Anand wins second game

Defending champion Vishwanathan Anand won his second game of the first round in the World chess championship against lowly-rated Olivier Touzane of France on Wednesday.

Touzane had won the first game on Tuesday after 39 moves.

The two will, later in the day, play the tie-breaker to decide the winner.

Anand, playing black, needed a win to force the tie-break against Touzane to make it to the second round and stay in contention for the title. And the Indian ace bounced back into contention, winning in 23 moves.

Touzane, with an Elo rating of 2382, is one of the eight players who qualified for the event through the worldwide Internet championship and is the lowest-ranked player in the 128-player field.

Meanwhile, International Master Surya Sekhar Ganguly (2464) again came up with a creditable performance to hold GM Alexander Khalifman (2699) of Russia to a draw in the second game of the first round in the World chess championship in Moscow on Wednesday.

The first game between the two also ended in a draw after 22 moves on Tuesday.

Playing black, the 18-year-old Calcuttan did well to hold his much higher-ranked opponent after 13 moves.

Khalifman had won the FIDE World chess championship in 1999 and lost to Vishwanathan Anand in the quarter-finals at the last year's championship in Delhi.

The winner of the tie will now be decided after the tie-breaks, to be played later in the day.

Alexander Morozevich of Russia defeated fellow-countrymen Nugzar Zeliakov in the second game to become the first player to move into the second round. The first game between the two was drawn.

Dibyendu Barua and Pendalya Harikrishna lost their second games to crash out of the event. Barua lost the match after 36 moves, while Harikrishna lost after 38 moves.

Nisha Mohota who had scored a fine win over Woman Grandmaster Tatiana Stepovaia-Diachenko of Russia in the first game lost the second game after 40 moves on Wednesday to go in for a play-off. Nisha needs only a draw to advance to the second round.

The moves:
Round 1, Game 2
White: Olivier Touzane - France (2360)
Black: Vishwanathan Anand - India (2770)
Result: 0-1
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. Nd2 d6 5. e4 b4 6. Bd3 g6 7. b3 Bg7 8. Bb2 O-O 9. Ne2 a5 10. a3 Nbd7 11. Qb1 e5 12. dxe6 fxe6 13. axb4 cxb4 14. O-O e5 15. Ng3 h5 16. Ne2 Nc5 17. Nf3 Bg4 18. Ng5 Nxb3 19. f3 Nd2 20. Qa2 b3 21. Qa3 Nxf1 22. c5 Nd2 23. Bc1 dxc5.

Round 1, Game 2
White: Alexander Khalifman - Russia (2699)
Black: Surya Shekhar Ganguly - India (2464)
Result: 1/2-1/2
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 dxc4 4. Nc3 a6 5. e4 b5 6. e5 Nd5 7. a4 e6 8. axb5 Nb6 9. Be3 axb5 10. Rxa8 Nxa8 11. Nxb5 Nb6 12. Nd2 Ba6 13. Nc3 Nc6.

Round 1, Game 2
White: Dibyendu Barua - India (2360)
Black: Joel Lautier - France (2653)
Result: 0-1
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O Be6 9. f4 Qc7 10. Kh1 Nbd7 11. a4 h6 12. a5 O-O 13. Nd5 Bxd5 14. exd5 Rfe8 15. c4 Rac8 16. Be3 exf4 17. Bxf4 Bf8 18. Nd4 g6 19. b4 Qd8 20. Rc1 Ne4 21. Bd3 Ng5 22. h4 Nh7 23. g3 Ndf6 24. Qf3 Qd7 25. Kg2 h5 26. b5 Ng4 27. bxa6 bxa6 28. Nc6 Bh6 29. Bxh6 Nxh6 30. Rce1 Ng4 31. c5 Ra8 32. cxd6 Rxe1 33. Rxe1 Qxd6 34. Ne7+ Kg7 35. Qf4 Qc5 36. Rc1 Qxe7

Round 1, Game 2
White: Alexander Beliavsky - Slovakia (2659)
Black: Pendalya Harikrishna - India (2522)
Result: 1-0
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. Bd3 O-O 8. O-O dxc4 9. Bxc4 b5 10. Be2 Bb7 11. Rd1 Qc7 12. Bd2 a6 13. b4 a5 14. a3 axb4 15. axb4 Nd5 16. Nxd5 exd5 17. Qf5 Nf6 18. Qc2 Qe7 19. Qb2 Nd7 20. Rxa8 Rxa8 21. Ra1 Rxa1+ 22. Qxa1 Nb6 23. Ne5 Qc7 24. h3 Nc4 25. Bc3 Qb6 26. Bg4 Nxe5 27. dxe5 Be7 28. Bd7 Qd8 29. e6 f6 30. Qa7 Qa8 31. Qb6 Bd6 32. f4 h6 33. Bd4 Be7 34. Kh2 Kh8 35. Bc5 Bd8 36. e7 Bxb6 37. Bxb6 c5 38. Bd8

Round 1, Game 2
White: Tatiana Stepovaia-Diachenko - Russia (2435)
Black: Nisha Mohota - India (2262)
Result: 1-0
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. Be2 Nf6 5. Nf3 c6 6. O-O Bg4 7. h3 Bh5 8. b4 Qc7 9. b5 e6 10. bxc6 bxc6 11. d4 Bb4 12. Na4 Nbd7 13. c4 Be7 14. Be3 O-O 15. Nc3 Rab8 16. Qc1 Qa5 17. c5 Nd5 18. Nxd5 exd5 19. a4 Rfe8 20. Bd2 Qd8 21. Re1 Bxf3 22. Bxf3 Bf6 23. Rxe8+ Qxe8 24. Qc3 Nf8 25. Bf4 Ne6 26. Bxb8 Bxd4 27. Qb4 Bxa1 28. Bxa7 Be5 29. a5 Qa8 30. Bb6 Nd4 31. Bd1 g5 32. Qd2 f6 33. g3 Nb5 34. Be2 Nc3 35. Bd3 Bd4 36. a6 Qb8 37. Kg2 Kg7 38. a7 Qb7 39. Qe1 Kf7 40. Bf5.

Earlier report:
Anand shocked in opening roundd