Anand looking to wrap it up

Defending World champion Vishwanathan Anand is one game away from making his third straight FIDE knock-out World chess championships final.

Tied at 1.5-1.5 after three games in the semi-final against temperamental Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk, Anand needs to win the last game or else score in the tie-breaker to ensure he gets a crack at retaining his world title when the final match is held in Moscow next month.

The NIIT brand ambassador, who turned 32 on Tuesday, has played well so far despite the fact that he was taken to the tie-breaker twice. But even then, he was never in any great danger except once, when he was a game down and his rival, Olivier Touzane of France, needed just a draw to eliminate him.

Anand not only struck back in a telling manner, but also routed Touzane, an Internet qualifier in the tie-breaker.

Since then Anand scored a 1.5-0.5 win over another Internet qualifier, Peter Heine Nielsen of Denmark, and then came a win in the tie-breaker against Vladislav Tkachiev, a Russian-born Frenchman. Anand then steamrollered past Alexey Dreev and Alexey Shirov in a commanding manner, winning both matches 1.5-0.5.

On Tuesday, soon after his third draw against Ivanchuk, Anand went back to his room to spend a quiet birthday with his immediate team including wife, Aruna, and second, Elizbar Ubilava.

Inerestingly, Anand has qualified for the final of each of the three World championships he played in. In 1998-99, he lost the title match to Anatoly Karpov, who got a direct bye into the final, while he came through six rounds.

In 1999-2000, Anand skipped the meet in Las Vegas, when Alexander Khalifman won the title.

In 2000-2001, Anand emregd victorious, beating Alexei Shirov in the title clash in Teheran, Iran. The preliminaries, till semi-finals were held in New Delhi.

Wednesday is the final rest day for the players. On Thursday they return to the Kremlin Hall for the fourth and final game. If the scores are tied, they will come once more on Friday for the tie-breakers, which will decide the men’s finalists and the women’s World champion.

In the tie-breaker, the players will play two 20-minute rapid games and in case of a further tie, there will be two five-minute games. If it is still a tie, the matches will be decided by one game where the colours will be allotted after a draw of lots. Black will get five minutes and white six minutes, but white must win. In case of a draw, black is adjudged winner.

Barring the initial hiccup, when he lost a game in the very first round and was one draw away from elimination, Anand has been fairly solid. The passage into the semi-finals hasn't been as crushing as it seemed last year in New Delhi, but nonetheless it has been good.

The second semi-final between Ruslan Ponmariov and Peter Svidler is tilted in the favour of the 18-year-old Ukrainian, Ponmariov, who is attempting to remove Garry Kasparov’s name from the record books by trying to become the youngest world champion.

Ponmariov won the third game in outstanding fashion after drawing the first two. He needs only a draw to complete the win and get ready to challenge for the title next month in Moscow from January 16.

The final will be an eight-game affair and the winner will get US $ 500,000 minus 20 per cent which goes to FIDE, the world’s governing body for chess.

In the women’s final, China’s Zhu Chen is a draw away from ensuring the title stays in China. Her rival, Alexandra Kosteniuk has attracted a lot of attention with her play and looks -- she is called the Anna Kournikova of chess -- and if she manages to win the fourth game to tie the match and then take it in the tie-breaker she will become the youngest ever women’s champion.

Zhu lost the first game, but then struck back in great style and won the next two.

Earlier reports:
Anand draws third game in a row
Anand draws game 2 of semi-final
Ivanchuk, Anand draw game 1 in semis
Ivanchuk to meet Anand in semis
Anand reaches semi-finals
Anand beats Shirov in first game
Anand beats Dreev to enter quarters
Anand faces tough road ahead
Quick draw for Anand in round 4
Anand through to last 16
Anand settles for draw, Van Wely loses
Anand enters third round
Anand scores quick win
Anand moves into second round
Anand wins second game
Anand shocked in opening round