Anand overlooks winning position

Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand missed out on a possible victory in the fourth round against Vioral Bologan at the 66th Corus Grandmasters Chess tournament, at the De Moriaan Centre, in the seaside resort of Wjik Aan Zee on Wednesday.

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The NIIT Brand Ambassador, playing with white, had a possible chance around the 18th move, but overlooked it and in the end had to settle for a draw that took his tally to 2.5 points from four games.

Meanwhile, after a listless third round, most players played aggressively and the net result was that three of them joined overnight leaders Anand and Peter Leko at the top.

The three are Vladimir Kramnik, Michael Adams and Veselin Topalov, who all have 2.5 points each.

Apart from Anand's draw, the only other draw was that of Peter Leko against Ivan Sokolov, which lasted 55 moves in a Queen's Indian, Petrosyan.

Kramnik, who began with a loss in the first round, scored his second win when he beat Russian champion Peter Svidler, now ranked fourth in the world. The game lasted 49 moves from a Sicilian Najdorf, while Veselin Topalov beat Vladimir Akopian, conqueror of Kramnik,  in the Caro-Kann game which was the last to finish after 59 moves.

Bologan opened with the Petroff Defence against Mind champion Anand's King pawn opening. The game went along expected theoretical lines till the 18th move. Anand could have played the 18. b4, which would have given him a decisive advantage, but he missed it. Obviously Bologan also did not see it and must have been happy to escape a defeat.

Anand admitted that he may have missed a chance.

"I just did not see it. We both missed and once that happened there was little in the game," said Anand.

After missing the opportunity, the game went into a queen and rook ending after 26 moves.

Michael Adams beat Zhang Zhong of China in another decisive game from a Sicilian Najdorf, while Evegeny Bareev, the winner of the Corus 2002, seemed to have shaken of his third round loss to Svidler by defeating Alexey Shirov in 54 moves from a game that was in the Catalan.

Loek Van Wely was the only player to score with the Black pieces against fellow Dutchman Jan Timman and the game which lasted 40 moves was English Symmetrical.

In the fifth round, Anand has black pieces against Peter Svidler.

Results (fourth round): Topalov beat Akopian; Kramnik beat Svidler; Anand drew with Bologan; Adams beat Zhong; Sokolov drew with Leko; Bareev beat Shirov; Timman lost to Van Wely.

Points after four rounds: 1. Topalov, Kramnik, Anand, Adams,  and Leko 2.5 each; 6. Bologan, 7. Svidler, Bareev and Van Wely 2.0 each; 11. Shirov, Akopian, and Zhang 1.5 each; 14. Timman 1.0.

Pairings for fifth round: Leko v Adams; Akopian v Sokolov; Van Wely v Topalov; Bologan v Timman; Svidler v Anand; Shirov v Kramnik; Zhong v Bareev.

The moves

Anand v Bologan
Wijk Aan Zee, Round 4
Petroff defence

1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. Re1 Bg4 9. c3 f5 10. Qb3 O-O 11. Nbd2 Na5 12. Qc2 c5 13. Ne5 Bh5 14. f3 cxd4 15. fxe4 fxe4 16. Nxe4 dxe4 17. Bxe4 h6 18. Bd2 Bh4 19. Rf1 Bf6 20. Rae1 Bxe5 21. Bh7+ Kh8 22. Rxf8+ Qxf8 23. Rxe5 Nc4 24. Rxh5 Nxd2 25. Qxd2 dxc3 26. Qxc3 1/2-1/2 (Draw).