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Rediff.com  » Sports » Anand faces giant-killer in fifth round

Anand faces giant-killer in fifth round

Source: PTI
February 27, 2003 17:23 IST
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World Cup champion Vishwanathan Anand runs into 15-year-old Teimour Radjabov, who shocked Gary Kasparov in an earlier match, in the fifth round of the 20th Linares Super Grandmasters Chess tournament on Thursday.

After the rest day on Wednesday, the battle for the coveted title in the 'Wimbledon of Chess' will resume.

Braingames champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia leads the table with 2.5 points from the four rounds played so far. However, he will have a bye in the fifth round game and that could well mean his losing the sole lead.

After the first four rounds Anand, Radjabov and Grandmaster Peter Leko of Hungary are on the heels of Kramnik, a half point behind, while a close fourth is local lad Francisco Vallejo Pons on 1.5 points.

Of these four, only Radjabov has played all the four rounds so far. His bye is scheduled in the seventh round which will also be the last round of the first phase of the double round-robin league.

Kasparov, the world's highest rated player, is clubbed at the bottom of the table on one point from his three games played so far with two draws and a loss.

Radjabov's shocking victory over Kasparov in round two is being rated as one of the biggest upsets in the chess world and Anand will have a few things to worry about when he takes his seat behind the black pieces in his second encounter of the year against the Uzbeki, having drawn the first at the Corus Chess tournament a month back.

Nicknamed the Baby-Beast from Baku, his city in Azerbaijan, Radjabov is looking forward to more upsets if his last round game against Vallejo was any indication.

Anand did not have a real fight against Kramnik in the previous round with white and that might put pressure on him  to try harder against Radjabov.

Kasparov is slated to play an out of form World champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine. The sweet memories of their previous encounter in the same tournament last year, when he scored a fantastic victory that also netted him the championship, will no doubt be on Kasparov's mind.

Peter Leko has played some of the most hard-fought games so far and was rewarded against Radjabov in the first  round. He was lucky to have escaped against Kasparov in the second round while in the third he tortured Ponomariov for a long time before finally settling for the draw.

In the next round, Leko plays against Vallejo and an exciting battle again seems to be on cards for the Hungarian as he plays white.

Standings after round 4:

1. Vladimir Kramnik (Rus) 2/4; 2-3. V Anand, Peter Leko (Hun) 2.0/3 each; 4. Teimour Radjabov (Aze) 2.0/4; 5. Francisco Vallejo Pons (Esp) 1.5/3;. Garry Kasparov (Rus) 1.0/3; 7. Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukr) 1.0/4.

Pairings round 5:

Radjabov-Anand; Leko-Vallejo; Kasparov-Ponomariov; Kramnik has a bye.

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