NEWS
OTHER SPORTS
DIARY
PEOPLE
MATCH REPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

Shirov, Akopian in last eight

Paul Eriksen in Las Vegas

Alexy Shirov installed himself as a strong favourite for the title, worth US $660,000, in the FIDE World Chess Championship, with a clear victory over English GM Nigel Short in the fourth round in Las Vegas.

Besides Shirov, the only other player to move into the fifth round, which is the last eight stage, was Vladimir Akopian, who beat Kiril Georgiev of Bulgaria in the second game of the fourth round. The first game between the two had been drawn.

All other six games are tied 1-1, after two draws each, and will now be decided by the tie-breaker.

There has been only one decisive game in each of the two sets of games in the fourth round. The matches between Kramnik-Topalov, Adams-Dreev, Federov-Movsesian, Polgar-Zvjaginsev, Gelfand-Khalifman and Nisipeanu-Ivanchuk will be decided by the play-off tomorrow.

Though seven of the eight games ended in draws, many of them started off showing signs of some spark. Playing against Judith Polgar, Russian Vadim Zvjaginsev decided to go all out from the start. It looked a prepared opening as Polgar used a lot of time, working it out on the board.

White (Polgar) had a dangerous attack and she put in a piece sacrifice but that was returned. Zvjaginsev enjoyed a favourable ending, but Judith held it comfortably for a draw.

Short, needing to win to stay in the match, played the aggressive King's gambit in the hope of getting his opponent into some prepared opening. Shirov responded with an exchange sacrifice for which he got a couple of pawns. Short may have had some chances, but as pieces started going off the board his opportunities diminished.

Then, he overlooked a defensive idea from Shirov and that helped the Russian-born Spaniard to get a draw and a passage into the next round.

Akopian worked out a good opening advantage but did not quite pursue the opportunities that came his way. Just as it seemed it was headed towards a draw Akopian found a way to win a pawn and got in a sharp ending. Georgiev played the ending too passively and when Akopian moved his King to the Queenside, he was clearly well-placed and got a well-deserved win.

Vladimir Kramnik looked good in his game against Veselin Topalov when the Bulgarian played the unusual 6...Nc6. This was followed up with a possible mistake 11...Bf8-d6. At this stage it looked Kramnik was in a winning position. Kramnik did not feel so and it ended in a draw.

Michael Adams and Alexei Dreev played a quick 14-move draw with an obvious eye on gambling in the tie-breaker.

Ivanchuk in his second encounter with Nisipeanu started quietly. After the time problem he had in the first game, this time around he used his time better, but the game meandered into a draw.

Sergei Movsesian managed to hold on for a draw against Fedorov, who despite being in a winning position could not hammer home the advantage and allowed his rival to wriggle out for a draw and a chance in tie-breaker.

Results of the second game of Round 4:
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter - Ivanchuk, Vassily ½ ½
Khalifman, Alexander - Gelfand, Boris ½ ½
Polgar, Judit - Zvjaginsev, Vadim ½ ½
Adams, Michael - Dreev, Alexey ½ ½
Topalov, Veselin - Kramnik, Vladimir ½ ½
Movsesian, Sergei - Fedorov, Alexei ½ ½

Completed matches:
Shirov, Alexei* - Short, Nigel D 1-0 ½. Winner: Shirov
Georgiev, Kiril - Akopian, Vladimir * ½ 0-1. Winner: Akopian

Latest odds:
2-1 Alexei Shirov (Spain)
7-2 Vladimir Kramnik (Russia)
7-1 Michael Adams (England)
10-1 Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Boris Gelfand (Israel); 20-1 Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Sergei Movsesian (Czech), Alexei Fedorov (Belarus), Alexy Dreev (Russia), Vladimir Akopian (Armenia); 25-1 Alexander Khalifman (Russia), Judith Polgar (Hungary), Vadim Zvjaginsev (Russia); 40-1 Liviu Nisipeanu (Romania).