Humpy through, Anand keeps hope

HYDERABAD: First, a gamble was taken. Then, a stunner. Followed by flawless play and a blunder! Well, we are talking about four different games on an eventful third round in the league phase of the chess World Cup at the Ramoji Film City here on Saturday. After the loss to Sasikiran, I was mentally packing my bag, said defending champion V Anand.
In reality, he sent Uzbek GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov packing from the white side of the Sicilian defence.Anand was late for the game by three minutes and the arbiters had already started his clock. Next: both players reeled off 10 moves in less than two minutes. Kasimdzhanov had prepared this line from the black side of the Sicilian defence. But as he said to Anand sportingly after his 30-move defeat and you chose me to give some trouble.
Both players agreed that 26Rh5! would have enabled a draw. But it was pretty difficult to see this combination in the match situation. Anand took his chance and succeeded. With China’s bookish GM Xu Jun losing to Mohd Al-Modiahki of Qatar, Anand has a decent chance of advancing to the quarterfinals.
Results (Round 3, white named first, points in brackets): Men: Group A: Bartilomiej Macieja, Pol (2) bt Vassily Ivanchuk, Ukr (1); V Malakhov, Rus (2) bt Ye Jiangchuan, Chn (1); G Vescovi, Bra (2.5) bt Iuldachev, Uzb (0.5). Group B: Sergei Rublevsky, Rus (2) drew Teimour Radjabov, Azr (2); Alex Yermolinsky, US (1) drew Zurab Azmaiparashvilli, Geo (1); Watu Kobese, RSA (1) lost to Alexander Dreev, Rus (2). Group C: Hichem Hamdouch, Mar (1) drew K Sasikiran, Ind (2.5); Xu Jun, Chn (0.5) lost Al Modiahki, Qat (2); V Anand, Ind (1.5) bt Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Uzb (1.5). Group D: Alexander Morozevich, Rus (1) drew Alexander Beliavsky, Slo (2.5); Jaan Ehlvest, Est (2) drew Surya Sekhar Ganguly, Ind (1.5); P Harikrishna, Ind (0) lost to Nigel Short, Eng (2).
Women: Group A: Ekaterina Kovalevskaya, Rus (2) drew Viktorija Cmilyte, Ltu (1); Svetlana Mateeva, Rus (2) drew Li Ruofan, Chn (2); Maia Chiburdanidze, Geo (1) lost to D Harika, Ind (1). Group B: S Vijayalakshmi, Ind (0.5) lost Xu Junhua, Chn (1.5); Swati Ghate, Ind (1.5) drew Antoneta Stefanova, Bul (2.5); Nino Khurtsidze, Geo (1.5) bt Pia Cramling, Swe (1.5). Group C: K Humpy, Ind (3) bt Alexandra Kosteniuk, Rus (1); Bhagyashree Thipsay, Ind (0) lost Stepovaia Dianchenko, Rus (1.5); Irina Krush, US (2) drew Nana Iosliani, Geo (1.5). Group D: Zhu Chen, Chn (1.5) bt Pen Zhaoqin, Ned (1); R Aarthie, Ind (1) drew Wang Pin, Chn (2); Joanna Dworakowska, Pol (1.5) drew S Meenakshi, Ind (2).