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World champion Viswanathan Anand displayed top form defeating former world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in the eight round of Corus International Chess tournament in the Netherlands on Monday.
After being in the bottom half for the major part of the tournament, the Indian ace escalated himself to joint fourth spot in the standing list and also came within striking distance of the leader Magnus Carlsen of Norway who played a draw with Israeli Boris Gelfand.
With five rounds still to come, Carlsen is still sitting pretty on 5.5 points and Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and Levon Aronian of Armenia follow him a half point behind. Anand is next in standing list on 4.5 points and giving him company is Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan.
In the group 'B' matches being played simultaneously, P Harikrishna played out a draw with Erwin L'Ami of Holland while Koneru Humpy did well to hold Etienne Bacrot of France.
Sergei Movsesian of Slovakia leads this section on 6 points and is followed by Bacrot on 5.5. Harikrishna is joint third on 4.5 points thus far.
The eight round will, however, be remembered for another reason. Nigel short of England was given a point on forfeit due to misbehavior by his opponent Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaria. The matter was later reviewed by 'Appeals committee'.
Short had recently made some comments about Topalov, who is working with Ivan Cheparinov on a regular basis, which the team-Topalov did not like. As a result Cheparinov did not shake hands with Nigel Short and paid the penalty.
It was a recent FIDE stipulation that even the Chief Arbiter was unaware of. According to the new rule, it is tantamount to an insult if a player refuses to shake hands and this was what Cheparinov did.
Short, famous for his updates on new developments, pointed out the rule to the Chief Arbiter and when Cheparinov was asked to shake hands, he apparently agreed. Short however maintained that 'it was a calculated insult' and was given a point.
Cheparinov later filed an appeal against the decision of the chief Arbiter and his appeal was upheld on condition that he should publicly apologise to Short in writing. The Bulgarian agreed and submitted his apology in writing and the game will now be replayed late on Monday, the second rest day of the event.
On the board, Anand was at his best in crushing Topalov who seemed on a revival path after an indifferent start like Anand. The Nazdorf Sicilian by the Bulgarian did not come good once Anand got a position to his liking and slow maneuvering ensured the Indian a much better middle game. Topalov resigned after 40 moves, he was a pawn down at this time with no hopes of survival.
In group 'C', Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi kept his hopes alive with a hard fought victory over Peng Zhaoqin of Holland.
Results of round 8
Group A: Loek van Wely (Ned, 4) drew with Peter Leko (Hun, 3.5); Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 5.5) drew with Boris Gelfand (Isr, 2.5); Viswanathan Anand (Ind, 4.5) beat Veselin Topalov (Bul, 3.5); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 5) drew with Judit Polgar (Hun, 3.5); Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 4.5) drew with Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 4); Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 4) drew with Levon Aronian (Arm, 5); Pavel Eljanov (Ukr, 2.5) drew with Michael Adams (Eng, 4);
Group B: Nigel Short (Eng, 4) won by default Ivan Cheparinov (Bul, 3.5); Michal Krasenkow (Pol, 4) drew with Gabriel Sargissian (Arm, 3); Etienne Bacrot (Fra, 5.5) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind, 3.5); P.Harikrishna (Ind, 4.5) drew with Erwin L'Ami (Ned, 4); Hou Yifan (Chn, 3.5) drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus, 4); Danil Stellwagen (Ned, 4.5) drew with Jan Smeets (Ned, 4.5); Wouter Spoelman (Ned, 1) lost to Sergei Movsesian (Svk, 6).
Group C: Irina Krush (Usa, 3) beat Pontus Carlsson (Swe, 3.5); Arik Braun (Ger, 5) lost to Fabiano Caruana (Ita, 6); John van der Wiel (Ned, 5) beat Efstratios Grivas (Gre, 4.5); Li Shilong (Chn, 3) lost to Dimitri Reinderman (Ned, 5.5); Anna Ushenina (Ukr, 3.5) beat Dennis Ruijgrok (Ned, 1.5); Friso Nijboer (Ned, 4.5) lost to Mark van der Werf (Ned, 4); Parimarjan Negi (Ind, 5) beat Peng Zhaoqin (Ned, 2).
Viswanathan Anand vs Veselin Topalov game moves: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f3 h5 9. Nd5 Bxd5 10. exd5 Nbd7 11. Qd2 g6 12. O-O-O Nb6 13. Qa5 Bh614. Bxh6 Rxh6 15. Kb1 Rc8 16. Qb4 Kf8 17. c4 Kg7 18. g3 Rh8 19. Rc1 Qc7 20. Bh3 Rce8 21. Rhd1 Re7 22. a3 Rd8 23. Nd2 Nbd7 24. Qc3 a5 25. Bxd7 Nxd7 26. f4 Nf6 27. Rf1 b6 28. h3 Qd7 29. f5 Rf8 30. Qe3 e4 31. g4 hxg4 32. hxg4 Re5 33. Rf4 Qd8 34. g5 Nh5 35. f6+ Kg8 36. Rxe4 Rfe8 37. Ka2 a4 38. Rc3 Qc7 39. Qd4 Qc5 40. Qxc5 black resigned.