 A65 Benoni
Tiviakov, Sergei - Karjakin, Sergey 1/2 21 B22 Sicilian Alapin
Carlsen, Magnus - Svidler, Peter 0-1 47 C88 Ruy Lopez Closed
Shirov, Alexei - Motylev, Alexander 1/2 41 C42 Petroff's Defence
Round 7 Standings Group A:
1. Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2729 5.5; 2. Topalov, Veselin g
BUL 2783 5.0; 3. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2766 4.5; 4. Anand,
Viswanathan g IND 2779 4.0; 5. Aronian, Levon g ARM 2744 4.0;
6. Navara, David g CZE 2719 4.0; 7. Karjakin, Sergey g UKR
2678 4.0; 8. Svidler, Peter g RUS 2728 4.0; 9. Ponomariov,
Ruslan g UKR 2723 3.0; 10. Motylev, Alexander g RUS 2647 3.0;
11. Tiviakov, Sergei g NED 2667 2.5; 12. Van Wely, Loek g
NED 2683 2.5; 13. Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2690 2.0; 14. Shirov,
Alexei g ESP 2715 1.0;
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