By IANS
Netherlands : Victory continued to elude world champion Viswanathan Anand in the elite Group A of the 70th edition of Corus Grandmasters chess tournament, but his younger teammate, Pentala Harikrishna, was in the forefront in Group B.
While Anand drew his game with Englishman Michael Adams, while Harikrishna crushed Dutchman Wouter Spoelman in the fourth round late Monday. Hari moved into joint lead with three points from four rounds. In the same Group B Humpy is way behind in 13th place with just one point from two draws in four games.
In fact, far from victory, Anand was actually in trouble with white against Adams. But the Indian, who is going through a rough patch so far, held the pawn-down position and managed to get half a point and avoid a second defeat. It was a Queen’s Indian opening and the game lasted 56 moves. Anand has 1.5 points and lies tied 10th.
Anand is languishing in tied tenth place, while up ahead after a draw against each other Magnus Carlsen and Lev Aronian remain in the lead with three points each. Also in joint lead was Judit Polgar, who handed Veselin Topalov his second loss in four games.
None of the four Indians in view in the three groups of Corus chess were at the losing end, as Koneru Humpy drew a good game with fancied Nigel Short in Group B, while in Group C, teenaged GM Parimarjan Negi showed signs of re-discovering his form with a second successive win. He beat China’s Li Shilong.
Harikrishna beat the luckless young Dutch talent, Wouter Spoelman. The game, which had a Queen’s Pawn opening lasted 80 moves. Only two of the seven games produced results in the group.
Among the draws was Koneru Humpy’s fine effort against former world championship candidate Nigel Short in a Petroff defence, where the English player had white in a game that lasted 40 moves.
In other matches in Group A, in the fourth round, there were wins for Judit Polgar (with black) over Boris Gelfand and for Vladimir Kramnik over Pavel Eljanov in a six-hour grind by the former World Champion. Also, Loek van Wely spent 81 moves and close to seven hours before pushing Veselin Topalov over the edge.
Negi playing with black beat Li Shilong of China in a Queen’s gambit in 48 moves. Negi, who lost the first two games has won the next two to move to tied seventh in Group C.
The players go in for the first rest after four rounds.
Results and standings:
Group A:
Results: Round 4: van Wely beat Topalov; Gelfand lost to Polgar; Leko drew with Ivanchuk; Carlsen drew with Aronian; Anand drew with Adams; Kramnik beat Eljanov; Radjabov drew with Mamedyarov
Standings: after 4 rounds: 1. Carlsen, Polgar and Aronian 3 points; 3. Kramnik, Radjabov and Van Wely 2.5 points; 6. Ivanchuk, Leko, Adams 2 points; 9. Anand and Mamedyarov 1.5 points; 11. Topalov, Gelfand and Eljanov 1 point
Group B
Results: Round 4: Short drew with Humpy; Sargissian drew with L’Ami; Cheparinov beat Nepomniachtchi; Krasenkow drew with Smeets; Bacrot drew with Movsesian; Harikrishna beat Spoelman; Hou Yifan drew with Stellwagen
Standings: after 4 rounds: 1. Harikrishna, Bacrot, Smeets 3 points; 4. Cheparinov, Movsesian and Stellwagen 21/2 points; 7. Short, Nepomniachi and L’Ami 2 points; 10. Sargissian, Krasenkow and Hou Yifan 1.5 points; 13. Koneru Humpy 1 point; 14. Spoelman 0 points
Group C:
Results: Round 4: Krush lost to Grivas; Caruana drew with Reinderman; Carlsson beat Ruijgrok; Braun beat van der Werf; van der Wiel drew with Zhaoqin; Li Shilong lost to Negi; Ushenina lost to Nijboer
Standings: after 4 rounds: 1. Braun 4 points; 2. Caruana 31/2 points; 3. Carlsson 3 points; 4. Reinderman, Grivas and van der Wiel 2.5 each; 7. Nijboer, Negi, Li Shilong 2 points; 10. van der Werf 11/2 points; 11. Krush and Peng 1 point; 12. Ushenina 1/2 point; 14. Ruijgrok 0 points