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Anand lies last in Spanish chess tourney

Seldom has Vishwanathan Anand found himself in such a position as he does in the Dos Hermanas chess tournament.

The defending champion -- he won the tournament when it was last held in 1997 -- is lying last with Peter Svidler (Russia) and Judit Polgar (Hungary) in the 10-player field.

With only four more rounds to go, the Indian Grandmaster has just 1.5 points from five rounds and is yet to register a win.

The second of the three rest days today should provide Anand with the kind of rest he needs. But more than anything else he probably must rest from tournament play for a while. He has played four major events, including this and the Melody Amber last month. Surely a hectic schedule, though it must be pointed out Russian GM Vladimir Kramnik has also figured in each of the four tournaments.

Anand will realise he needs to conserve his resources only because of his commitments later on in the year, which also has the World Championships in Las Vegas.

In the only game to be played on the rest day, Boris Gelfand (Belarus) beat veteran Viktor Korchnoi (Switzerland). The game was scheduled for the first round, but could not take place as Gelfand took time to reach the venue after being chosen as the replacement for young Alexander Morozevich who fell ill on the morning of the first round.

Gelfand who had white in Queen's Gambit, now has three points, the same as Anatoly Karpov and Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria).

Two former champions Kramnik and Michael Adams lead the field.

A tournament, which started as a small event in 1989, has grown into one of the biggest events of the chess circuit. Many former champions figure in this year's event.

In 1993 Karpov won the title and the tournament was a category 14 event. Gelfand won the tournament in 1994 when it was a category 16 event. In 1995 when the event became category 18, Gata Kamsky, Karpov and Adams shared the top place. In 1996 when the event was further raised to category 19, Kramnik emerged champion. In 1997, once again a category 19 tournament, Anand and Kramnik shared top honours. The tournament was not held last year.

Standings after five rounds:

3.5 points: Adams and Kramnik.

3.0 points: Gelfand, Karpov and Topalov.

2.5 points: Illescas.

2.0 points: Korchnoi.

1.5 points: Anand, Polgar and Svidler.

UNI