NEWS
OTHER SPORTS
DIARY
PEOPLE
MATCH REPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

Leko holds Anand at Dortmund

Round four of the ongoing Category 19 tournament at Dortmund saw only two decisive games -- Vladimir Kramnik defeating Jan Timman, while Vasselin Topalov defeated Sokolov.

Meanwhile, table leader Peter Leko of Hungary held India's Vishwanathan Anand to a draw, and maintained a 0.5 point lead over Anand, Kramnik and Anatoly Karpov, all of whom have 2.5 points apiece.

Standings at the end of Round 4 are: 1. Leko, Peter g HUN 2694 3.0;
2. Karpov, Anatoly g RUS 2710 2.5;
3. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2781 2.5;
4. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2751 2.5;
5. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2700 2.0;
6. Adams, Michael g ENG 2716 2.0;
7. Sokolov, Ivan g BIH 2624 1.0;
8. Timman, Jan H g NED 2670 0.5;

So this makes yet another time the two players have fought out a draw -- a pattern that they have been following for close to a year now.

Essentially, Leko, world junior number one and the 9th ranked player in the senior category, one step ahead of FIDE champion Anatoly Karpov, specialises in inventive openings while Anand combats that with his expertise in mid-game play and sheer speed of thought. Anand has always been an aggressive player while Leko, the youngest player to make the grandmaster norm, started out playing defensively at the outset of his career but over the last year has added an aggressive edge to his play.

Their games, thus, have always been interesting -- and Leko has made no secret of his admiration for Anand. This, after all, was the man who, some six years back, spelt out his ambition in no uncertain terms: "I want to play Anand for the world championship in 1999," he had said, in a media briefing at the same venue, early in this decade.

Leko knows Anand's game very well, having been his official second in 1998 for the latter's world championship bout against Garri Kasparov at Lausanne.

Anand (white) versus Leko (black)

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. e5 Nd5 8. Ne4 Bb7 9. Be2 c5 10. O-O Qc7 11. Nd6+ Bxd6 12. exd6 Qc6 13. f3 c4 14. Qd4 O-O 15. Bxc4 Qxd6 16. Rd1 Rfc8 17. Bd3 Qb6 18. Qxb6 Nxb6 19. b3 d5 20. Bb2 a5 21. Bd4 Nd7 22. c4 f6 23. f4 Kf7 24. Rac1 dxc4 25. Bxc4 Ba6 26. Bb2 Nb8 27. Bf1 Rxc1 28. Rxc1 Bxf1 29. Kxf1 1/2-1/2