Anand

Linares: Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by Alexander Morozevich of Russia while 16-year-old Magnus Carlsen of Norway livened things up yet again with an emphatic victory over Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine in the 11th round of Morelia-Linares Chess Tournament here.

On another day with just one decisive game out of a possible three, Carlsen stole the thunder once more in the Category-20 event scoring a memorable triumph against the former world championship finalist.

Even though Carlsen registered a fine comeback victory after losing to Anand in the previous round, the Indian ace remained in sole lead on seven points out of a possible 11 after an easy draw with Morozevich.

With only three rounds to go in the eight-player double round robin tournament held at Morelia in Mexico and now here, Carlsen is half a point adrift Anand.

Three players, Ivanchuk, Peter Svidler of Russia and Levon Aronian of Armenia are in joint third spot on 5.5 points but it is now clear that the battle for top place will be between Anand and Carlsen wherein the Indian holds a definite edge not only because of his slender lead but also because he is slated to play two games with white pieces while Carlsen has two blacks in the remaining games.

Top seed Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria is in sole sixth spot on five points while Hungarian Peter Leko and Morozevich share the last spot on 4.5 points apiece.

Anand had to do little as black against Morozevich who was happy to repeat moves in a balanced middle game arising out of a queen’s Indian defence.

Morozevich, playing white, did not go for topical variations and achieved little as Anand played routine moves to maintain the equilibrium. The peace was signed in just 29 moves.

The day belonged to Carlsen who once again demonstrated his growing skills to overcome Ivanchuk in an exciting affair.

Up against the Grunfeld defence by the Ukrainian, Carlsen went for a set up favoured by former world champion Mikhail Botwinnik and came out with a scintillating sequence of moves to win a piece by force.

A hapless Ivanchuk, who led the tournament at the start, lasted only 35 moves against the young champion.

Peter Svidler fought for 38 moves against Topalov to no avail as the latter always came out with precise counter-active moves. Svidler eventually sacrificed a piece to force perpetual checks. (PTI)