Chess News

Anand a step away from Mainz Chess Classic title

Indo-Asian News Service
13 Aug 2005

Mainz (Germany), Aug 13 (IANS) World No. 2 Viswanathan Anand is just a step away from making it five in-a-row at the Grenke Leasing Chess Classic here.

The Indian Grandmaster (GM) has all but sealed his match against Russian Alexander Grischuk, the much-touted challenger, at the midway stage of the match.

On the second day, Anand, who had earlier won both his rapid games, won one game and drew another, to make it 3.5-0.5 points, according to a release from NIIT of which the Indian is a brand ambassador.

Champion at Mainz for the last four years, Anand now needs just one point from the remaining four games to ensure the title.

But the modest Indian ace still did not want to celebrate. He said: "It is a great cushion, but it is better not to think about that."

Anand was also helped by some poor play by Grischuk. In the first game of the second day, Anand blundered but found some resources to escape.

In the second game, he looked lost, but Grischuk did not have enough time to find the winning combination.

"He conducted the attack quite well and I had an unpleasant position, despite the extra pawn. You can say that Alexander just played better than me today," said Anand.

But Grischuk was still in shock at the press conference. "The press will write that Vishy was lucky, but that is wrong. I don't deserve any better with the level of my play," he said.

Anand has won this title since 2001, when he first beat Vladimir Kramnik. In the next three years, the Indian beat Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine, Judit Polgar of Hungary and Spaniard Alexey Shirov.

Meanwhile, Russian Peter Svidler leads Hungarian Zoltan Almasi 2.5-1.5 points in the Chess960 match.

In the Chess960 Open, Levon Aronian of Armenia emerged winner for the second time with an amazing 10 points out of 11 games.

Ivan Sokolov of the Netherlands and Klaus Bischoff of Germany scored nine points and shared second place. Four players scored 8.5 points. They are Alexei Shirov of Spain, Frenchman Etienne Bacrot, Russian Alexey Dreev and Zigurds Lanka of Latvia.

In the Chess960 for women, the best player was world champion Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria. She scored 7.5 points, Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia and Elisabeth Pähtz of Germany also played well to gather seven points.

In another competition, the German programme Spike by Volker Böhm and Ralf Schäfer won the first Livingston Chess960 World Computer Championship.

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Scot proves he's still the master after recapturing top chess title

The Scotsman
Sat 13 Aug 2005
JOHN HENDERSON

AS A nation, Scotland is not exactly blessed with many sporting champions. However, in the cerebral pursuit of chess, which Sir Walter Scott once famously decried as "a sad waste of brains", we seem to be excelling in Grandmaster Jonathan Rowson.

Yesterday, at the Villa Marina & Gaiety Theatre Complex at Douglas on the Isle of Man, after nearly two gruelling weeks of intense competition, Rowson, 28, successfully defended his title after he won the £10,000 ($18,148 USD) first prize at the Smith & Williamson British Chess Championships.


After a nervous start to the defence of his title following an unexpected shock loss in round two, top seed Rowson staged a typically stoic comeback to get back into contention for the coveted crown.

The 11-round British Chess Championship is never a sprint: it is a marathon. Played over 12 days, the key time is always the tough last five rounds in the second week.

And in those last five rounds where the title is either won or lost, Rowson proved to be in a league of his own as he eased past the opposition by scoring an unbeaten four points from a possible five to take his second successive British Championship title with a final tally of 8.5 from 11 - a full half point clear of the chasing pack.

Last year, in Scarborough, Rowson, originally from Aberdeen, but who now lives in London, became the first Scot in 58 years to win the title. Now, after his latest win, he enters the record books by becoming the first Scot to win the title twice and the first non-English player since 1933 to successfully defend his title.

The next milestone for the Scottish No 1 now looks to be an assault on the world rankings and a coveted place in the top 100. In the July world rankings, Rowson climbed to 139th, the highest ever spot achieved by a Scot in modern times.

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