Viswanathan Anand had a miraculous escape as he came back from the jaws of defeat a couple of times before taking a draw with arch rival Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in the second round of the World Chess Championship in San Luis, Argentina.
After a brilliant first round victory over Hungarian Judit Polgar the Indian ace was almost out of sorts in the final stages of the game as he first blew away an easy draw, came back, blundered again and eventually clawed back once more to salvage an important half point.
With draws being the order of the day, Topalov and Anand remained in joint lead after the second round with 1.5 points apiece.
With 12 rounds still remaining in the eight-player double round-robin event, defending champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan, the Russain duo of Peter Svidler and Alexander Morozevich and Brit Michael Adams are joint-third in the standings on a 50 per cent score, while Hungarians Peter Leko and Judit Polgar are currently at the bottom of the table with just a half point from their two games.
The championship carries a total prize pool of US $1 million, with the winners purse being US $300,000.
In the recent past Topalov has been giving Anand a run for his money and the second round was almost another indication of that. However, this time it was only Anand's form that deserted him once he seeming wriggled out of his difficulties with the black pieces after the two stalwarts continued their discussions in the Queen's Indian defence.
Topalov, who had scored a remarkable victory over Anand in the same opening just a few months back during the MTel masters in Sofia, could not quite get the similar rhythm this time around as Anand came out better prepared and apparently had only a slightly inferior position after the middle game surfaced.
Disaster first struck Anand on move 46 when he missed out on a simple Queen manoeuvre that led to a clearly won endgame for Topalov. The Bulgarian played some precise moves thereafter to net a couple of pawns and just while every one thought it was all over Topalov returned the favour to give Anand an opportunity to hold the game.
However, after securing a dead drawn position Anand added to his woes once more by another weak move on his 75th turn and that again gave Topalov some winning hopes which eventually ended through perpetual checks in this amazing game of tactics, technique and inaccuracies. The marathon lasted exactly seven hours in which 97 moves were played before the peace agreement.
While Anand and Topalov played the longest game of the day, Leko and Morozevich were also not far behind in using most of their allotted time. Playing black, Morozevich was seen pressing for some initiative in this keenly contested game towards the end but Leko's defences and counter active measures proved adequate to force a draw.
Leko employed the in-vogue English attack against the Sicilian Nazdorf and got the kingside attack rolling early in the middle game.
Morozevich had to find a few correct manoeuvres to remain in contention and he did so easily to force a double edged position.
After the first time control both players still had many pieces on board with Leko trying to find a breakthrough but yet again Morozevich found right plan to transpose to a queen and minor piece endgame. Leko was never worse but in the final position had no chance to force matters. The draw was a just result after 68 moves.
The lowest rated player in the fray, Rustam Kasimdzhanov stuck with his basics for the second day running and had a smooth draw with Peter Svidler.
Playing the white side of another English attack of the day, Kasimdzhanov did not find any advantage following cautious play by Svidler and routine exchanges led to a dynamically balanced endgame after Kasimdzhanov was forced to part with an exchange.
In the bargain however, the Uzbek had two pawns that was certainly more than enough compensation and the truce was signed in just 24 moves.
Judit Polgar was also caution personified in her duel against Michael Adams even though she survived more than a few anxious moments before finally splitting the point. It was a Taimanov Sicilian where Adams, white, got an opening advantage with a relatively new plan in the early part of the game and tried hard to convert it into a full point.
Polgar, meanwhile, also had her task cut out in the middle game as she worked on her defences quite well and exchanges at regular intervals helped the world's best woman player to steer the game to a draw after 48 moves.
Results: Veselin Topalov (Bul, 1.5) drew with Viswanathan Anand (Ind, 1.5); Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzb, 1) drew with Peter Svidler (Rus, 1); Michael Adams (Eng, 1) drew with Judit Polgar (Hun, 0.5); Peter Leko (Hun, 0.5) drew with Alexander Morozevich (Rus, 1).
The moves: (Veselin Topalov v/s V Anand)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Bg2 c6 8. Bc3 d5 9. Ne5 Nfd7 10. Nxd7 Nxd7 11. Nd2 O-O 12. O-O Rc8 13. e4 c5 14. exd5 exd5 15. dxc5 dxc4 16. c6 cxb3 17. Re1 b2 18. Bxb2 Nc5 19. Nc4 Bxc4 20. Qg4 Bg5 21. Qxc4 Nd3 22. Ba3 Nxe1 23. Rxe1 Re8 24. Rxe8+ Qxe8 25. Bd5 h5 26. Kg2 Be7 27. Bb2 Bf6 28. Bc1 Qe7 29. Be3 Rc7 30. h4 Be5 31. Qd3 Bd6 32. Bg5 Qe8 33. Qf3 b5 34. Be3 Qe5 35. Qd1 Qe8 36. Qxh5 Rxc6 37. Bxa7 Ra6 38. Bd4 Bf8 39. Be5 b4 40. Qf5 g6 41. Qf4 Qe7 42. Bd4 Ra5 43. Qf3 Bg7 44. Bb6 Rb5 45. Be3 Bc3 46. Bg5 Qa7 47. Qd3 Rb6 48. Be3 Qa6 49. Bxf7+ Kxf7 50. Qd7+ Kf8 51. Qd8+ Kf7 52. Qc7+ Kg8 53. Qxb6 Qxa2 54. Qxg6+ Kh8 55. Qc6 Qf7 56. g4 Bg7 57. h5 b3 58. Qe4 b2 59. h6 Bf6 60. Bd4 Kg8 61. Bxf6 Qxf6 62. Kg3 Qb6 63. Qc4+ Kh7 64. g5 Qg6 65. Qc7+ Kg8 66. Qb8+ Kf7 67. Qb7+ Kf8 68. Qb8+ Kf7 69. Qb3+ Kf8 70. Qf3+ Ke7 71. Qe3+ Kd7 72. Qd4+ Ke6 73. Qxb2 Qxg5+ 74. Kf3 Q h5+ 75. Ke4 Qf5+ 76. Ke3 Qg5+ 77. f4 Qg3+ 78. Ke4 Qe1+ 79. Kf3 Qf1+ 80. Kg3 Qg1+ 81. Qg2 Qb1 82. Qc6+ Kf7 83. Qd7+ Kf6 84. Qg7+ Ke6 85. Qe5+ Kf7 86. Qh5+ Kf6 87. Qg5+ Kf7 88. Qh5+ Kf6 89. Qh4+ Kf7 90. h7 Qe1+ 91. Kg4 Qd1+ 92. Kg5 Qd8+ 93. Kh5 Qd5+94. Qg5 Qh1+ 95. Qh4 Qd5+ 96. Kg4 Qd1+ 97. Kg3 Qe1+ draw agreed
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