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Anand in the cellar

It is not frequent that Vishwanathan Anand goes into the first rest day of a Super GM chess tournament at the bottom of the table and with a loss that's most unexpected. But the world No. 2 finds himself in just that position after three rounds in the City of Linares 2000 Super GM chess tournament.

After the loss against Alexi Shirov, who is almost a local, having settled down in Linares, Anand now faces Gary Kasparov in the fourth round. The Indian star has white pieces. He should not allow his third round loss to play on his mind, for Kasparov is one player who will pounce on the slightest of chances.

Shirov is called 'E1 Matador', as he is one of the most exciting players around. He is willing to take chances and often pays the penalty for it, but is always entertaining. Quite aptly, his book of entertaining games is called 'Fire on board'.

In the third round, he took risks as usual and brought about what has been the most exciting game thus far in the tournament. He was willing to get into newer areas and it paid off with a super victory over Anand, for whom this was the first loss in 11 months.

A great admirer of Shirov is former Yugoslav GM, Ljubomir Ljubojevic, who lives in Linares. He is married and settled in this city of chess.

Shirov's play in the three rounds has been the topic of all conversation here. He may well have been the leader with a whopping 2.5 out of three. In his first round he had a comfortable draw ahead of him, but he blundered on the 31st move and handed Kasparov an easy win and an unexpected extra half point, which he gleefully accepted.

In round two, he had a possible win on his hands against Peter Leko but he missed that and only got a draw. But against Anand he was at one point in a losing position, but managed to pull through for a win.

Interestingly, Shirov has used the Petroff for each of his three games.

The defining moment came in the third round game between Anand and Shirov on the 30th move when Anand played 30. Ra2. A little later after the game was over, Anand himself analysed and came with a definite win if only he had played 30. Ra4.

There were contrasting views on the Kasparov-Kramnik game. Petroff is getting to be a bit of favourite in this tournament, as this pair also went in for it. It ended in just 21 moves, but Kramnik at times did show some spark. But they were merely testing each other with their knowledge and new preparations. They showed little but indicated that there was more to come. Maybe, against other players.

Kramnik, who has got local Spaniard Miguel Illescas as his second, will be content with a draw with black against the world's top player.

Kramnik's seemingly innocuous trap, which involved sacrificing a knight on c6 for a kingside assault, was seen through in that Kasparov began giving it a serious thought. Then, as he was getting into some time problem, he looked for an easier way out and when he had only 13 minutes for the next 19 moves, Kramnik offered a draw which Kasparov took.

Khalifman had recently lost heavily 4.5-1.5 to Leko in a match. Here Khalifman was steadier and got his second draw, while it was a third in a row for Leko. The game lasted 38 moves.

In the fourth round, Anand has White against Kasparov, while Leko plays with white against Kramnik and Shirov will be white against Khalifman.

UNI