Humpy wins, Anand draws in World Cup

HYDERABAD: The daggers are out. But just. The bland face of caution rolled in a gravy of aggression was the menu for the opening games in the quarterfinals at the chess World Cup. Now, the Ramoji Film City is getting ready for a spicy climax.
India''s K. Humpy, Svetlana Matveeva (Russia), Uzbek GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Alexander Beliavsky (Russia) returned with wins, and relief, here on Tuesday.The cushion has given them a luxury of losing the second and last game on Wednesday (with change in colour) in the last eight stage. In such a scenario, they can still hope to come through a tie-break of two rapid games (25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move).
World No. 10 Humpy had not expected a Queen''s Gambit opening from China''s Li Ruofan. But she played superbly and Li Ruofan resigned when she was about to lose her B file pawn. Humpy had more strength on the board with rook and bishop against rook and knight. The bishop is considered mightier than knight in an endgame and she would have gone two pawns up soon. The win has highlighted Humpy''s positional wizardry.
There were reservations in the media room when the highest rated player in the draw said that she would go for a draw with black pieces on Wednesday. She could be playing safe. But she is not taking things lightly either.
Said Humpy: "I don''t expect an easy day tomorrow. It will be a battle."
Her compatriot S. Meenakshi had a good tussle against China''s Xu Yunha. But the latter enjoyed a moral victory when she earned a draw, with black pieces, through perpetual checks. Anand not only held his own with black pieces against Russia''s Vladimir Malakhov, but also got a miniscule advantage. He had prepared this line well. "It is an interesting line. But I couldn''t see major gains with that," said the defending champion.
Results (quarterfinals, Game 1): Men: Vladimir Malakhov (Rus) drew with V. Anand (Ind), Ye Jiangchuan (Chn) lost to Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzb); Nigel Short (Gbr) drew with Alexy Dreev (Rus), Alexander Beliavsky (Slo) drew with Sergei Rublvesky (Rus). Women: Irina Krush (US) lost to Svetlana Matveeva (Rus), K. Humpy (Ind) bt Li Ruofan (Chn); Wang Pin (Chn) drew with Antoneta Stefanova (Bul), S. Meenakshi (Ind) drew with Xu Yunhua (Chn).