Topalov Beats Kramnik and Drew with Gelfand
By Arvind Aaron

Two of the four undefeated players in the Corus Grand Master Group A were defeated in a single round. Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and Magnus Carlsen of Norway were defeated by
Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and Peter Leko of Hungary. Only M.Adams and V.Ivanchuk are undefeated so far.

This result allowed Levon Aronian of Armenia to join Magnus Carlsen in the lead with 5.5/9. Anand, Kramnik and others are tied for the third place on five points.

World champion and top ranked Viswanathan Anand easily equalised with the black pieces in a Catalan opening and drew Gelfand in 25 moves. Anand is on five points from nine rounds. Four rounds remain to be played in this Category 20 event at Wijk aan Zee.

In the last four rounds, Anand faces, Leko with white, Carlsen with black, Van Wely with black, then Kramnik with white. A plus two finish can help him win the tournament for the sixth time. No
other player in the history of world chess has won as much as Anand here.

In the Grand Master Group B, Harikrishna won a pawn with black but only drew Andhra Woman World No.2 Koneru Humpy in a rooks and bishops ending. Harikrishna shares the fourth place with 5/9 and Humpy is on 4. In the replayed controversial game, Short defeated Cheparinov (trainer of Topalov) in a long six hour encounter. Importantly the players shook hands!

Parimarjan Negi of Delhi drew Van der Werf with the black pieces in round nine to take his tally to 5.5/9. He shares the third-fourth place in this category 10 event.

The results (round nine): L.Aronian (Arm) 5.5 drew P.Eljanov (Ukr) 3, V.Ivanchuk (Ukr) 4.5 drew S.Mamedyarov (Aze) 4.5, P.Leko (Hun) 4.5 bt M.Carlsen (Nor) 5.5, V.Topalov (Bul) 4.5 bt V.Kramnik (Rus) 5, M.Adams (Eng) 5 bt L.Van Wely (Ned) 4, J.Polgar (Hun) 4 drew T.Radjabov (Aze) 5, B.Gelfand (Isr) 3 drew V.Anand (Ind) 5.

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Published on 23^rd  Jan, 2008