| MONACO,
March 25: VISWANATHAN
Anand trounced Peter Svidler with a masterful display that
gave him the sole lead after seven rounds in the rapid section
of Melody Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess tournament. The
NIIT-supported Indian ace also moved into sole lead third
overall as he drew the the blindfiold game against Svidler.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Kramnik
increased his overall lead thanks with a 2-0 win over his
old rival Peter Leko. In the combined classification Kramnik
is one full point ahead of Vasily Ivanchuk, who defeated Paco
Vallejo 1,5-0.5. In the blindfold competition Kramnik is in
a class of his own. In seven games he’s only dropped
half a point, but in the rapid competition Anand now tops
the table with 5.5 points from 7.
In their blindfold game Svidler
and Anand followed the game that the former played against
Levon Aronian in Wijk aan Zee earlier this year. Anand introduced
a novelty with 18…Bxd5 where the Armenian had taken
with the queen. Black has good compensation for the pawn and
White can only hope for an advantage if he manages to untangle
his pieces. Not an easy thing to do with the powerful black
knight on e4. Svidler’s attempts to chase the knight
away were unsuccessful and when Anand offered a draw he saw
no reason to decline. Svidler felt it was black (Anand) who
was better and hence took the draw.
The rapid game was no fun for
Svidler, who got into trouble in the opening and was suffering
all through the game. Showing admirable technique Anand converted
his advantage, not allowing his opponent even a trace of counterplay.
Ivanchuk thrashed Paco Vallejo
in rapid and drew blindfold to consolidate his position.
In his blindfold game against
Leko, Kramnik surprisingly played the Marshall Gambit of the
Ruy Lopez. A theoretical discussion ensued in which Kramnik
was the first to play a new move, 23…Bf4. It was a novelty
for the outside world as Leko had studied the move before
his world championship match against the same Kramnik in Brissago
in 2004. Kramnik had investigated the move some time ago and
admitted that he had gone through his notes. Despite all the
complications the game was in balance till one move from the
end when Leko’s memory played a trick on him. Believing
Black’s h-pawn was on h4 he moved his king to that square,
only realizing that he’d made a big mistake when he
didn’t see ‘Kxh4’ on the screen but ‘Kh4’.
After Black’s answer he had no choice but to resign.
Kramnik also won the rapid
game easily to become stronger on combined points table.
RESULTS: Round 7: Blindfold:
Svidler drew with Anand; Vallejo drew with Ivanchuk; Carlsen
drew with Radjabov; Leko lost to Kramnik; Gelfand beat Van
Wely; Aronian lost to Morozevich.
RESULTS: Round 7Rapid: Anand
beat Svidler; Ivanchuk beat Vallejo; Radjabov drew with Carlsen;
Kramnik beat Leko; Van Wely drew with Gelfand; Morozevich
drew with Aronian
Round 7 Standings: Blindfold:
1. Kramnik 6.5; 2. Gelfand 5.0; 3. Ivanchuk, and Svidler 4.5;
5. Morozevich and Radjabov 3.5; 7. Anand, Aronian and Leko
3.0; 10. Carlsen 2.5; 11. Van Wely and Vallejo Pons 1.5.
Round 7 Standings: Rapid:
1. Anand 5.5; 2. Aronian and Ivanchuk 5.0; 4. Kramnik 4.0;
5. Morozevich and Carlsen and Leko 3.5; 8. Svidler 3.0; 9.
Radjabov, Gelfand and Vallejo Pons 2.5; 12. Van Wely 1.5;
Round 7 Standings: Combined:
1. Kramnik 10.5; 2. Ivanchuk 9.5; 3. Anand 8.5; 4. Aronian
8.0; 5. Svidler and Gelfand, 7.5; 7. Morozevich 7.0; 8. Leko
6.5; 9. Carlsen and Radjabov 6.0; 11. Vallejo Pons 4.0; 12.
Van Wely 3.0
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