ANAND FACES ARONIAN IN FINAL
Hindu, India
Aug 17 2007
NEW DELHI: Viswanathan Anand scored two victories when they really
mattered and set up a much-awaited title-clash with Armenian hot
favourite Levon Aronian in the FiNet Chess960 World chess championship
in Mainz, Germany, on Wednesday.
Anand, making his debut in the Chess960 format, defeated Uzbek Rustam
Kasimdzhanov in just 21 moves in the fourth round and then nailed
Frenchman Etienne Bacrot in 35 moves to ensure his place in the
four-game final.
In the sixth round, Anand and Aronian chose to reserve their energies
for the battles ahead and drew in just 18 moves. Anand punished
Kasimdzhanov after the Uzbek blundered a pawn early in the game.
Against Bacrot, Anand held the whip and had five minutes on his clock
as against just one for the Frenchman. Bacrot saw the futility of
continuing and resigned.
Kasimdzhanov, who shared the second spot with Anand after the first
three rounds on Tuesday, lost all three rounds to finish last in the
four-man field.
In the FiNet rapid tournament played alongside, Grandmasters
K. Sasikiran, P. Hari Krishna and Parimarjan Negi won their first
two rounds to be among the leaders.
The results:
FiNet Chess960 World Championship: Sixth round: Levon Aronian
(Arm, 4.5) drew with Viswanathan Anand (4); Etienne Bacrot (Fra,
2) bt Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzb, 1.5); Fifth round: Anand bt Bacrot;
Kasimdzhanov lost to Aronian. Fourth round: Anand bt Kasimdzhanov;
Bacrot drew with Aronian.
FiNet rapid tournament (involving Indians): Second round: Oliver
Kurmann (Sui, 1) lost to K. Sasikiran (2); P. Hari Krishna (2) bt
Christian Maier (Ger, 1); Peter Luchtemeier (Ger, 1) lost to Parimarjan
Negi (2). First ro und: Josef Gabriel (Ger) lost to Hari; Sasikiran
bt Omri Schlesinger (Ger); Parimarjan bt Christiansen Sava (Rom).