Anand beats Shirov
in second game

Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand's bid for the world chess title went according to plans when he beat Spaniard Alexei Shirov in the second game in Tehran on Thursday to take the lead in the six-game final of the World Chess Championship.

Anand, playing white, enjoyed an advantageous position right through the game and was two pawns up in a rook and pawn ending when Shirov resigned after 64 moves.

Anand, who drew the first game on Wednesday, opted for the Ruy Lopez opening in a repetition of the moves of his semi-final clash against Michael Adams of England in New Delhi.

The top seed, however, deviated soon and his theoretical novelty 'a4' on the eighth move surprised Shirov, who consumed a lot of time before coming up with a reasonable continuation.

Anand, who sacrificed a pawn early in the game, came under time pressure but showed tremendous resilience to continue playing and prevent the game from drifting towards a draw.

Anand, who was a pawn up after the first time-control, snatched the second pawn on the 47th move in the fifth hour of play and had a rook and two connected pawns, 'h' and 'g', against Shirov's Rook and king.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Bc5 6.c3 b5 7.Bc2 d5 8.a4 .dxe4 9.axb5 Bg4 10.Bxe4 Nxe4 11.bxc6 0-0 12.d4 exd4 13.cxd4 Bb6 14.Nc3 Re8 15.Be3 Qd6 16.d5 Bxe3 17.fxe3 Rad8 18.Rxa6 Nxc3 19.bxc3 Qxd5 20.Qxd5 Rxd5 21.Nd4 g6 22.Rf4 Bf5 23.Ra7 Rxe3 24.c4 Rc5 25.Rxc7 Re4 26.Rxe4 Bxe4 27.Re7 Bf5 28.c7 Kf8 29.Nxf5 gxf5 30.Rd7 Kg7 31.Rd4 Rxc7 32.Kf2 Kf6 33.Ke3 Ke6 34.g3 f6 35.Kd3 Ra7 36.Kc3 Ke5 37.Rh4 Rb7 38.Rf4 Rb1 39.Rf2 Rc1+ 40.Kb4 Ke6 41.Kb5 Kd6 42.Rxf5 Rb1+ 43.Ka4 Rb2 44.Rxf6+ Kc5 45.Rh6 Kxc4 46.Rh4+ Kd5 47.Rxh7 Ke5 48.Ka3 Rb8 49.Rh5+ Kf6 50.Rh4 Kg5 51.Rb4 Rh8 52.h4+ Kh5 53.Rb5+ Kh6 54.g4 Re8 55.Rb4 Kg6 56.Rb6+ Kf7 57.Rb7+ Ke6 58.Rh7 Rb8 59.g5 Kf5 60.Rh6 Ke5 61.h5 Kf5 62.g6 Kf6 63.Rh7 Rg8 64.Kb3