Leon: Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk set up a summit clash with World Champion Viswanathan Anand in the Magistral Ciudad de Leon chess tournament after demolishing Alexei Shirov of Spain 3-1 in the second semi-final.

Ivanchuk, who recently won the M-Tel Masters in Bulgaria, will now meet Anand in a four-game rapid final slated this evening.

Anand had beaten Francisco Vallejo Pons of Spain in the first semi-final on Friday.

It turned out to be an easier than expected outing for Ivanchuk as Shirov was comprehensively outplayed in the first two games and failed to spot a recovery chance in the third game that finally ended in a draw. The inconsequential fourth game was also drawn.

Shirov mishandled a dynamically balanced middle game in the first outing against Ivanchuk and could not quite recover from the avalanche that followed.

It was a closed Sicilian wherein Ivanchuk found some excellent attacking moves and reached a won queen against double rook endgame. Shirov resigned on the 45th turn when white’s central pawns rolled decisively.

The Ukrainian was on top with black in the second game too employing the popular Gelfand variation in the Najdorf Sicilian.

Shirov got an optical advantage but soon a series of attacking moves helped Ivanchuk get an exchange with little compensation for Shirov. The game lasted 33 moves.

The third game saw Shirov in full swing in his favourite Arkhengel variation of the Ruy Lopez as black. After getting an equal position Shirov entered a rook and minor piece endgame and was close to winning after Ivanchuk blundered on the 55th move.

However, the Latvian-turned-Spaniard failed to spot the tricky win that was for the taking and had to split the point after 76 moves giving Ivanchuk an unassailable lead.

The fourth game again witnessed a Sicilian Najdorf but this time Shirov was a bit subdued. Ivanchuk got his share of counter play on the King side and after 29 moves the peace was signed with repetition of moves.

The games are being played with 20 minutes to each player with a 10 seconds increment after every move is made. In case of a 2-2 tie after 4 games, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner. Anand is looking for his eighth title here. (PTI)