Anand Defeats Topalov, Jumps To Fourth Place
By Arvind Aaron

World champion Viswanathan Anand defeated one of his two main rivals Veselin Topalov when he forced an exchange of major pieces to enter a winning knight ending in the eighth
round.

The second win in a row takes the 1969-born player from Chennai to the tied fourth-fifth places on 4.5/8. Five rounds remain to be played. Anand takes on Gelfand with the black pieces on Tuesday.

All the other six games ended in draws. Carlsen keeps his lead with 5.5 points and is followed by Kramnik and Aronian on five points. Anand and Radjabov are on 4.5 points.

Round eight was marred by a controversy in the Short-Cheparinov game. The dispute will be decided later on Sunday. Cheparinov did not shake the hands of Short due to the Kramnik v
Topalov dispute in the Elista Match in 2006. Relationships between several players are strained since that match. Also more importantly, Topalov plays white against kramnik in the
ninth round on Tuesday. Monday is a rest day. short played 1.e4 and Cheparinov replied 1...c5. Since there was no handshake, Short claimed the point with a protest. Both sides
have issued letters and it will be decided on Sunday night. Score for the game in the official site is published as win for Short. It becomes the shortest decisive game in
history.

In the same B Group, Harikrishna (4.5/8) drew L'Ami with white while Humpy (3/7) is poised to draw Bacrot with black in a rook ending.

Parimarjan Negi beat Peng with white to jump to joint third place on 5/8 in Grand Master Group C.

The results (round eight): L.Van Wely (Ned) 4 drew P.Leko (Hun) 3.5, M.Carlsen (Nor) 5.5 drew B.Gelfand (Isr) 2.5, V.Anand (Ind) 4.5 bt V.Topalov (Bul) 3.5, V.Kramnik (Rus) 5 drew Judit Polgar (Hun) 3.5, T.Radjabov (Aze) 4.5 drew V.Ivanchuk (Ukr) 4, S.Mamedyarov (Aze) 4 drew L.Aronian (Arm) 5, P.Eljanov (Ukr) 2.5 drew M.Adams (Eng) 4.
 

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Published on 22^th  Jan, 2008