Anand wins fourth game

Anand won the fourth game in contrasting style with a mating attack on Topalov king. The opening was a Catalan just like in the second game. But all other similarities ended here. Whereas the second game was a positional effort , this game had Anand sacrificing a piece for a king-side attack.

Topalov must have seen the 23. Nxh6 but thought it was not working.  Anand is not world champion for nothing and the idea of Rc1-c4-g4 proved too strong.

Anand is showing an all round style, playing both positional and attacking chess. In the third game, he drew with the black pieces quite easily. I wondor what Topalov can do in tomorrow's Friday's game. He might change to king pawn opening since Anand is drawing easily against the queen pawn opening.

The score is now 2.5 - 1.5 in Anand's favour.

World Championship Game 3, draw by repetition

True to his words, Topalov did not offer a draw. Instead in a sterile rook ending, he called the arbiter over and both  players repeated moves. The arbiter called the draw ....

 

Wesley So still in lead

Philippines grandmaster Wesley So drew his fifth round game but so did his four rivals (all Chinese!). Thus Wesley still remains the leader going into the sixth round.

Standings after 5 rounds:

Title	Name	Federation	Rating	Points
GM	SO Wesley	PHI	2665	5,0
GM	YU Yangyi	CHN	2574	4,5
GM	DING Liren	CHN	2565	4,5
GM	GEETHA Narayanan Gopal	IND	2604	4,5
GM	NI Hua	CHN	2667	4,5
GM	LI Chao B	CHN	2613	4,5
GM	GUPTA Abhijeet	IND	2560	4,5
	GUNDAVAA Bayarsaikhan	MGL	2471	4,5
GM	BAKRE Tejas	IND	2465	4,0
GM	MEGARANTO Susanto	INA	2527	4,0
	YU Ruiyuan	CHN	2309	4,0
FM	GOLIZADEH Asghar	IRI	2454	4,0
IM	YANG Kaiqi	CHN	2396	4,0
IM	NGUYEN Thanh Son	VIE	2440	4,0
	WAN Yunguo	CHN	2424	4,0

Asian Continental Championship 2010

The current focus is on the World Championship match between Anand and Topalov. Another event closer to home has gone under the radar. This is the Asian Continental Championship currently in progress in Subic, Philippines.

Malaysia is not represented while resident GM Ziaur Rahman is playing under Bangladesh flag.

Philippines boy prodigy Wesley So is leading at the half-way point after five rounds with four and half points.

Top seed Le Quang Liem, recent winner of the Aeroflot Open, is finding the going tough and only scored three points. He lost the first round against a much lower rated player.

The top fifteen standings:

Title	Name	Federation	Rating	Points
GM	SO Wesley	PHI	2665	4,5
GM	YU Yangyi	CHN	2574	4,0
GM	DING Liren	CHN	2565	4,0
GM	NI Hua	CHN	2667	4,0
GM	LI Chao B	CHN	2613	4,0
GM	GEETHA Narayanan Gopal	IND	2604	4,0
GM	MEGARANTO Susanto	INA	2527	3,5
IM	NGUYEN Huynh Minh Huy	VIE	2469	3,5
FM	GOLIZADEH Asghar	IRI	2454	3,5
	YU Ruiyuan	CHN	2309	3,5
IM	NADERA Barlo A	PHI	2405	3,5
GM	GUPTA Abhijeet	IND	2560	3,5
GM	SASIKIRAN Krishnan	IND	2686	3,5
	WAN Yunguo	CHN	2424	3,5
GM	ZHOU Jianchao	CHN	2650	3,5

WCH Game 1 and 2

After two games, both players have won one game each. Both wins come with the white pieces. Topalov won against the Anand's Grunfeld. In the second game last night, Anand came up with the Catalan to even the score.

Against the Grunfeld, Topalov was very well prepared. I will not be surprised if the whole game has been analysed by him and his team beforehand. In such matches, each player will have at least two defences prepared. So the big question now is will Anand still use the Grunfeld in the next game?

Anand strikes back in game two employing the Catalan. He sacrifice a pawn for active pieces. Topalov hangs on to the pawn trusting his defensive but passive pieces. What happened next was a decisive positional win which is very hard to understand for the inexperienced. It is very difficult to defend against active pieces which threatens to over-run your position even for a player of Topalov calibre.

Today is a rest day, so the third game will resume tomorrow, Tuesday 27th April at 8:00 PM local time.

Anand equalizes

World Champion Anand has won the second game with the white pieces. Anand played the Catalan Opening and sacrificed a pawn. He had plenty of compensation in his active pieces and "Catalan" bishop. The bishop on the h1-a8 diagonal only moved twice but heavily influenced the course of the game.

Topalov under heavy pressure made one or two mistakes. They were enough for Anand to convert to a won rook ending.


Game can be replayed online below