Anand scores quick win

Defending champion Vishwanathan Anand finally got going and demolished Peter Heine Nielsen (2593) of Denmark in the first game of the second round on Thursday evening at the World chess championships in Moscow.

The NIIT brand ambassador won in just 33 moves as he ruthlessly outplayed an opponent, who is not exactly a pushover.

Heine Nielsen is also an Internet qualifier, like Olivier Touzane, who was Anand’s first round opponent. It was almost as if Anand was trying to avenge himself against Internet qualifiers.

Anand was among the quickest to finish his game on Thursday, as he employed a swift King side attack after a Bogo Indian defense opening. The Indian superstar was playing with black pieces.

Anand now needs only a draw in the second game to coast into the third round, where he will meet Vladislav Tkachiev, of France, who beat Nguyen Anh Dung of Vietnam.

Meanwhile, there was some more good news for India as Krishnan Sasikiran (2589) held World No. 4 Alexander Morozevich (2739) to a draw in the first game of the second round.

Morozevich was playing with black, considered to be his favourite colour of the two.

In the women’s section, Nisha Mohota, the lone Indian left, drew her first game against Cristina Foisor of Romania. For the Indian, the result was an excellent one, since she is rated only at 2236 and the Romanian is rated at 2423.

Anand showed that he is back in form as he crushed the Dane, who beat Alexander Goldin of the United States in the first round.

Anand played with black pieces and employed an excellent Kingside attack and Nielsen just had no answer to the superb attack launched by him

Late last night, Anand, bounced back from his first game defeat at the hands of Olivier Touzane of France and won the second game against him to force the match into a tie-breaker. In the tie-breaker, he outplayed Touzane in the first game and comfortably drew the second to move into the second round.

In the second round this evening, Sasikiran played with white in a Slav defense against Morozevich, who is a very strong player with black pieces. A risky player, Morozevich did attempt to force something but Sasikiran played very well and got a good draw in 32 moves.

The players play their second game on Friday and Sasikiran will have black pieces then.

In other matches, Armenia's Ashot Anastasian (2588) was another player to secure a surprise draw and his half point came against fifth seed Peter Leko (2730) of Hungary.

Among the favorites to win the first game were Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, who made short work of Giovanni Vescovi of Brazil. Last year’s finalist Alexei Shirov won over Zoltan Gyemesi of Hungary. Second seed Michael Adams of England beat Mihail Kobalija of Russia and the lone woman in the men’s section, Judit Polgar, beat Vadim Milov of Switzerland in the first game.

A big upset in the second round came from Sarunas Sulskis of Lithuania, who stunned former top tenner in the world -- Peter Svidler of Russia. Svidler was playing with black.

In some of the major women’s results, Alisa Galliamova beat Natalia Kiseleva, Sadina Elena lost to Maya Chiburdanidze and Elisabeth Paehtz beat Wang Ping. M Zielinska lost to another top contender Alimira Skripchenko-Lautier, while Peng Zhoaqin beat Antonaeta Stefanova.

Nielsen - Anand
Game 1, Round 2
WCC 2001, Moscow

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Bg2 c6 8. O-O d5 9. Qc2 Nbd7 10. Rd1 Rc8 11. Bf4 c5 12. dxc5 Bxc5 13. Nc3 O-O 14. e4 Ng4 15. exd5 Nxf2 16. Rf1 e5 17. Bc1 e4 18. Nh4 e3 19. Na4 Bd4 20. Bb2 Bxb2 21. Qxb2 b5 22. Nf5 Qg5 23. Nd6 bxa4 24. Nxc8 Bxc8 25. Qd4 Nf6 26. Rae1 Re8 27. d6 Nh3+ 28. Bxh3 Bxh3 29. Rf4 Qa5 30. Rxe3 Rxe3 31. Qxe3 axb3 32. d7 Bxd7 33. axb3 Bh3 Draw

Earlier reports:
Anand moves into second round
Anand wins second game
Anand shocked in opening round