Anand squeezes into last eight

Chinese Grandmaster Xu Jun, who had managed just one draw in the first four games, enforced a crushing defeat on Indian GM Krishnan Sasikiran in the final league encounter to help defending champion Vishwanathan Anand snatch a place in the quarter-finals of the chess World Cup in Hyderabad on Monday.

Placed in Group C, Anand and Sasikiran were tied on 2.5 points each after the completion of the fourth round on Sunday.

On Monday, Anand, playing white, could not capitalise on his advantage and was forced to settle for a draw in 28 moves against Hichem Hmdouch of Mauritius. The draw saw his tally swell to three points.

But he had to wait for the result of Sasikiran's match to know whether he would advance to the next round.

Much to the relief of the defending champion, Sasikiran, his conqueror in the second round, lost to greenhorn Xu Jun of China in 28 moves.

Later, Anand said he was aware that he faced being eliminated after drawing his match earlier in the day.

"If I'm eliminated, I am eliminated. I could not squeeze the advantage of playing white and there were too many issues," he said.

Women's defending champion Xu Yuhua also rallied brilliantly to reach the quarter-finals, with a win over Swathi Ghate of India in her last league game in Group B.

The Chinese WGM's hopes of retaining her title suffered a major jolt when she lost the opener to group topper Stefanova Anotneta (Bulgaria) and split the point in the second round, but she staged a fierce comeback to win three games in a row to sail into the knock-out round.

Last-minute entry S Meenakshi needed just six moves before a sharing a point with WGM Wang Pin of China, which swelled her points tally to 3.5 and took her into the last eight.

Anand had the advantage of playing with the white and just hoped for an aggressive play from his opponent. But Hichem put up stubborn resistance. In a Carakkon opening, the Indian GM failed to get going though he managed a pawn-advantage towards the end. He gave up a knight on the 21st move in an effort to create an opening for a King-side attack but Hichem defended well enough to thwart a full point going to his famed rival.

Hichem, who trails behind Anand by more than 150 points in the Elo ratings, frustrated the Indian right through the middle game and manoeuvred his pieces immaculately, forcing the Indian to a draw in 24 moves.

Following are the results of the last league matches:
Men:
Group A: Malakhov Vladimir (Rus) 3.5 bt Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr) 2; Vescovi Giovanni (Bra) 3 drew with Macieja Bartilomiej (Pol) 3; Iuldachev Saidali (Uzb) 0.5 lost to Ye Jiangchuan (Chn) 3.

Group B: Yermolinsky Alex (USA) 2.5 lost to Radjabov Teimour (Azr) 3; Kobese Watu (RSA) 1.5 drew with Rubievsky Sergei (Rus) 3; Dreev Alexander (Rus) 3.5 bt Azmaiparashvilli Zurab (Geo) 2.5.

Group C: Xu Jun (Chn) 1.5 bt Krishnan Sasikiran (Ind) 2.5; Vishwanathan Anand (Ind) 3 drew with Hamdouch Hichem (Mor) 2.5; Kasimdzhanov Rustam (Uzb) 3.5 bt Al Modiahki (Qat) 2.

Group D: Ehlvest Jann (Est) 3.5 drew with Beliavsky Alexander G (Slo) 3.5; Harikrishna P (Ind) 1.5 bt Morozevich Alexander (Rus) 1; Short Nigel (Eng) 3.5 bt Surya Shekhar Ganguly (Ind) 2.

Women:
Group A: Svetlana Matveeva (Rus) 3.5 bt Viktorija Cmilyte (Ltu) 2; Chiburdanize Maya (Geo) 2 drew with Kovalevskaya Ekaterina (Rus) 3; Harika Dronavalli (Ind) 1.5 drew with Li Ruofan (Chn) 3.

Group B: Swathi Ghate (Ind) 1.5 lost to Xu Yuhua (Chn) 3.5; Nino Khurtsidze (Geo) 2 drew with S Vijayalakshmi (Ind) 2; Pia Cramling (Swe) 1.5 lost to Stefanova Antoneta (Bul) 4.5.

Group C: Bhagyashree Thipsay (Ind) 0 lost to Alexandra Kosteniuk (Rus) 3; Irian Krush (USA) 3.5 drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind) 4.5; Nan Iosliani (Geo) 2 drew with Stepovaia Dianchenko (Rus) 2.

Group D: Aarthie Ramaswamy (Ind) 1.5 drew with Peng Zhaoqin (Ned) 1.5; Dworakowska Joanna (Pol) 2.5 bt Zhu Chen (Chn) 2.5; S Meenakshi (Ind) 3.5 drew with Wang Pin (Chn) 3.5.

Earlier reports
Day 4 Anand, Humpy win easily
Day 3 Anand back in contention
Day 2: Sasikiran shocks Anand
Day 1: Meenakshi beats world champ; Anand splits point