Anand takes 1-0 lead
over Karpov in final

Former FIDE World champion Vishwanathan Anand got off to a roaring start in the two-game final in the Eurotel World chess tournament in Prague's magnificent Zofin Palace.

The 32-year-old Indian, sponsored by Indian IT giant NIIT, inflicted on Anatoly Karpov a comprehensive defeat to take a 1-0 lead in the two-game. The game lasted 59 moves.

The game was a Petroff defence, which Anand demolished slowly and steadily and ground his experienced opponent in a long game.

Anand was aggressive as is his style, and by the 26th move, both rooks had been exchanged and his queen in the center was looking denagerous.

As Anand attacked with gusto, Karpov managed to get the queens off the board on the 34th move. At that stage with two minor pieces each, same coloured white bishop and a knight each, Anand was one pawn up.

Anand then began his pawn push. After Karpov warded off the threat from the 'd' pawn Anand went up with his 'g' pawn and that had Karpov in trouble and he finally resigned on the 59th move.

The NIIT brand ambassador, who lost his world title earlier this year in the semi-finals, needs only a draw to win the title, which carries a prize purse of 500,000 Euros (approx Rs. 21.5 million).

If Anand completes the win on Sunday, as is expected, it will be his first in an elite tournament since the Siemens Giants at Frankfurt in June 2000.

In the past rounds, Anand had moved with great ease, winning 2-0 in his first two rounds and then beating Vassily Ivanchuk 1.5-0.5 in the tie-break in the semi-finals. Ivanchuk had shocked Garry Kasparov in an earlier round.

The victory over Ivanchuk also avenged for Anand his defeat at the World championships in Moscow late last year.

Karpov, the World champion from 1975 to 1985 before losing the title to Kasparov, had on way to the final beaten Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Morozevich and Alexei Shirov in his previous rounds.

In recent years, Karpov has slipped out of the top 10, but the legendary Russian is still one of the all-time greats of the game. Anand is ranked No.3 and Karpov No.17 in the world.

The tournament thus far has been played on the rapid format with 25 minutes each to both players and a five-second addition after every move. The final is being played on the classical format, with two hours for the first 40 moves, an hour for the next 20 and then the sudden-death of half an hour each.

In case of a 1-1 deadlock after the two classical games, Blitz games will be played to determine the winner.

Both Anand and Karpov are former FIDE World champions and interestingly Karpov beat Anand in the rapid play-offs for the FIDE title in 1998 at Lausanne. Since then Anand's quality of play has gone up, while Karpov has slipped considerably and is now out of the world's top 10.

In terms of their previous clashes, Karpov has won two matches, while Anand won the Advanced chess match at Leon 5-1. However in terms of all games, including all varieties, the two have played each other 73 times, and Anand leads the head-to-head by 21 wins to 11 wins for Karpov. 41 games have been drawn.

The moves:

Anand, V v Karpov,A

Eurotel Chess Final Game 1

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. c4 Nb4 9. Be2 O-O 10. Nc3 Bf5 11. a3 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Nc6 13. Re1 Re8 14. Bf4 dxc4 15. Bxc4 Bd6 16. Rxe8+ Qxe8 17. Ng5 Bg6 18. Bxd6 cxd6 19. h4 Qe7 20. Qg4 h6 21. Nh3 Qf6 22. Re1 Bf5 23. Qf3 Kf8 24. Nf4 Bd7 25. g3 Re8 26. Rxe8+ Bxe8 27. Qe4 g5 28. hxg5 Qxg5 29. Bd5 Bd7 30. Qh7 Qf6 31. Bxf7 Ne7 32. Bb3 Bf5 33. Nh5 Bxh7 34. Nxf6 Bg6 35. Ng4 Kg7 36. Ne3 Be4 37. g4 Kf6 38. Kh2 b6 39. Kg3 Kg5 40. Bf7 Kf6 41. Bc4 Kg5 42. Bb3 Kf6 43. f3 Bg6 44. f4 Be4 45. Bc4 Bc6 46. Bd3 Bb7 47. Kh4 Bf3 48. Nc4 Nd5 49. Kg3 Bd1 50. Nxd6 Nxc3 51. Nf5 Kg6 52. d5 Ba4 53. d6 Bd7 54. Kh4 a5 55. Ne3+ Kf7 56. Kh5 b5 57. Kxh6 Ke6 58. g5 Kxd6 59. g6. 1-0